In 2012, The Park Veterinary Group in Leiecester started a BVD control program with 12 herds undertaking regular testing for the disease. By 2015, they had over 70 herds testing every year.
To join the program, all the farmer needs to do is to ask the vet to blood test 5-10 yearling homebred animals for BVD antibody. The lab results are loaded onto the farmer’s myhealthyherd account and a risk assessment is carried out.
So far, PVG have found 11 herds with active infection and they have been able to progress to eliminating or controlling infection within these herds. The other 59 herds are testing negative and are in the process of moving to “biosecurity protect, virus free” or, more commonly, “vaccinated, virus free”, as the practice believes that the safest option for the larger herd is to provide protection through vaccination once infection has been removed; for £2.50 per head for vaccination, this is a small price to pay to prevent the serious effects of BVD virus.
All herds within the PVG BVD scheme are also able to print off an up-to-date myhealthyherd Health Visa, allowing the farmers to trade more confidently with their neighbours.
PVG are proud to have developed a workable program for both their farmers and the practice, using tools such as myhealthyherd, and through the creation of a new “Infectious Disease Practice Champion” role in the vet team.
If you are interested in putting a similar control scheme in place in your practice, please get in touch!