Basic HTML Version
‘Store cattle farmers are constantly buying in
cattle and so are always at risk because their
disease status is constantly changing. For
instance, the SAC has estimated that 1-2% of
cattle going through a market are PIs. So our
advice is to only buy stores from accredited
disease-free farms, or at least test for BVD PIs
when animals arrive on-farm.
‘For any farm which borders a store cattle farm,
where possible, double-fence or install guard
wire on these farm boundaries. And avoid
keeping pregnant cows in neighbouring fields.
‘Buying in stock is always a disease risk,
but especially so with BVD and in-calf animals
as there is the risk that the unborn calf will
be a PI.
‘On one suckler farm, three Angus-cross
7-month old heifers were bought from a local
mart to keep for breeding. One of them,
unbeknown to the buyer, was in-calf and the
following summer gave birth to a scrawny
poor doer which then contracted pneumonia
and didn't respond to treatment. BVD testing
revealed it to be a PI animal and it was
put down.
‘The calf's dam tested negative to the
disease. But unfortunately, she and her calf
had been run all last summer with other
cows and calves, including pregnant cows.
So this spring, we are tissue sampling all
calves at birth using tissue sampling tags,
to check that no PIs have been created.
‘The in-calf heifer possibly became infected
with BVD when she was penned next to a
PI animal in the market and either inhaled
airborne BVD virus and/or came into contact
with the body fluids of a PI animal. That's
assuming she came from a BVD-free herd
in the first place.
‘It has already resulted in extra costs for the
farmer - vet bills, euthanasing the calf, the TST
tags on this year's calves. These costs could
have been avoided by testing the calf once it
was born - either taking a skin tissue sample at
birth, or blood sampling at a month old.
‘Hopefully the disease had not spread into the
rest of the herd, or more costs will follow.’
The Alnorthumbria Vet Group has recently
obtained further funding and so will be
extending the BVD control area by another
five farms to complete the block.
Jenny adds: ‘BVD control schemes are only
really effective when approached in a
collaborative geographic way rather than on
an individual farm by farm basis. The mapping
of farm boundaries and creation of bespoke
farm action plans are key success factors.’
BVD CONTROL
SUMMER 2012 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
8
Buying in stores and heifers
‘Our goal is to establish
a population of BVD-free
cattle in our area. And
keep it that way.’
Jenny Hull, Alnorthumbria Veterinary Group