Izzi Rainey – Daltons NEW BVD Cattle Tag Brand Ambassador

/in /by

We are super excited to announce that the lovely Izzi Rainey will be documenting her BVD tagging journey with tags provided by ourselves at Dalton Tags!

Unfortunately Izzi has had a recent encounter with a positive BVD case on her farm after 20 years of BVD free accreditation. Never having had this issue on her farm before, this is very much a steep learning curve for Izzi. Going forward, all cows and heifers on Izzi’s farm will be vaccinated before turning out and any calves will be BVD tissued tagged and tested.

Izzi’s Story

Farming is sometimes a bitter pill to swallow.

This week has been one of those weeks, it has taken until today to talk about it. I want to be honest and it is important to know that not everything is plain sailing. On Monday I had to have a yearling bullock shot, a homebred calf which was born here on the farm last Spring. This was done by the knacker man and was not for the food chain. Hearing that ring throughout the yard, heart breaking.

To look at he was perfectly healthy, well fleshed, bright and happy but sadly when we did our annual blood test he came back as a PI (permanent infector) for BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea) this is the first time I have ever experienced this. We have been accredited BVD free for 20 years and have held an Elite Status. To say we are devastated is an understatement. This bullock had to go as he was a risk to the herd. What it means is somehow his Mum was exposed to BVD in the first 120 days of her pregnancy and therefore the calf’s immune system was not strong enough. We have no idea how this has happened, it was in 2020 she must have been exposed, we did no shows and she wasn’t exposed to any cattle who had not been tested and isolated. It is gutting. The way BVD works is the cow is fine as it is just a virus to her which she ‘gets over’ but the calf she has will be permanently infecting throughout its life so has to go.

Having never had this, this has all been a steep learning curve. We have to assume it could be contracted through wild deer potentially. So from now on all the cows and heifers will be vaccinated before turning out and any calves will be BVD tissue tagged and tested. I am working with Dalton Tags who I am a brand ambassador and they have kindly given me tags which I can use this year.

Onwards and Upwards. I am just thankful it was one animal alone.

 

We are so excited and honoured to be part of Izzi’s tagging journey. Make sure to go and give her a follow on Instagram and Facebook to keep up to date on all things tags and BVD!