FARMERS who visited auction marts throughout the country during October and November were asked to value two young Aberdeen-Angus bulls based on their known health status terms of BVD, IBR, TB and Johne's.

The results have shown that bull two, which was negative or low risk for all cases, was valued at on average £1340.63. This compares to bull one which was low risk or negative for everything apart from BVD, for which it was virus positive and had an average value of just £381.25.

“Delving deeper into the data, it is encouraging to see that a number of famers gave bull 1 (the BVD virus positive animal) a financial value of £0,” said Boehringer’s Matt Yarnall who organised the project.

“And really that is what the market ought to value any BVD-positive animal at. Anyone buying such an animal will find themselves bringing BVD onto their farm and infecting the rest of the herd. The results of a careless purchase could be catastrophic.”

While many auction mart visitors did recognise the issues associated with the BVD-positive bull, several did give it a value, albeit lower than the good health status animal.

“The BVD-positive bull was given a value as high as £1000 by one farmer, but that was an exception,” explained Mr Yarnall.

“Around four years ago, auctioneers and farmers in Scotland started recognising a difference in the value of stock going through that had easily identifiable negative or low risk health status for BVD

“This soon became apparent for producers trading with Scotland from elsewhere. Then, when Ireland’s BVD programme was up-and-running, similar issues were seen with trade to Ireland," he added.

“Now, with BVD eradication programmes in place throughout Great Britain and Ireland, we will soon see that BVD-positive stock has no value. This will hopefully mean the end to anyone believing it is ay to keep a PI (persistently infected) animal on a unit. These animals need to be removed from a herd as rapidly as possible.”

Tag and testing supported by ongoing surveillance, high standards of biosecurity and vaccination with a product such as the live vaccine Bovela® offers belt and braces BVD control.

“Because Bovela has a one-shot primary course and an annual booster, it is easy to keep track of vaccination timings on busy farms. This important, user-friendly feature is part of the reason that Bovela, which has only been on the market for three years, was the UK’s biggest selling BVD vaccine in the six months to the end of January1.

“Bovela is also the only BVD vaccine proven to provide 12 months’ prevention of PI production,” concluded Mr Yarnall.