BVD SUPPLEMENT
LIVESTOCK MATTERS - BVD SUPPLEMENT
For one North Yorkshire family
dairy farm, grumbling calf health
issues in 2013 led them and their
veterinary practice to suspect that
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) could
be affecting the herd.
These suspicions were confirmed
when a routine bulk milk test (last
December) indicated that the BVD virus
was circulating, then verified further
by a repeat test a few weeks later.
The result prompted the farm’s vet
practice, Bishopton Veterinary Group,
to initiate a search for any persistently
infected (PI) animals (termed a PI hunt),
whilst also investigating how a
previously BVD-free herd had
succumbed to the disease.
Park House Farm, near Ripon, is run by
the Terry family and is home to around
400 Holstein Friesian milkers plus
followers. The herd maintains an
average milk production of just over
8,500 litres, grazing throughout the
summer months and housed in cubicles
over the winter.
Cows are milked through a recently
installed 40-point rotary parlour.
As longstanding clients of Bishopton
Vets, the family has a good focus on
maintaining herd health. As part of
Bishopton’s dairy herd health scheme
bulk milk testing and heifer cohort
bleeds are regularly carried out in
addition to vaccination.
As Bishopton vet Dan King explains,
in a cattle dense area it is important
to maintain vaccination routine. During
recent installation of the new parlour
it is likely that some slippage in
vaccination consistency occurred.
“The recent BVD-free campaign has
highlighted continued importance and
cost of BVD in the national beef and
dairy herd, with the Type 1 BVD virus
known to be widespread in UK herds,”
he says. “It is good practice to be
vigilant and to maintain a full and
correctly implemented vaccination
programme.
“The Terry’s were routinely vaccinating,
and for many years routine bulk milk
sampling including PCR twice a year
had shown the herd to be clear of BVD.
“In the recent past we suspect that the
vaccine boosters had lapsed in some
animals, leaving the herd susceptible.
The farm shares its boundaries with
several other herds, so the threat of
stock being mixed is always there,
and - whilst most replacements are
homebred - some animals have been
bought in previously.
“The virus can easily be spread by nose-
to-nose contact, so in this case it is
impossible to say how BVD has infected
the herd, but there’s no doubting the
fact that the disease was present.”
Following the second bulk milk test, the
practice initiated a PI hunt. A PI is a
persistently infected animal, which may
or may not present any clinical signs of
disease but will be highly infectious in a
herd environment. PIs can be created
when an unprotected heifer or cow
comes into contact with the BVD virus
whilst in-calf. If the infection occurs
BVD FOCUS HELPS HERD OVERCOME
CALF HEALTH CHALLENGES
Stuart Terry (left) with Dan King (centre) and
Jonathan Statham of the Bishopton Veterinary Group.
Bishopton Veterinary Group
