BVD Vaccination

I was speaking to a vet this week who was worried about the number of his clients who were deciding to stop vaccinating their herds for BVD. Their reasons are that they think their herds have a very low chance of coming into contact with a PI. The number of PI animals in Ireland is decreasing.

There were 9,485 herds with PI animals born in 2013 while there were 1,594 herds with PI animals born in 2017. This is likely to mean that more herds are becoming naïve, because they are not exposed to the disease. So vaccination will help them to build up immunity.

In the event of an outbreak, the effects of the disease are likely to be worse in a naïve herd with no immunity. Excellent biosecurity measures should be in place for herd owners who are considering not vaccinating. The vet said he had clients who have identified PIs in their herd after ceasing vaccination two years ago. These farmers saw ceasing vaccination as a way of cutting costs and didn’t see the need for it as there was a national eradication programme in place.

The message is to discuss the risks involved on your farm in relation to BVD with your vet and make the decision based on that conversation.

Breeding Heifers

Ideally, heifers should be bred to calve one to two weeks before the main herd or at the very latest the first week of calving. Because of a heifer’s higher fertility, they provide an excellent opportunity to use AI and give you options to use high index replacement bulls, for example, on the herd.

One way of reducing the labour requirement around using AI is synchronisation and this can be used very successfully in heifers. A simple programme to follow is outlined below:

  • Day one: apply tail paint or scratch cards to heifer.
  • Days one to six: AI heifers to natural heats (AM/PM rule).
  • Day six: inject any heifers not seen in heat with 2cc prostaglandin.
  • Days seven to 11: most heifers will come in heat within 48 to 72 hours.
  • Days 12 to 18: top up tail paint or scratch cards.
  • Days 19 to 24: heat check for repeats in all heifers.

    • Finishing Cattle Indoors

    It’s coming near the end of April and for many beef farmers around the country cattle still haven’t got out to graze grass. Given the slow spring and with silage stocks at an all-time low, you should use this as an opportunity to finish cattle indoors and try to close up some extra land for silage to try to build in a buffer supply for future years.

    If cattle are turned out at this stage it will take a few weeks for them to get going and hit high liveweight gains. You should look at the option of putting forward store cattle on high levels of meal for the next few months and try to slaughter them in June when supplies are generally tight. This might free up extra grass for cows and calves pre-breeding. These are an important group of stock to get condition right for breeding so try to allocate best grass to breeding cattle.