Justin Nelson Nelson & Sons Dimmitt, Texas October, 2006 I am very satisfied with Gold Standard Labs and their services. Turnaround time is very good, their protocol is excellent, and the results are very beneficial. They are very consistent in the job they do. In our operation it has made a huge difference in the sickness and death rates. All calves are ear-notched as they are unloaded here, and we get the samples into the lab right away -- where they have a great turnaround time of about 24 hours or less. Therefore, within just one or two days of arrival, any BVD-PI calves are isolated away from the general population. Because we are able to remove them, the rest of the cattle "straighten out" pretty quickly and don't go through an extended post-arrival lag time; they are able to more quickly develop a good immune system without the constant pressure of re-occurring virus infections from the PI calves. The general population cattle respond better to antibiotic therapy once those PI calves are gone, and are much healthier all around. We've been doing PI-screening on a regular basis for about 12 months now. Our death loss rate has gone from about 6% to just 1.4%, which adds up to thousands of dollars. I am a firm believer in this process and would recommend the services of Gold Standard Labs to anyone in our business, especially those handling the younger, smaller calves, 330 lbs or less. The literature on BVD-PI calves gives about a .4% incidence in the general population, but we are finding it closer to .6% in our younger calves. It seems to be a bigger problem with the younger cattle. I tell anyone who will listen about the advantages of BVD-PI testing with Gold Standard Labs. It has made a big difference in our operation. |
