BVD CHECK TAG
SUPPLEMENT
PULL-OUT
The BVD Check Tag scheme,
launched with support from MSD
Animal Health earlier in 2014 as
part of XLVets’ wider ‘BVD Free’
initiative, is steadily gaining
momentum across the UK cattle
industry.
With the overriding aim of helping
farms to secure and maintain BVD-free
status, BVD Check Tag offers a simple
and cost effective method of testing for
the disease and – most importantly – a
database where animals that have
tested negative are logged and freely
visible to anyone.
With proven ear tag tissue testing
technology at its heart, BVD Check Tag
starts with a sample being taken during
the normal tagging procedure shortly
after birth, or alternatively
pre-movement.
Significantly, the tissue sampling
tags used in the scheme are branded
white tags, thereby creating an
easily identifiable and highly visible
prompt for calf buyers to check
test results before purchase.
As Dan Humphries of member practice
Lambert, Leonard and May explains, a
key benefit of BVD Check Tag is to
identify farms where BVD is circulating.
Steps can then be taken to deal with
the problem on the farm and also
reduce the risks of persistently
infected (PI) calves moving from
unit to unit.
“BVD is primarily spread by PIs,
which are calves born from cows
that are infected with BVD,” he says.
“These PI calves often appear normal
but will spread infection to other cattle
that they come into contact with. It is
therefore critical that we identify these
animals early and remove them from
the breeding herd and
also ensure that they
are not sold into
other herds.
“Prompt identification
of PIs is an important
step in effective control
and elimination
of BVD.”
Though still early days,
the aim is that the
branded white tag
becomes a symbol of
BVD-free status, and
as such creates added
value for the calf.
Crucially, BVD Check
Tag has critical mass
with the support of
the 52-strong
UK-wide group of
XLVets practices, and
any farmer (whether
a client of an XLVets
practice or not) can
access the database at
to verify the status of
a BVD Check Tag calf.
BVD Check Tag, and
the BVD-Free initiative
that it is part of, is important due to the
scale of losses caused on dairy and beef
farms by this disease. Across the UK as
a whole, losses are estimated to be in
the region of £50 - £75m per year, with
as many as 90% of herds thought to
have been exposed to the disease.
In this supplement we provide one case
study from your region of a farm that
has been involved in either the
prevention or control of BVD. Whilst
one particular (Type 1) BVD virus is
responsible for problems in the UK, it is
a complicated disease that suppresses
the immune system of infected animals.
As a result, a whole host of disease
situations may be made worse on farms
where BVD is active, with the areas of
greatest loss being poor fertility in adult
cattle and general calf and youngstock
ill-health.
Other BVD control case studies
are available through our online
resources at:
Once the BVD Check Tag ear tag is attached to a
calf, the tissue sample is contained in a sealed
pre-numbered tube.
Tissue samples are sent away and test results arrive
within a week. All calves testing negative are
loaded onto a database that is accessible via
