Dr. Peggy Thompson yesterday spoke to the complexity of bovine viral diarrhea virus. Today she highlights methods for treatment.
Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is silent in its attack, creeping up on cattle suddenly. Dr. Peggy Thompson, cattle professional services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim, says, “How we control this disease, is three-fold.”
?First, test your cattle and remove any PI cattle you find. Blood samples or ear notches would work to test. Second, biosecurity. Producers may not have BVDV on their operation, but (there is) the potential for them to bring it into their operation with the purchase of new cattle. Producers need to test bulls they are buying, bred animals and keep a strict eye on what and who?s around you. The third part is vaccination,” Thompson said.
Thompson adds, ?Vaccinations are great tools, helping prevent BVDV.” She names a couple vaccinations, which help ward off persistenly infected (PI) calves.
?We have a product called Express FP. This is a modified live vaccine labelled for prevention of PI calves. That would be something you use pre-breeding. Again, it?s important to work with your vet on where that fits, and strategic timing and placement of that vaccine. The other vaccine we have is Pyramid 5. Pyramid 5 is a respiratory calf vaccine that would be something for producers to consider when they?re thinking about weaning and pre-weaning vaccinations, getting those cattle ready for the next stage in life.?
Both vaccinations also protect cattle against BVDV Type 1b, a growing strain of the virus, which is now considered the most common subtype of BVDV.
