Studies show biggest BVD impact is performance, not sickness or mortality

Over the years it seems a lot of people step away from BVD-PI testing because they didn't see much of a difference in pull rate, treatments or mortality. This could lead to the cattle producer, or even the veterinarian, thinking that BVD-PI testing isn't worth the time, effort or cost.

Over 90% of the time there are no outward signs of BVD infection. Rarely, will you see issues with sickness or mortality. The train-wreck scenarios are even more rare. What happens instead is you are losing performance, cattle just don't convert feed as efficiently.

In 2009, Dr. Hessman published a study showing that the biggest economic effect was performance in the terms of feed conversion. Cattle converted feed 21% less efficiently than those not exposed to a BVD-PI calf. This study showed that cattle exposed to a BVD-PI calf had a $93 loss, while testing and removing returned $21 of that amount. Of the $93 in loss, $88 was purely performance while an addition $5 was in mortality.

In 2024, Dr. Engle published a study that showed acute infection will cause cattle to weight 14% less at slaughter than those not infected with BVD. Furthermore, that study showed that cattle infected to BVD would need an additional 60 days on feed to match the weight of those not infected. 60 extra days with the cost of feeding cattle now is a lot of money. This study showed that BVD permanently alters the gut microbiome.

Studies have showed that the national average of 4 PI's per 1,000 head (400-600lbs) is enough to expose 67% of a feeding facility. In a 10,000 head yard, thats a $623,100 loss. Why not return $140,700 of that by PI testing?