Abstract
Summary Bovine leukemia virus (blv) infection and culling of cows in a commercial dairy herd were evaluated to determine whether a relation existed between the 2 factors. Cattle from the study population, a Holstein dairy herd consisting of approximately 400 milking cows, were tested for antibodies to blv, using the agar gel immunodiffusion test, semiannually for 2 years, annually for 2 years, and when cattle were culled. Complete records of blv test results were available for 849 (79%) of the 1, 078 cattle that had at least 1 test during the study period. Using the Cox hazard model, the cull hazard rates (culls/cow-months) were greater for blv seropositive cows than for seronegative cows > 36 months old. Hence, among older dairy cows, blv-infected cows were culled prematurely, compared with uninfected cows.
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