Featured in the February issue of British Dairying, our client Nigel Parris and Vet Tom Laycock discuss how routine surveillance testing at Aller Farm averted disaster in their closed herd.
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVD) was discovered during routine annual youngstock testing. If an animal contracts BVD at the right stage of pregnancy, it will give birth to a persistently infected animal (PI). These PIs harbour the virus and spread it through the herd causing significant economic, production and welfare issues.
Due to the routine testing, the PI animals at Aller Farm were speedily identified and removed from the herd before issues could arise. Showcasing the importance of the farmer-vet relationship, Nigel and Tom evaluated where the issue might have arrisen and this resulted in changing vaccination programmes to reduce the chances of BVD entering the herd in the future.