Should I still Bvd cows

valtraman

Member
Should I still vaccinate cows or not ? Been closed herd for good few years now only buying bulls in from Bvd negative breeders , annually screen batch of calves, haven’t had it before . Suckler cows. Just think it’s a very expensive thing to do especially if not needed.
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Still vaccinating here and was thinking the same thing a while back. The problem is that we graze next to other traded cattle in the summer and they could sniff noses at times. Probably too big a risk to take imo but maybe not too bad if there’s no other cattle about nearby.
 
Location
Cheshire
I stopped after we tag and tested negative for a couple of years. You just need to have a testing regime in place in case of a new infection most especially a PI because only if there is a PI is sh!t going to serious. We tag and test as part of our contract, not cheap, but it’s something we do that gives us that early PI warning. Milk testing for bvd antibodies has fluctuated bizarrely at times but bvd antigen and tag and testing resolutely negative.
 

xmilkr

Member
I dont like to keep putting my case forward every time BVD comes up on here but if it saves cattle l am all for it.
My case started in 2002, having a bad dose of Bruccolosis from a bought in heifer back in the late 1960s we culled everything that did not test clear and ran a closed herd since, we never vaccinated anything as we had a good export trade for any surplus pedigree heifers, foreign buyers would not by anything vaccinated, their view was we were giving it the disease, so from 1970 on we ran a closed herd, all high yielding pedigree freisian/holstien, nothing bought in up to 2002 when we were having clear monthly milk tests for BVD. herd yield at that time was 9/11000 l for 145 milkers, most of our milk at the time we were processing in our own dairy.
One Sunday afternoon 14/07/2002 on my return from a cream delivery l was met by my son to be told eight cattle had broken into our farm, but none had been in touch with ours, by son did not see them come as he was in the milking parlour, we were told by the owners they had caught up with the cattle and put them in our loafing paddock, did not believe them but could not prove otherwise, within three weeks one cow went sick and died, another two weeks later by September we had a number of abortions through to October when my two 14000l cows aborted and died within 24 hrs, the rest is history, within four years we had lost the herd over 400 cattle, at the same time l met a person who with his wife saw the cattle on the road outside our farm, put them in our yard till the owners turned up then saw the owners take them through the milkers feed passage past the noses of our cows. l fought it for seven years but their insurers told them your cattle were the cause of this disease if we lose you will have to pay!!! the truth was the insurers tested the strays and put the PI into the local store market to infect others, by October the insurers knew what the disease was and knew we were not vaccinated, had they lifted the phone and told me, you have been infected l could have vaccinated and saved 75/80% of the herd.
After fighting for seven years my losses ran into seven figures, to save my land l had to sell my family home and farmstead for building and sell all the buildings the milk processing business and take a mort. for the rest but l am still here to shout at people for want of a better word that will not vaccinate the sooner it is made compulsory the better.
Just one more word of warning the owner of the stray cattle was insured with the same insurers l had been with for nearly fifty years this would have been my second claim.
 

Sir loin

Member
Location
North Yorkshire
Take it from me, keep vaccinating. We are a closed herd for 15 years no vaccination (no neighbouring cattle) no stock bulls purchased only AI, until 4 years ago when where it came from we do not know . All stock incredibly naïve so we had 5 aborted 6 pi's 3 years tag and test and all stock vaccinated to sort it out .
So where did it come from either a dirty AI man, the nearest beef neighbour farm is 2 miles away and a possible vector is a stream or we and our vets believe a cross over from sheep could be possible, border disease is very similar disease in ovine.
 

Davy_g

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Down
I vaccinate.
I have had a breakdown due to showing an incalf heifer and someone else knowingly showing a cow with a PI calf.
If you have ever had a breakdown you will continue to vaccinate.

One friend bought a bull that was a PI. Shot 11 cross bread calves the next year. The selling price of the 11 calves would have bought a lot of vaccine.
Another friend bought a cheap BB/AA heifer to fatten. She was incalf. Calf was delivered and was a PI. The calf was on the farm mixing with other stock for a few weeks before the ear sample came back. He is in the midst of calving this year folling that and every cow and calf is isolated as best as he can and notch tagged the day of birth. He has no idea what might (or might not come) and better yet has no real control other than to mitigate.

For the sake of a few quid, id continue vaccinating.
 

Old Tup

Member
I vaccinate.
I have had a breakdown due to showing an incalf heifer and someone else knowingly showing a cow with a PI calf.
If you have ever had a breakdown you will continue to vaccinate.

One friend bought a bull that was a PI. Shot 11 cross bread calves the next year. The selling price of the 11 calves would have bought a lot of vaccine.
Another friend bought a cheap BB/AA heifer to fatten. She was incalf. Calf was delivered and was a PI. The calf was on the farm mixing with other stock for a few weeks before the ear sample came back. He is in the midst of calving this year folling that and every cow and calf is isolated as best as he can and notch tagged the day of birth. He has no idea what might (or might not come) and better yet has no real control other than to mitigate.

For the sake of a few quid, id continue vaccinating.
Very very good advice…
 

TheRanger

Member
Location
SW Scotland
I vaccinate.
I have had a breakdown due to showing an incalf heifer and someone else knowingly showing a cow with a PI calf.
If you have ever had a breakdown you will continue to vaccinate.

One friend bought a bull that was a PI. Shot 11 cross bread calves the next year. The selling price of the 11 calves would have bought a lot of vaccine.
Another friend bought a cheap BB/AA heifer to fatten. She was incalf. Calf was delivered and was a PI. The calf was on the farm mixing with other stock for a few weeks before the ear sample came back. He is in the midst of calving this year folling that and every cow and calf is isolated as best as he can and notch tagged the day of birth. He has no idea what might (or might not come) and better yet has no real control other than to mitigate.

For the sake of a few quid, id continue vaccinating.
My understanding was that something born as a PI would never thrive, with most dieing under a year old?

Wouldn’t have thought a PI would make it as a breeding bull.
 

Davy_g

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Down
And there you have it. We all know what thought did.
My PI’s born out of exposed incalf heifers were picked up by notch sampling. I know they were disposed of by 6 weeks of age (I did a further blood test on cows and dams whist in isolation not wanting to believe the initial results). They needed no treatments and appeared to be very viable calves.
I suppose some can survive and thrive or the disease would have died off by itself. PI’s make it as breeding cows so why not bulls?
 

TheRanger

Member
Location
SW Scotland
And there you have it. We all know what thought did.
My PI’s born out of exposed incalf heifers were picked up by notch sampling. I know they were disposed of by 6 weeks of age (I did a further blood test on cows and dams whist in isolation not wanting to believe the initial results). They needed no treatments and appeared to be very viable calves.
I suppose some can survive and thrive or the disease would have died off by itself. PI’s make it as breeding cows so why not bulls?
I'm just going by the Scottish BVD eradication scheme guidance. It says (or said in its early days) that these PI calves that you were recommended to cull would not be viable animals long term anyway, and that most would die under a year old. So was just surprised to hear of a PI breeding bull, I'm not saying you're wrong. On the point about the disease dying off, the PI calf only needs to live for a few months to infect other pregnant cows.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,292
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top