Bovine leukosis control measures

Bovine leukosis is one of the most common infectious diseases of farm animals, causing significant economic damage due to a decrease in production of livestock products, premature culling and slaughter of cows and servicing bulls. The disease needs special attention and control on behalf of the on-farm veterinarians and zootechnicians. The article briefly describes epizootic situation on bovine leukosis in the Russian Federation in 2004–2020. It also includes a report on the disease situation in “Sibirskaya Niva” LLC (the Irkutsk Oblast) for 2015–2021 and assesses effectiveness of health support and disease prevention measures taken on the farm. The paper gives a brief description of the agricultural establishment: its zoosanitary status as well as zootechnical, veterinary, therapeutic and preventive measures (disinsection, deratization, vaccination). Based on the data obtained, we found the ultimate cause of bovine leukosis on the farm: presumably, these were crossbred animals brought into the farm. In order to eradicate the disease, “Sibirskaya Niva” LLC has developed a plan on health support and disease prevention, which includes veterinary, zootechnical and economic measures. Thus, due to the actions taken from 2015 to 2019, the number of infected cows and heifers reduced by 6.42 and 2.78 times, correspondingly. At the same time, the overall number of infected animals decreased by 9.9%. Task-oriented measures taken by the state veterinary services made it possible to steadily reduce the number of infected animals by 2020. The comprehensive approach embracing the farm peculiarities has proven to be effective to quickly eliminate bovine leukosis, as the above-mentioned agricultural establishment exemplified it.

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