Livestock Matters - Autumn 2018

The launch of the funded project coincides with two years of BVDFree England, which has seen over 9% of the national breeding herd join the scheme. To eliminate BVD at herd level, regionally and nationally we need to get more herds testing for the disease and results onto the national database. Stamp out BVD is a great opportunity for cattle farmers across England. Funding is available for one-to-one farm advisory visits by a vet, allowing farmers to work with their vet to investigate BVD at herd level, with some funding available for testing. By working with Stamp out BVD and BVDFree England more herds can become free from BVD. Reducing the negative effects of this disease on fertility and herd health and stopping the creation of PI (persistently infected) cattle. XLVets News BVD funding announced as BVDFree England turns two Testing for a disease you can’t see poses a challenge for many farmers, but with the launch of the Stamp out BVD project funding testing in England, now is the time to get involved. 04 Livestock Matters Autumn 2018 BVD Database A simple system for promoting and checking the BVD status of cattle tested under the scheme: Visit bvdfree.org.uk and enter an animal’s UK number or a CPH on the home page. Survey findings highlight inadequate vaccine storage on farm Vaccines are a valuable resource to help produce immunity to disease outbreaks on farm. However, failing to maintain the correct storage fridge temperature has been shown to compromise vaccine effectiveness and consequently animal health. Recent on-farm research conducted by MSD Animal Health discovered not one farm fridge monitored stored vaccines within the correct temperature range between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. In a significant number of fridges, the temperature was elevated above 8 degrees Celsius for long periods of time. Paul Williams, MSD Animal Health UK technical manager for ruminants comments ‘When vaccines are stored above 8 degrees Celsius for long periods of time, it dramatically shortens their shelf-life. For example, if you pick up your vaccines from your vet and keep them in the car while running other errands the vaccine will warm up. By the time you get it to the farm it may be too warm and no longer be effective. We recommend always using a cool bag to transport your vaccines and make the journey time to your farm fridge as short as possible. ‘A frozen vaccine is something you want to avoid. In the worst cases some fridges we monitored had been at 0 degrees Celsius or below long enough for the vaccine to freeze and become ineffective. When a vaccine freezes the delicate components within it break apart leaving the vaccine completely ineffective and cannot be restored. Follow the hashtag #FridgeCheck for more information about how to store vaccines correctly.