BVD Control Summary

By Andrew Weir

The following is a very brief rundown of the BVD Presentation that RVC Vet, Andrew Weir made at The West Oxford Hotel.

  • We had 6 herds with BVD outbreaks last season. We’d love to help you make sure you’re not one of the outbreaks next season!

  • The best estimate we have is that BVD would cost the typical 400 cow herd around $18,000 every year without any control. This can be reduced by as much as $12,000 with optimal BVD control.

  • BVD control is all about Persistently Infected (PI) animals that are created when infection gets into a cow in the first 4 months of pregnancy and either kills the fetus (abortion) or stays there for life with the calf being born PI. These PIs tend to be poor doers and shed huge amounts of virus from everywhere, all the time. PIs are the main way BVD stays in a herd.

  • BVD causes poor growth, production, and reproduction, sick calves, and immune suppression that makes everything worse.

  • Summary of BVD control: If you want to keep BVD out of your herd, you need to either test replacement calves or vaccinate the herd. Either way, you still need to test stock in and vaccinate the bulls.

  • The following table shows the risks to your herd (how BVD gets in or stays in) and the main tools we can use to control those risks. If you make sure each risk is covered by at least one control tool, you should be good. Bulk tank testing gets you halfway there, but you need herd vaccination or calf testing for good BVD control.

  • We’re setting up a system to help keep track of BVD control, so give us a call to make a plan for your herd for next season.