BVD and BRD Working Together?
BRD is not only one of the most frustrating parts of cattle health but also one of the costliest. BRD causes an estimated $800 million to...
bvd, bvdv, bovine viral diarrhea virus, bvd pi, bvd-pi, persistently infected, persistent infection, cst, central states testing,
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Dustin Hessman
- Jun 26, 2020
- 2 min
BQA Practices to Limit Spread of Pathogens
There are many things we are being told that can limit the spread of COVID-19. A few examples would be washing or disinfecting your...
Dustin Hessman
- Jun 9, 2020
- 1 min
Infection Rate is Determined by Population Density
The density of a population determines how quickly a pathogen will spread between hosts. We noticed this with COVID-19, New York City had...
Dustin Hessman
- Jun 1, 2020
- 2 min
Viral challenge determines if vaccines work
Vaccines are very efficient and critical components to the health of the world, as long as you use them correctly and know their...
Dustin Hessman
- May 27, 2020
- 1 min
Self-isolation is key to protecting your herd
If you test positive for COVID-19 would you go around to family gatherings? Or to this week’s cattle auction? Or would you stay home and...
Dustin Hessman
- May 27, 2020
- 2 min
COVID-19 in your community is like a BVD-PI in your pen
It’s interesting to live in a world where a hidden assailant is lurking around waiting for its next victim. Even more interesting is that...
Dustin Hessman
- May 26, 2020
- 1 min
COVID and BVDV - Very high infection rate
COVID-19 is very infectious. One person can infect 2.5 people (R2.5). To make it simple, we’ll say one person can infect two other people...
Dustin Hessman
- May 26, 2020
- 2 min
When it's not controlled it has a major economic impact.
Political views aside, COVID has a major economic impact. We have all felt it personally. Today I want to compare this economic impact to...
Dustin Hessman
- May 21, 2020
- 1 min
The only way to know you have it is to be tested
We have learned a lot from COVID since it was first noticed in December. One puzzling thing is that some people can have it but be...
Dustin Hessman
- May 18, 2020
- 1 min
Social distancing is critical to preventing the spread
In the news we have heard time and time again that you need to social distance in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This is true,...
Dustin Hessman
- Feb 27, 2020
- 2 min
BVD Testing is not Your Silver Bullet
It is easy to get caught up chasing that single cure-all for health problems. The reality is that it takes a combination of good choices...
Dustin Hessman
- Feb 3, 2020
- 2 min
What killed the herd, BVD or secondary infections?
All of this coronavirus scare has us remembering a bad BVD break at Nortex Feedyard in 2008. There were two different strains isolated in...
Dustin Hessman
- Jan 31, 2020
- 1 min
Texas Animal Health Commission BVD Rule
The Texas Animal Health Commission announced in December of 2019 that it has adopted a new rule to help mitigate the risk of BVD. This...
Dustin Hessman
- Apr 25, 2019
- 4 min
The Truth (and definition) of Pooling Samples
There are many labs across the country that will pool samples, or offer to pool samples together in order to decrease the cost of...
Dustin Hessman
- Mar 5, 2019
- 2 min
Increasing PI Survivability
One of our clients wants to feed their PI calves and had some questions about the best "PI Feeding Practices." This sparked an internal...
Dustin Hessman
- Feb 14, 2019
- 1 min
What do I do with my PI calf?
What do you do with a PI calf? This is a difficult question to answer but the first thing you need to do is quarantine the animal. In a...
Dustin Hessman
- Jan 16, 2019
- 2 min
How a 0.4% BVD-PI Prevalence Rate Exposes 62% of a Feedyard
So how do so few cause such a major problem? The key to understanding this comes down to two factors. The first is knowing the amount of...
Dustin Hessman
- Dec 19, 2018
- 4 min
The Key to BVD: Understanding It
The best way to combat the ramifications of BVD is to understand the virus, how it affects you and the warning signs. Most people believe...
Dustin Hessman
- Nov 14, 2018
- 2 min
Get some Ibuprofen, we have a head scratcher.
We always think we have seen it all, but occasionally something will come along that makes us scratch our head and say "huh." Case in...