Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
I buy a blank test tag from Shearwell for any bought in ones and get a management number printed onto them so it does 2 jobs
Bvd
- Thread starter biggles
- Start date
biggles
Member
- Location
- derbyshire
Can you just send the samples in small groups if only a few calve close together or do you need a certain number ? So if a calf is born infected it will always be infected so must go, but if it catches it when young it will recover and not be a problem? So I should sample ASAP when born to see if it’s caught it from its mother, if that’s all good the calf will be fine, and mother will be fine,if it’s got it chances are it’s mother has so will need to go too, but test calf after 3 weeks just in case and also check mother too? , is that the general starting point? Cheers
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
I sent one yesterday. Will hopefully have a couple in a week or so. Tag everything at day old and keep samples until I get to a week - the lab needs them within 10 days of sample being taken. From memory, they don’t want more than ten in any envelope.
twizzel
Member
Our Shearwell tags go to national milk labs, we send them off as we tag a calf- calve all year round so sometimes there’s 1 tag, sometimes 4 or 5. Keep samples in fridge before you send them. I think 10 is the maximum per form.
Yes tag everything at a day old, then if it’s positive it’s more than likely a PI as not had chance to get transiently infected. If the cow gets transiently infected at a certain stage pregnancy it will pass to the calf, which is then born a PI. If the cow is a PI, the calf will be too, so you need to know the status of the cows. We know all our cows are clear as the whole herd was blood tested. Transiently infected animals will get over the BVD but whilst infected can get pneumonia, scours etc as the immune system is weakened. Or that’s how I understand it. We had a crash course in BVD after an outbreak last year, but 12 months after a PI hunt, and now with tag testing and vaccinating we seem to be clear now. Herd fertility and calf health much improved.
Yes tag everything at a day old, then if it’s positive it’s more than likely a PI as not had chance to get transiently infected. If the cow gets transiently infected at a certain stage pregnancy it will pass to the calf, which is then born a PI. If the cow is a PI, the calf will be too, so you need to know the status of the cows. We know all our cows are clear as the whole herd was blood tested. Transiently infected animals will get over the BVD but whilst infected can get pneumonia, scours etc as the immune system is weakened. Or that’s how I understand it. We had a crash course in BVD after an outbreak last year, but 12 months after a PI hunt, and now with tag testing and vaccinating we seem to be clear now. Herd fertility and calf health much improved.
- Location
- sw scotland
Here is one of our reports.
As above, it may be other causes so you should really speak to your vet. It will be the best investment to get an extra 12 live calves each year and blood testing will rapidly identify the PI
And stop buying other cattle. No point selling your best heifers to buy others problems. Many of your cows will be immune now but new arrivals will be infected by the unknown PI.
If the tag test is antigen positive (which is testing for part of the virus) then it will have caught it from mother who will have caught it during pregnancy from another animal. If repeat testing the calf 3 weeks later is still positive it is a PI and will infect other cows in their next pregnancy. If you do blood testing at 6-8 months and pick up antibodies then the calf has been infected from a PI in your herd. You will then have to test all the cows and cull the PIs.
As above, it may be other causes so you should really speak to your vet. It will be the best investment to get an extra 12 live calves each year and blood testing will rapidly identify the PI
And stop buying other cattle. No point selling your best heifers to buy others problems. Many of your cows will be immune now but new arrivals will be infected by the unknown PI.
matthew
Member
- Location
- Cornwall, SW England
That last bit is crucial if this BVD clearance is ever going to work.
At the moment, a farmer can sell on a PI calf, and/or it’s dam. And not to slaughter....
Just vaccinate your cows annually and then all your calves will be protected, needs to be done at least two weeks before they go back to the bull and after they have calved in the the first year
- Location
- East Sussex
Yes. So you tag the calf as near as it hit the ground as you can. If you have bvd circulating then it doesn't take long for the calf to show dna if it catches it after it has been born. If the first test show positive then you have to test 3wks later when the virus dna could have been cleared. The problem with doing the calves a few days after birth is that if bvd is about then you'll end up tag testing in three weeks to show it's a TI. We had loads of calves positive on the first test only to find they were clean a month later, catching them earlier reduced these positives.
