Betty Jo Gigot, Editor and Publisher

There was always a question: Why, after 30 to 45 days, did cattle that seemed to be acclimated, start to break and continue to break with bovine viral diarrhea (BVD)? Something or someone was at fault. The only answer for managers and pen riders alike was to pick them up, treat them and wait to see when it would happen again. Everyone knew it was costing time, money and production, but a realistic answer seemed out of reach.

Addressing the problem
With 750,000 to 1,000,000 BVD tests under his belt, Bill Hessman, DVM, understands why particular pens of cattle continue to cause problems for backgrounding and feedyard clients across southwest Kansas. A Kansas native and Kansas State University graduate, Hessman runs a mixed veterinary practice with an emphasis on feedyard consulting with his partner, Dr. Dave Sjeklocha, just outside Sublette, Kan.

Testing for animals persistently infected with BVD (PI BVD) at Cattle Empire in 2004 and 2005 on 22,000 head showed that if a non-PI pen of cattle is placed next to a pen with a persistently infected individual, and has direct exposure in the feedyard, the cost to the non-PI pen is $67.49 per head.

Those PI animals are the “Typhoid Mary’s” of the industry, constantly shedding the virus wherever they go. With PI BVD tests that are now easy to use and reasonably priced, Hessman thinks feedyards have economic options and opportunities.

Cattle Empire CEO Roy Brown feels the same, turning his three-feedyard, 170,000-head capacity operation into 100 percent PI-free and advertising the same. (See inside back cover).

“ We have been PI free since January 1,” Brown said. After the initial tests, he asked Hessman if they should run the same program on the other two yards. “When I asked him, ‘What would you do?’ he said we should wait until the tests were completed. When I asked him, ‘What if they were your cattle?’ he agreed that it made sense. Our customers have been very positive, as has the press,” Brown said.

“My cowboys were convinced 45 days in, even with the blind trial. If you can convince cowboys, you know you are on to something.”

The Brown family also owns a dairy and is seeing impressive results after their PI tests there. Brown thinks it added economic benefits immediately.

Feedyards aren’t the front line of defense
Hessman is very firm about where the problem needs to be addressed. “I am not a cow-calf vet, but that is where the infection comes from,” Hessman said. “If it gets into a herd, you can have a mess with poor weaning weights and poor production. If a naïve herd is exposed, it usually gets ugly. It will eventually work its way back out and they will develop a natural immunity, but the herd will never be back to were it was.”

Sometimes, even the professionals are surprised. Hessman told about a group of cattle from Oklahoma that were fancy, nice blacks. The shipment had five PIs in the group. According to Hessman, only 4 to 10 percent of U.S. cattle herds may have PIs, which means 90 percent of cattle herds are clean, but that small percentage can cause havoc all the way along the line.

Hessman sees the day sometime soon when price discovery will set in, with buyers paying more for calves that have been tested and herds that are PI-free. The market would then go to expecting all calves to be PI-free. Then animals not tested would be discounted.

Hessman is running a number of tests in his facility, and stresses the fact that BVD is a very complicated disease and there is still a lot to be learned before the industry can get a real handle on the problem.

A new company
As Cattle Empire’s PI-testing program continued, some of their customers wanted additional testing, so Brown, Hessman, Sjeklocha and the Cattle Empire consulting nutritionist, Tim Murphy, formed a separate PI-testing company. Central States Testing, LLC has labs set up in Sublette, Dalhart and Hereford, Texas, as well as Elizabethtown, Ky., and Esperance in western Australia.

“We supply the customer with all the testing materials,” Hessman said. “Ear-notch samples are put into a vial, sent overnight to our facilities and the results returned to the customer the next day.

“My job is to work with feedyards and backgrounders to find ways to be more efficient and effective,” Hessman said. Although he doesn’t think that PI prevention is a silver bullet, he is pleased with its progress and its benefit to the industry.