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Combining models to examine the financial impact of infertility caused by bovine viral diarrhoea in Scottish beef suckler herds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2008

A. VARO BARBUDO ,
G. J. GUNN  and
A. W. STOTT
A. VARO BARBUDO
Affiliation:
Epidemiology Research Unit, Animal Health Economics Team, Scottish Agricultural College, Craibstone, Aberdeen AB21 9UD, UK
G. J. GUNN
Affiliation:
Epidemiology Research Unit, Epidemiology Team, Scottish Agricultural College, Stratherick Road, Inverness IV2 4JZ, UK
A. W. STOTT*
Affiliation:
Epidemiology Research Unit, Animal Health Economics Team, Scottish Agricultural College, Craibstone, Aberdeen AB21 9UD, UK
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: Alistair.Stott@sac.ac.uk
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Summary

In beef suckler herds, reproductive failure is a major cause of financial loss during a bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) outbreak due to reduction in the numbers of calves, increased calving spread and the financial implications of dealing with infertile cows. These losses may be hidden and/or not fully attributed to BVD. A model of herd dynamics was built and combined with an epidemiological model to encapsulate the disruptions to reproduction that BVD may cause in beef suckler herds and to estimate the associated financial consequences of such disruptions.

Results from the model suggest that the average losses associated with BVD in Scottish beef suckler herds via impaired reproduction alone may vary between £43 and £22/cow/year during the course of a BVD epidemic. These results indicate that an outbreak can be costly and these losses may be hidden by the use of low risk management practices such as a long breeding season, not only in herds with no evidence of antibodies but also in herds where there are some antibody positive (immune) animals.

Type
Modelling Animal Systems Paper
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 146 , Issue 6 , December 2008 , pp. 621 - 632
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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