PI Testing

[Stocker Steve]

I have been seeking more and more ads for this. Had one poor doer IO tested last year but luckily he was negative.

Have you done a whole herd test, or just tested dead calves?

 

[angus9259]

BVD PI? All calves, every year. Don't want to be responsible for sending a typhoid mary to someone's place.

 

[KNERSIE]

I test all calves every year, so far all negative. The MO would be to test the dam of a positive calf and then test her dam if she is positive etc in order to get rid of all the PI cattle to stop the spreading of the virus.

 

[C&APride]

i would test all new calves. if you have a pos. test the dam. if all cows are neg. test the bull.

 

[vclavin]

BVD PI? All calves, every year. Don't want to be responsible for sending a typhoid mary to someone's place.

Same here.
Valerie

 

[Stocker Steve]

BVD PI? All calves, every year. Don't want to be responsible for sending a typhoid mary to someone's place.

Do you go through your vet or an independent lab?
What do they charge?

 

[angus9259]

I drop off a bag of ear notches at my vet's and she sends them in. You can send them in yourself though.

DCPAH www.animalhealth.msu.edu 517-353-1683

 

[vclavin]

Nebraska lab "invented" the test so we use that lab. Notches must be under 7 days old - older the notch the less "BVD" you would find and therefore run the risk of a false negative. Make sure you clean cutter between notches to prevent cross contamination .. hate to uthenize a few negatives do to carelessness. I would not put the notches all together in a bag.. they are supposed to be put in test tubes with a solution to preserve them. Take and send them so they arrive early in the week and never let them sit in the post office over the weekend.
If you are going to spend the money... do it correctly.
Valerie

 

[harry]

I have tested a few calves and open cows through sekgenetics.http://www.sekgenetics.com/pdf/BVD_sampling.pdf. I have been using a red top tube and sending in a small styrofoam cooler and ice pack, but taking the sample from the lower section of the ear instead of top as stated in sampling instructions. I haven't had any positive results out of about a dozen test.

 

[Double R Ranch]

We BVD test all animals, the incoming cows/calves threw blood draw when I 30 day preg test someone. www.Biotracking.com They can preg test and bvd test with the same sample. I just tail draw everyone possible. Its quick and easy and fairly cheep.
Double R

 

[Lucky_P]

You'd need to check with the laboratory that's going to be doing the test, to find out what sample they want, how they want it collected, and when/how to ship it.
Some labs do IHC(immunohistochemistry) for BVD and require an ear notch - they may or may not prefer them fresh(dry), in saline, or in 10% formalin.
We do the BVD antigen-capture ELISA at the lab where I'm employed - can be done on ear notches(our virology section prefers them 'dry' in individual tubes/whirlpaks/ziplocs, or on serum or whole blood. For calves under 3 months of age, the ear notch is preferred, but above 3 months, PI animals have tons of BVD virus in all body fluids/secretions, and it's easy to pick it up in the serum - and there's less 'contamination' to deal with in that clean serum sample.

Thus far, I've only sampled stillborn or aborted calves, and any cows that might die for whatever reason, but we had a heifer deliver a big full-term fetus, dead, on her due date, that was BVD positive, so...a whole-herd BVD test will be on the calendar here in a couple of weeks when everything gets its Spirovac L5 booster.