Protection against bovine flu pays off

Animal and human

November 15, 2021

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min.

Author

Martin Roseneder

In addition to the treatment and additional rearing costs, there are the losses due to long-term consequences of the respiratory disease, e.g. reduced fertility, milk and fattening performance.

Even with a comparatively low incidence of bovine influenza of 18 % (of which 12 % of the bulls have mild and 6 % severe influenza), the direct cost-free output per 100 bulls produced falls by more than € 3,400 (> -20 %). This amount is thus not available to cover the farm's fixed costs and thus reduces the profit. Especially in low price phases, a bull fattener can hardly compensate for such losses in the profitability of the business sector - writes Bernd Lühmann 2020.

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