BVD PI's why keep them
- Thread starter Henarar
- Start date
M-J-G
Member
People keep them because they are either uneducated or unintelligent.
___\0/___
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
I have put this up before but when we came off the vaccine our vet told us not to as a lot of people are doing a lot of stupid things. If we did have a Pi it would be culled.
M-J-G
Member
I'm not sure how well educated Scotland is on the whole, but if anyone has the desire, they can always seek ways to go about educating themselves.
Here, annual testing is compulsory, if your herd is shown to have BVD as a result of you are placed under movement restrictions, where by sale animals must test negative before moving to anywhere other than slaughter.
It is also illegal to move a PI to anywhere other than slaughter.
- Location
- sw scotland
There are some farms with several PIs. Time coming when they may be named and then they cannot sell anything. Not fair on neighbours too
it seems in NI they can't now do anything with a PI bar homekill yet they still keep them infecting everything, its a job to know what to say to that
the silly thing in all this is BVD is relatively easy to get shot of
but it seems some just won't help themselves
Had one PI. Don't know how or where the infection came from. My vet said no option but destroy (after re test), but actual vet who came to do the job was trying to persuade me not to do it but put cow and calf somewhere isolated and grow her to finish. Was very upsetting having to insist that he did do the job, can see how some would be persuaded otherwise. Vaxed them that year but not since and no further cases. Same vet said can't vaccinate for one month before calving, main Vet said yes you can, they couldn't both be right 
There is a vast difference between a herd with BVD circulating and a herd which has managed to clear itself of BVD.
BVD is equivalent to whatever causes Aids in humans, and has the same effect. Most of the calves will be affected by the circulating virus and are far more susceptible to the agents which cause scours and pneumonia - a maybe a number of other ailments.
There can be no valid reason to keep a calf (or its mother) which is identified as a PI. Get rid ASAP. The cost of disposal will be recouped many times over in better overall health.
BVD is equivalent to whatever causes Aids in humans, and has the same effect. Most of the calves will be affected by the circulating virus and are far more susceptible to the agents which cause scours and pneumonia - a maybe a number of other ailments.
There can be no valid reason to keep a calf (or its mother) which is identified as a PI. Get rid ASAP. The cost of disposal will be recouped many times over in better overall health.
M-J-G
Member
Why cull the mother over any other exposed cow?
no reason to get rid of the mother of a PI
- Location
- East Sussex
Unless she herself is a PI
M-J-G
Member
If you let them get as far as calving, you'll probably have a lot of culling to do!
The mother of my PI was put on lockdown until she was tested, she proved to be clear and calved a normal nonPI the following year.
- Location
- Derbyshire
Likelihood is that a PI will die before it is finished anyway. They just get mucosal disease and then that's it. Disposing of a full carcass and recouping all that money it has cost to feed the blessed thing, is it worth it? Not to mention the risk to the rest of the herd. A newborn PI only has potential value as you can't legally sell it anywhere (it is not only immoral but illegal).
So shoot them. It is that easy. It is a NON decision.
So shoot them. It is that easy. It is a NON decision.
The ban on PI’s going into the food chain in NI was only introduced recently following a request by the farmers union to the processing companies. The ban starts on the 1st May so anyone with a PI close to finish can slaughter it.
Because we’ve had no government (completely farcical) for 14 months there are no legislative actions which could have been actioned to further clamp down on the disease. And the chat is we won’t have a government until at least next year.
Hopefully removing the market for PI’s by banning them from abattoirs will send a message to those that retain them that genuine herd keepers are fed up with being put at risk by the idiots that retain them. Won’t solve the whole problem but there’s only 1500 PIs being retained in the country so if this significantly reduces retention by May it will be a big success.
Northernlights
Member
- Location
- NE Scotland
In Scotland its possible to look up online and find out the BVD status of any herd in Scotland including whether they have PI calves. All you need is a farm code number or animal tag number
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GenuineRisk
Member
- Location
- Somerset
If everyone used the BVD test eartags it would go an awful long way to reducing/eradicating the problem. We’re CHeCs accredited but still use them on every calf born here and over in on Newlands dairy - simple, effective and a lot cheaper than discovering PIs in your herd.....