The prevalence of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) was evaluated in 406 cattle of both sexes and older than 6 months. Animals belonged to 114 small farmers from three rural communities of the province of Espinar, Cusco, Peru. Blood samples were collected according to three age groups (6-12, 13-23, >24 months old). Serum samples were tested for antibodies against BVDV using the viral neutralization test. The 56.2 ± 4.8% (228/406) of samples had antibodies against BVDV. Persistently infected animals were not detected. Antibodies were present in the three age groups, but the highest prevalence (65.4%) was detected in animals older than 24 months of age. The 51.3% (20/39) of young and adult bulls had antibodies against BVDV. Antibodies titers varied from 2 to >256, and high titers (128 to >256) were detected in 42.1% of animals of 13 to >24 months of age. The 86.8% (99/114) of the small farmers had at least one animal seropositive to BVDV.