Cow with BVD

jmurf100

I had a calf that tested positive for BVD, retested him after 3 weeks and the second test was also positive, culled him immediately and ordered a button tag for the cow, her result came back this morning as positive as well.

1) Is there any point waiting 3 weeks to retest her or should I just send her to the factory immediately?

2) Is there any danger that she may be just TI after been in contact with her calf that was PI?

3) Is there any point fattening her before sending her to the factory?

4) Will the factory's pay full price or are they using BVD as an excuse to pay a reduced price for cows?

5) How come I had no other PI or TI calves even though she was with the other cows all last year with the bull and was also in the shed this spring when cows were calving?

(She has been isolated since her calf initially tested positive)

whelan1

how would the factory know she has tested positive, if it was my cow she would be out the gate today

pakalasa

No expert but my understanding is the re-test 3 weeks later will confirm if an animal is a PI. The cow is almost certainly a PI as the calf can only become a PI if
a) cow is a PI
or cow not a PI, but exposed to the virus during first 3 months of pregnancy.

Since the cow is testing positive now and she was also exposed to the virus way back in early pregnancy too. This can only happen if she is a PI.

Can an animal be virus-positive due to a transient infection more than once?
Following a transient infection cattle develop a natural immunity which typically persists for life. It is therefore unusual for them to be TI more than once and in particular to give birth to more than one PI calf. From;
http://www.animalhealthireland.ie/page.php?id=119

Get rid of her ASAP. If the other cows are in early pregnancy, this cow will shed the virus and could cause all other cows to have PI's, especially if cows not exposed to the virus before.

The reason the other cows didn't have PI's may be because the were infected (if they were infected at all) before early pregnancy. In this case they will have built up immunity.

jmurf100

Off to the factory with her Tuesday morning