Pregnancy rate of heifers bred by an immunotolerant bull persistently infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhoea virus

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Abstract
Twenty four maiden heifers were bred by natural route by a specific immunotolerant bull, that was persistently infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhoea virus (BVD virus). The quality of the bull's semen was normal. Twelve heifers became pregnant in the first oestrus cycle and the remaining twelve in the second oestrus cycle. This leads to the conclusion that such persistently infected bulls may have good fertilisation results. Nevertheless, it is felt that bulls persistently infected with the BVD virus must be excluded from artificial insemination centres because of the risk of introducing BVD virus in a herd by the semen.