Economic Evaluation of Full-Head Test for Enzootic Bovine Leukosis in Japan

概要

In recent years, the number of bovine leukemia cases has increased and economic loss is also increasing. Prevention of infection, early detection and prompt initial response should be put on emphasis. Eliminating positive cows can cause significant economic loss to farm management, so only diseased cows can be removed. Therefore, a possible cleaning process for Japan is to take measures to reduce the positive rate by separating positive cows detected by ELISA or PCR and negative cows. We collected statistical data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Miyagi Ken and estimated the economic loss (H30) due to bovine leukemia in Japan. To clarify the economic burden of sample farmer who performed a full-head test, a simulation was performed through four cases; (1) loss for 10 years without any measures. (2) loss to achieve cleaning in a short period of time basing on eliminating of all positive cows. (3) loss to achieve cleaning in a short period of time basing on the early shipment of all positive breeding cows. (4) loss for 10 years basing on implying a full-head test and separation. The result shows that the economic loss caused by not performing a full-head test was three times that of performing full-head test. Therefore, it is considered necessary to conduct a full- head test. However, the cost of testing costs to small farmers for breeding scale of 10-49 is higher than other farmers. Larger farmers are more able to bear the cost of full-head test.