Blog | cstbvd

Oct 7, 20202 min read

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...

Dustin Hessman

Jun 26, 20202 min read

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...

Infection Rate is Determined by Population Density

Dustin Hessman

Jun 9, 20201 min read

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...

Viral challenge determines if vaccines work

Dustin Hessman

Jun 1, 20202 min read

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, 20201 min read

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...

COVID-19 in your community is like a BVD-PI in your pen

Dustin Hessman

May 27, 20202 min read

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...

COVID and BVDV - Very high infection rate

Dustin Hessman

May 26, 20201 min read

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...

When it's not controlled it has a major economic impact.

Dustin Hessman

May 26, 20202 min read

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...

The only way to know you have it is to be tested

Dustin Hessman

May 21, 20201 min read

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...

Social distancing is critical to preventing the spread

Dustin Hessman

May 18, 20201 min read

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, 20202 min read

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...

What killed the herd, BVD or secondary infections?

Dustin Hessman

Feb 3, 20202 min read

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, 20201 min read

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...

Clean Tools/Instruments While Processing

Dustin Hessman

Apr 26, 20190 min read

Clean Tools/Instruments While Processing

The Truth (and definition) of Pooling Samples

Dustin Hessman

Apr 25, 20194 min read

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, 20192 min read

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, 20191 min read

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...

How a 0.4% BVD-PI Prevalence Rate Exposes 62% of a Feedyard

Dustin Hessman

Jan 16, 20192 min read

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, 20184 min read

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, 20182 min read

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...

The Original BVD-PI Testing Laboratory

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