The Evaluation of Selected Production Indicators Following the Implementation of Vaccination as Part of a BVDV Eradication Strategy in Two Endemically Infected Beef Suckler Herds

TL;DR

Vaccinating cows against BVD improves calf survival, helping farmers and animal welfare without affecting birth rates.

Contribution

Demonstrates that BVD vaccination in beef herds improves calf survival without reducing birth rates.

Findings

Calf survival improved from 81% to 87% after vaccination.

No significant change in the number of calves born or weaned before and after vaccination.

Abstract

This study investigates whether vaccinating cows against a virus called bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), which harms cattle health and productivity, could improve the performance of beef-producing herds. Researchers compared two time periods: before and after all female cows in two herds were vaccinated on the same day. They measured how many calves were born and survived to weaning. While the number of calves born and weaned stayed about the same before and after vaccination, a key improvement was seen in calf survival: more calves that were born after vaccination lived long enough to be weaned. Specifically, survival improved from 81 out of 100 calves before vaccination to 87 out of 100 calves after vaccination. This suggests that vaccinating cows against BVD can help more calves survive, which is important for farmers’ livelihoods and animal welfare.

The bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) impacts the health and performance of bovine herds. In the present retrospective study, the impact of BVDV control on the production performance of suckler herds was tested by vaccinating all female cows of the herd on the same day (DV). The performance of cows in two commercial suckler herds was analysed during 12 months before DV (PREVAC, n = 497 cows) and 9 to 21 months after vaccination (POSTVAC, n = 531 cows). The proportion of calves born compared to the initial number of cows subjected to mating did not differ (PREVAC and POSTVAC, 87% and 84%, respectively). The proportion of calves weaned compared to the initial number of cows subjected to mating also did not differ between PREVAC (71%) and POSTVAC (74%). However, the proportion of calves weaned compared to the number of calves born was higher than POSTVAC (87%) when compared to PREVAC (81%). Thus, the data demonstrate that a BVDV control programme using vaccination in suckler herds can improve calf survival.

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