Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD)

BVD is a serious disease of cattle in terms of economic cost, health and welfare, causing abortion, infertility, immunosuppression, failure to thrive and even death.

Bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) virus causes a complex set of diseases in cattle.  It can interfere with reproduction, affect the unborn calf, cause immunosuppression and sometimes leads to mucosal disease, which is fatal.   

BVD virus can also cause diarrhoea during transient infection which is usually mild but occasionally severe enough to cause death, even in adult cattle.  However, diarrhoea is not a reliable indicator of BVD infection. 

Transient BVD infection is associated with significant suppression of disease resistance, making cattle vulnerable to common diseases that they would normally fight off.  It can be responsible for outbreaks of pneumonia, scours and ringworm in all ages, but especially calves.  Eradicating BVD from the herd has a significant positive impact on calf health, growth rates and future productivity. 

The disease is mainly spread by persistently infected, or PI, cattle. These are born with the disease, having been infected with the virus in the womb during the first four months of pregnancy. PIs will remain infected with BVD all their lives and will shed virus extensively, infecting naive cattle directly and indirectly. Most die as calves, but a few live much longer. Identifying and removing them from the national herd is critical to any eradication attempt. 

Read the information leaflet about BVD from the Moredun Research Institute. 

Protect your herd from BVD

BVD is spread easily and rapidly by PIs (persistently infected cattle). The focus of Scotland’s BVD eradication scheme is to find all PIs and then to prevent them from infecting other cattle. We know from other national programmes that if all the PIs are removed, BVD can be eradicated.    

Infection can spread by other routes, but these are less important than PIs in keeping disease circulating. Other routes for spreading BVD are:   

• transiently infected cattle, which produce less virus than PIs and only for 2-3 weeks; and 

• contaminated surfaces; virus can be transferred via dirty hands, clothing, vehicles and equipment

To protect your herd from BVD infection:  

1. Prevent contact with PIs and transiently infected animals. The risk can come from within your herd, from neighbouring herds “over-the-fence”, cattle in the same show ring, the next pen at the market or when travelling inside the same vehicle.  
2. Reduce the risk of bringing virus on to the farm via contaminated surfaces. Good hygiene applies to all visitors to the farm, as well as to the keeper and any farm staff.  Clean and disinfect shared equipment before it is used on the farm.  

Protective measures to be aware of:   

• breeding herds must update their BVD herd status annually, and should investigate any signs of infection. Your vet will be able to advise you

• careful sourcing of replacement cattle: if in doubt check the animal’s individual status before buying. ScotEID’s BVD lookup is quick and easy to use

• 'Trojan cows' are in-calf females that are brought in to the herd and may be carrying a PI calf. The unborn calf may not have the same BVD status as its mother and cannot be BVD tested until it is born. If unprotected females were exposed to BVD early in pregnancy, the calf will be a PI. From 1 February 2026, calves born to “Trojan cows” (dams that moved on to the holding while pregnant) must be BVD virus tested before they are 40 days old, or before they move off the holding if this occurs sooner

• markets: all livestock markets in Scotland have access to ScotEID and should be able to tell you the BVD status of the animal you intend to buy. Some of the markets in Northern England also have access to ScotEID. Where Scottish markets are selling breeding stock, they have an obligation to tell buyers the BVD status of the animal. Remember that some diseases, including BVD, can spread easily between pens at a market and consider keeping newly-purchased cattle away from the rest of the herd for the first couple of weeks

• BVD vaccination can reduce risk of infection: your vet will be able to advise  

• double-fencing can stop contact with neighbouring cattle  

• shows: show cattle can catch BVD from others at the event. Some PIs look healthy and if you are very unlucky, cattle in the same class as yours may be carrying the infection. Consider vaccinating your show animals before the show season; your vet will be able to advise

• transport: PIs can be taken directly to slaughter. When a transporter is doing multiple pick-ups of slaughter animals, the PIs must not be unloaded at any of the interim premises before arrival at the slaughterhouse. Ideally, any animals that are known to be BVD positive (PIs or suspect PIs) should be the last animals of a multiple pick-up round. If an emergency arises and BVD positive animals must be unloaded, they must not be allowed to come in to contact with cattle other than those that are also travelling to slaughter. If they have to be unloaded, it is advisable to clean and disinfect any area where BVD positive animals have been before other cattle use the same hard standing or equipment

Legislation

The principle BVD order is The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (Scotland) Order 2019 which sets out the main requirements of the BVD eradication scheme in Scotland.