Intervet/Schering-Plough, manufacturer of Bovilis® BVD,Leptavoid™-H and Bovilis® IBR Marker Live, is proud to announce the launch of National Infectious Disease Check (NIDC), a new initiative to help drive farmers to their vets to screen for three of the most infectious diseases affecting cattle. 

This initiative encourages unvaccinated farms to contact their veterinary practice for subsidised diagnosis for BVD, Leptospirosis and IBR using Intervet/Schering-Plough’s DairyCheck and BeefCheck service.

The campaign is supported by Farmers Weekly, the UKs largest selling farming publication, and will be launched in the magazine and website and for six weeks following launch, the NIDC campaign will feature prominently in this magazine.

Bovine Viral Diarrhoea – BVD
BVD is a viral disease with a wide range of clinical signs that affect beef and dairy cattle.  BVD not only reduces fertility, it can lead to congenital defects and reduced immunity, especially in younger animals making them more susceptible to a number of other diseases such as pneumonia and scours. In adult animals, immunosuppression can lead to more mastitis and even make stock more at risk from TB. Most of the time, the effects of BVD infection in a herd are less obvious which can mean they go unnoticed, and are even mistakenly seen as ‘normal’ for that herd.
Over 1,700 herds submitted bulk milk for screening in 2009 under the DairyCheck Scheme, with 57% being positive for exposure to the virus, many indicating active infection. In addition over 850 herds submitted blood samples under the BeefCheck Scheme and these showed that 66% of herds had been exposed to the BVD virus.

For further disease information and prevention Bovilis BVD

Leptospirosis
Leptospirosis is one of the most commonly occurring diseases in beef and dairy cattle, causing significant economic losses and reductions in performance.  On most units, Leptospirosis is present as an insidious disease causing grumbling fertility problems, although when it affects naïve herds it sometimes causes highly visible abortion storms and large-scale milk drop. The disease is a major cause of poor conception rates as it can cause early embryonic loss and affects early placental formation, making it more difficult to get the cow in calf.
BeefCheck and DairyCheck show that almost 7 of every 10 herds tested for Leptospirosis are positive.  This is particularly worrying as once cattle have been exposed to the disease they can be carriers for months or even years. 

For further disease information and prevention -  Leptavoid-H