Abstract
Approximately 60% of Australia’s beef cattle are located in the vast rangelands of northern Australia. Despite the often low stocking densities and extensive management practices of the observed herd, animal prevalence of BVDV infection and typical rates of transmission are similar to those observed in intensively managed herds in southern Australia and elsewhere in the world. A recent large three- to four-year study of factors affecting the reproductive performance of breeding herds in this region found that where there was evidence of widespread and/or recent BVDV infection, the percentage of lactating cows that became pregnant within four months of calving was reduced by 23%, and calf wastage was increased by 9%. BVDV is now considered the second most important endemic disease affecting beef cattle in northern Australia, costing the industry an estimated AUD 50.9 million annually. Although an effective killed vaccine was released in Australia in 2003, the adoption of routine whole herd vaccination by commercial beef farmers has been slow. However, routine testing to identify persistently infected replacement breeding bulls and heifers has been more widely adopted.
Highlights
60% of Australia’s beef cattle are located in northern Australia, which includes the state of Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the northern part of the state of Western Australia [1].This is a subtropical-tropical region with a characteristic wet and dry season dominated by a summer rainfall pattern
This review focuses on updating the knowledge and understanding of the epidemiology and management of bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) in northern Australia
The stocking rate is generally low, the typical behaviour of cattle in this hot region of Australia, including the daily close congregation of animals around watering points and nutritional supplementation sites, is likely to encourage the transmission of BVDV
Summary
60% of Australia’s beef cattle are located in northern Australia, which includes the state of Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the northern part of the state of Western Australia [1] This is a subtropical-tropical region with a characteristic wet and dry season dominated by a summer rainfall pattern. Two-thirds of cow herds in the northern dry tropical rangelands are continuously mated [1], whereas in the more intensively managed southern areas of this region, herds are control mated, typically for periods of four to seven months. Subgenotype 1c has only been reported in Japan, Chile, Argentina, Spain, and South Africa [4]; the first cattle imported into Australia came from South Africa It has been estimated [5] that approximately 1% of cattle in the Australian national herd are PI.
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