New cost calculator illustrates financial impacts of BVD
By Lilian Schaer

A new animal disease model that puts a cost on an outbreak of Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) in a beef herd makes a strong case for isolating sick animals on-farm.

A low-impact BVD outbreak on a 500-head feedlot could cost the operation $5,500 and a high-impact outbreak up to $275,000. Those figures were generated by the model based on 2009 cost and revenue data provided by real Ontario producers.

The program, built in an Excel spreadsheet, calculates the financial impact of moderate or severe outbreaks of specific diseases on beef, veal, sheep, goat and rabbit farms. This includes BVD in cattle, Mycoplasmosis in veal, Q Fever in sheep, Caprine Arthritis and Encephalitis (CAE) in goats and Pasteurellosis in rabbits.

Producers must input a series of data in the spreadsheet, such as feed costs, average daily gain, mortality rates and others depending on the particular commodity, in order for the model to generate results.

Bob Brander, who runs a feedlot and cash crop operation near Caledon, participated in the development of the model by providing cost data from his farm, including feed costs, cost of gain per pound, death loss and the types of animal health treatments he uses. He’s an experienced cattleman, but the results of the cost calculator were surprising even to him.

“I always knew that sick cattle don’t make money; in fact, they can lose you a lot of money, but the cost was even higher than I thought,” he says. “You don’t only have the loss of the animal but also the costs of when the other animals in the herd get sick.”

His key advice to other producers when dealing with BVD? Make sure you buy vaccinated cattle and if you do notice sick ones, separate them from the healthy animals right away to avoid spread of the virus.
“BVD is a very deadly disease so the best thing is to make sure the cattle you buy are vaccinated for BVD type 1 and 2,” he says. “And if you do run into a sick animal, isolate him from the herd.”

[Subhead] What is BVD and what to look out for
There are many different clinical signs of BVD, depending on the virulence of the virus, the strength of an animal’s immune system and what other infections the animal might have. It is possible for cattle to be BVD carriers without showing any symptoms.

Symptoms of mild BVD include poor appetite, rapid breathing, low-grade fever, excessive nasal secretion and discharges from the eyes, and diarrhea. Signs are seen six to 12 days after infection and generally last one to three days, followed by full recovery of the animal.

Outbreaks of acute BVD infection are characterized by various symptoms, including respiratory disease, severe depression, loss of appetite, watery or bloody diarrhea, fever, ulcerations in the mouth and pharynx and high illness and death rates.

Cattle that are persistently infected with BVD may not show any clinical signs, but do shed the virus through bodily fluids like saliva, posing a risk to healthy animals in the herd. If an unvaccinated cow becomes infected by a mild form of the virus during her first four months of pregnancy, her calf will be persistently infected.

Cows that are exposed to BVD during the early stages of the herd’s breeding cycle will have lower conception rates and higher abortion rates. Early pregnancy loss can be very high in infected cows resulting in apparent herd infertility. During later stages of gestation, BVD exposure can result in abortion, mummified foetuses and stillbirths.

Isolation protocols for sick animals

• Isolate sick animals from the rest of the herd.

• Use fence line control to prevent nose-to-nose contact with animals in neighbouring herds.

• Implement enhanced biosecurity between quarantine areas and the rest of your herd to avoid disease spread.

• Avoid indirect contact with manure or bodily fluids from sick animals. Sanitize tools and equipment after using in sick areas and move into quarantine areas only after you’ve completed work in areas with healthy animals.

• Restrict access to your production areas and keep track of visitors. Cleaning and disinfection of people and equipment is necessary.

• Ensure your staff is trained in biosecurity measures.

This project is part of a new, multi-phase project partnership between Ontario Cattlemen’s Association, Ontario Veal Association, Ontario Goat, Ontario Rabbit, and Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency to identify, quantify and address biosecurity gaps and build the livestock industry’s emergency preparedness capabilities.

Funding was provided in part through Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of several Growing Forward programs in Ontario.

The disease calculator model will be available for download from www.agbiosecurity.ca.  To access resources on reducing disease risk to your herd or for more information, please contact the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association at (519) 824-0334 or ontbeef@cattle.guelph.on.ca.