Manitoba cattle producers who don’t treat their herds for bovine virus diarrhea give the province a black eye, a Saskatchewan order buyer says.
Kirk Sinclair is a managing partner in Prairie Livestock Joint Venture, which buys as many as 160,000 cattle from Manitoba each year.
Sinclair said BVD seems to be increasing among Manitoba calves.
He said buyers are taking that into account by discounting the price of Manitoba calves at the auction ring to compensate for expected losses caused by the virus.
“Everybody gets five cents less (per pound) for their calves because of it,” Sinclair said.
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“It’s costing all the good producers a lot of money.”
BVD is considered the most serious production-limiting disease in Canada’s beef herds. It suppresses the immune system, can lead to an increased risk of abortion and weak calves, and can exacerbate other herd health problems.
Sinclair knows that many Manitoba producers are vaccinating against BVD, but said there should be a program to get more producers on board.
One possibility is a two-tier price system, he said. Producers would sign affidavits showing what vaccinations were given in their cow-calf herds. The information would be disclosed when the producer’s calves are sold.
“They do that in Ontario on an honor system.”
The practice has led to a 10 cent per pound difference between calves sold from farms with a vaccination regimen and those without.
Allan Preston, Manitoba Agriculture’s director of veterinary services, agrees there could be more vaccinating done in Manitoba against BVD, but he said the issue is not confined to one province. He said BVD is endemic across Western Canada.
Preston does not dismiss Sinclair’s concerns. He said the provincial government encourages producers to have a vaccination program.
Vaccinations have the greatest effect if producers know when to give them:
- BVD can be passed through a cow’s placenta to the unborn fetus. The best way to protect the unborn calf from infection is to vaccinate the cow three to four weeks before the breeding season.
- The best time to vaccinate calves against BVD is before they are turned out on pasture or two to three weeks before weaning.
Rick Wright, branch manager for Heartland Livestock Services in Brandon, said he applauds Sinclair for bringing attention to the BVD issue.
However, like Preston, he questions whether the disease is more prevalent in Manitoba than other provinces.
“We have a problem with the disease in all provinces.”
Many of Manitoba’s calves are sold into Saskatchewan and Alberta for backgrounding and feedlot operations.
A couple of cents might be shaved from those calf prices to adjust for the cost of shipping them west, said Wright, but he is not convinced Manitoba calves are receiving lower prices because of BVD concerns.
Wright believes promoting the benefits of BVD vaccinations is the best approach. He said he doubts the answer lies with having producers sign affidavits listing what vaccinations are given before their calves are sold.
He suggested Manitoba’s cow-calf producers should look at how the animals leaving their farms can affect the rest of the industry.
