A roadshow being staged in regional centres across Queensland during early December will explore options open to beef producers for the effective management and prevention of pestivirus, otherwise known as BVDV.

Speaking at the seminars will be Esperance, WA-based vet, Dr Enoch Bergman, known nationally as a vigorous campaigner for more effective and widespread management of the beef industry’s most significant and costly reproductive disease.

The workshops follow a series of similar meetings in NSW in August, and earlier roadshows in Victoria and Tasmania.

The meetings (full itinerary and venues at bottom of page) will be held in association with local large animal vet practises in each location, and are supported by Idexx Laboratories, which provides testing kits for ear-notch BVDV testing and BVDV antibody testing. 

“The purpose of the workshops is to give producers and their veterinarians a good understanding of how BVDV works and the management options that exist for both protecting their enterprises or salvaging the production losses they may already be suffering,” Dr Bergman said.

“There is an enormous amount of conflicting information out there which is frustrating producers, or worse still, creating apathy over the disease. The way that BVDV is transmitted seems to trip people up, but one of the purposes of the workshops is to demystify it,” he said.

The manner in which BVDV is introduced, maintained, and spread between management groups is unique and often confusing.

However it follows a specific set of rules, and the diagnostic tools which Dr Bergman has developed make systematic management a relatively straightforward process for producers.

“Making the whole process cost-effective has been my mission for a number of years and I hope these talks will give the producers and their vets who attend the information they are seeking.”

Dr Bergman was a member of the industry’s BVDV technical working group, supported by Pfizer Animal Health, which pioneered many of the management strategies now being advocated across the beef industry.

During presentations, he will outline the principles contained in his recently completed BVDV management guidelines, designed as a step-through for beef producers to cost-effectively and efficiently manage for BVDV in their herds. 

A full explanation of Dr Bergman’ recommendations for BVDV management in more intensively managed herds can be viewed here.

Understanding BVDV

Australian producers are beginning to appreciate that the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) is indeed one of the most economically significant diseases present across the beef industry.

BVDV is unique in the way it assures its own survival on properties. It is almost exclusively transmitted by carrier animals. These carriers are persistently infected with the virus after having survived foetal infection following exposure via their mother during the first to fourth month of gestation.

These PI animals are responsible for future BVDV infections, should they come in contact with a previously non-immune cow whilst she is pregnant from one to four months, another PI may be born. Less commonly, should a female PI produce a live calf, the calf will invariably be another PI.

Qld pestivirus roadshow itinerary:

• Roma Bowls Club – Monday, 10 December, 6.30pm
• Emerald (Australian Agricultural College Campus) – Tuesday 11 December  7.15pm
• Moranbah Black Nugget Hotel – Wednesday 12 December 11.45am
• Mackay Shamrock Hotel – Wednesday 12 December 6.45pm.

Contact for the meetings is Alison Kelleher:  alison-kelleher@idexx.com   ph 0407 375 002