Kingmaker cleared for takeoff
Posted: Friday 14 November, 2014
Dan was preparing to drive to Derbyshire next week to pick up our new stock bull, Wharncliffe Kingmaker when we got the results of his BVD test. His TB test had been fine.
His BVD test showed that he was positive for the BVD antibody but negatve for the antigen. The negative antigen result means that he is not a PI; the positive antibody means that he's been in contact with the virus - this could be through contact with the virus itself or from vaccination. In young animals, the contact can be via the dam's colostrum. The breeder confirmed that the bull had not been vaccinated.
It seems that bulls can carry the infection in the testes but this clear up in about 12 weeks (only one recorded case in Australia of presistent infection); our boy's too young to have a semen sample taken (born March 2014).
Anyway, after an anxious couple of days while our vet consulted with the chief vet at SRUC, we've been told he's fine, but we've not to run him with the breeding herd for at least 12 weeks. Our plan was to have him in the shed for four weeks then running with the bullocks at Astwood until his services are required in the summer, so that's fine.
Phew, that's a relief :-) I certainly wouldn't have proceeded if there was a risk of introducing BVD into our cattle, who currently test as free of the antibody so I'm glad all is well and we'll get him home next Friday.
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