Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis causes painful respiratory and reproductive disease in cattle, requiring biosecurity and vaccination strategies to protect herd welfare.
IBR causes genuine suffering: the combination of fever, nasal and ocular inflammation, and oral ulceration makes eating, drinking, and breathing painful and difficult. Respiratory distress is particularly severe in some outbreaks. The latency of the virus means that purchased animals can silently introduce infection to naive herds — a single stressed, seropositive animal can trigger an outbreak affecting hundreds. The welfare impact of abortion in late pregnancy is significant for cows, who may show distress behaviours following pregnancy loss. Control through vaccination, biosecurity, and ultimately eradication is both economically and welfare-justified. The availability of DIVA marker vaccines makes eradication feasible without abandoning vaccination-based protection.