Dividends in cattle disease control

08 February 1999

Dividends in cattle disease control

THE control and eradication of cattle disease will pay “significant dividends”, argues a contributor from the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) in The Herald.

The article looks at three diseases, in particular: infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), bovine virus diarrhoea (BVD) and Johnes disease. It reports that the latter two can cause serious economic losses.

SAC economists estimate the loss of a 100-cow suckler herd from a a BVD infection can exceed £45,000 over a 10-year period, while losses can be greater in a dairy herd.

The author suggests Scotland is behind the rest of Europe in the management and control of all the mentioned diseases.

There is no national organisations for carrying out the task though there are two private health schemes available: Cattle 2000 run by Bloxham Laboratories, a private laboratory in Devon; and the Premium Cattle Health Scheme run by SAC.

• The Herald 08/02/99 page 18