Mandatory bovine viral diarrhoea screening: guidance for vets

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

This booklet is a practical guide for vets in practice on mandatory annual screening under the Scottish BVD eradication scheme. It outlines how the scheme works, provides advice on the testing methods and explains what to do with samples.

You may wish to keep this booklet to hand for future reference, and use it to help you and your clients.

Most herds in Scotland are free of BVD - we estimate no more than a third of holdings have active BVDV infection in any one year. Removing BVD from those remaining herds would be worth thousands of pounds to most of them each year, and millions of pounds to the Scottish cattle sector.

BVD eradication is achievable in almost all herds in less than two years. The risk of re-infection through contact with infected animals remains, but by eradicating BVD at the national level, everyone benefits through minimising these risks.

Separate guidance for farmers has been sent to all cattle keepers and can be found on the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk/bvd. Copies have also been sent to all livestock veterinary practices.