Holding onto BVD infected calves bad move

Farmers have held onto nearly 5,600 calves which are persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhoea — even though only a minority of these animals will survive to breeding or slaughter age.

Investing in feeding and rearing such animals is throwing good money after bad, warned David Graham of Animal Health Ireland (AHI).

The animals are also a source of infection, weakening other animals’ immune systems, making them prone to infections such as scours and pneumonia, and increasing the number of persistently infected (PI) animals.