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Biosecurity and Voluntary BVD Control |
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Biosecurity and Voluntary BVD Control |
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Controlling Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD) is no small task, key to the success of a control programs is screening, vaccination and biosecurity. BVD is a serious disease that causes an insurmountable amount of economic loss to the cattle industry. The disease results in performance loss such as lower weight gains and reproductive efficiency loss. Perhaps the most damaging is BVD’s ability to suppress immune function which favors secondary diseases. The major source of BVD infection is persistently infected animals (PI's). PI's result from cows being exposed to the virus during pregnancy and the fetal calf becoming infected. Although frequently these calves show no signs of illness themselves, they shed the virus in such great numbers that even well-vaccinated animals may become infected. Screening cattle herds for PI animals and removing them from the herd is a critical component to BVD control.
The prevalence of BVD in the state of Oregon is undocumented. Studies show that prevalence of BVD in the U.S. beef cattle population is between 0.13%-2.0%. The prevalence of herds that have at least one PI is around 4% (O’Connor et al., 2007; Wittum et al., 2001). While most herds are BVD PI free; of the herds that have BVD PI animals, it is likely that there will be more than one PI animal in the herd. It is our intent to document not only the prevalence of BVD in the state, but analyze existing management practices that may contribute to BVD prevalence and other potential diseases of interest.
Implementation of a biosecurity plan will reduce risk of exposure to many other economically important infectious diseases and prepare producers for biological risk management in the event of a disease outbreak, local or national. The beef producer, local veterinarian and/or the OSU Extension veterinarian and/or OSU Extension Livestock agent partners in creating a biosecurity plan will improve herd health, industry health and profit. A ranch may participate in writing an individual biosecurity plan without screening for BVD.