If using bovela I'd do it more than three weeks before bulling. We did ours at two weeks and found they didn't hold first serve very well.
dave6470
Member
- Location
- Coleraine Co.Londonderry NI
It is in Northern Ireland all calf's tag tested and pi,s removed been like that for the last 4 or 5 years
Sir loin
Member
- Location
- North Yorkshire
I would also contact the auctioneer for any positive bought in stock and ask for it to be returned and a full refund plus expenses.
bobajob
Member
- Location
- Sw Scotland
That last bit is crucial if this BVD clearance is ever going to work.
At the moment, a farmer can sell on a PI calf, and/or it’s dam. And not to slaughter....
Not being pedantic, but not in Scotland. PI have to be shot and disposed of up here.
Anyway it’s better getting them off the farm as soon as you find one .
matthew
Member
- Location
- Cornwall, SW England
Voluntary in England, despite the money spent on screening by Defra.
Limcrazy
Member
Seriously you've had at least 15 losses out of 40 last year and 1 month off calving again you haven't done anything about it??
Making money out of cows mustn't be your main goal but I'd be thinking you're at least 9months late in getting the whole thing blood tested, dead or poor calves pmd., vaccinating against bvd, bolusing and everything else.
We've had TB, BR, IBR, BVD in a closed herd so not buying in isn't everything but getting on top of problems early is only way out.
Making money out of cows mustn't be your main goal but I'd be thinking you're at least 9months late in getting the whole thing blood tested, dead or poor calves pmd., vaccinating against bvd, bolusing and everything else.
We've had TB, BR, IBR, BVD in a closed herd so not buying in isn't everything but getting on top of problems early is only way out.
Chasingmytail
Member
- Location
- Newport, SE Wales
The vet did ours fee through the Welsh farming connect grant. Not sure if there is anything in England but the test came back within 5 days. Negative here and no issues.
Stw88
Member
- Location
- Northumberland
Pritty sure some markets cross reference all cattle sold with the bvd testing database and wont sell any BVD positive cattle.
Tell your vet first thing in the morning you want a BVD free herd as soon as possible, no expense spared, take his advice and follow it tooth and nail, my experience, l had 150 cow ped dairy herd + young stock, 11000 L ave +plus milk processing and delivery. closed herd for over 20 years, five steers broke into our farm, owners lied about the way they came in said they never came in contact with ours, the result was over four hundred cattle aborted and died and younger stock even bulling heifers just laid down and died over a four year period,l fought the case for seven years, without the cost of the dairy herd my losses were well in excess of £1m, to keep my land l had to sell off my family home and farmstead for building as well as my milk and dairy business all because some greedy baxxxard chose to buy the cheapest cattle in the market then lie about the 29 month old steer he sent to an open market as it was not big enough for slaughter as soon as he got them home.
l feel l know as much about BVD as anyone one here and make no apologies for saying, if you cannot run a BVD free vaccinated herd, get to hell out of it the industry doesnt need you.
Crikey, when you think of the hundreds of thousands , if not millions of cattle that mix in markets and hardly any cross infection occurs your infection and sheer numbers involved was awful back luck. Makes me wonder if animals that have been about abit get abit more natural immunity to bugs etc than a closed herd. I wouldnt take business advice from a vet.
biggles
Member
- Location
- derbyshire
Ok, thanks for all the advice, have spoke to vet yesterday and she advised as we were about to start the bulk of the calving to tag test them all and see what that shows up on the first instance, I’ll try and keep them all as separate as I can when calving or in small groups at least till I get any test results back, hopefully there won’t be much of a problem, so fingers crossed, if this dry weather holds I’ll try and calve some outside which should hopefully help, will order some tags on Monday and start tag testing ASAP, cheers for all the advice, I’ll update when I have more info, cheers
Princess Pooper
Member
- Location
- East Mids
Did your vet (before the recent conversation) suggest anything other than BVD? Were any of the abortions tested for neospora?