I agree with the article in the farmers weekly and in the farmers gaurdian about it being a good idea to have control zones for Bluetongue over the whole country because it is a problem for us as we have a buthcers shop in which we sell are own meat. we are in the control zoe however the abbatior is outside of it, therefor we cant take any livestock to be killed.

This is the kind of problem that many people have. If they cannot move livestock outside bluetongue control areas to abattoirs outside as they once did, where do you go?

 P.S. I like the picture!

Precisely, they should have thought of some of the problems it would cause first.

Thanks is funny isnt it :-]

Jon Long put a blog post up about this on Friday. He agrees the line needs to move. Does everyone feel like this?

Newark auctioneer Paul Gentry is trying to get as much info as possible on the impact of the control zones in order to strengthen the case for a UK zone. If you agree here's how to get in touch:

 http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2007/10/10/107369/auctioneer-launches-campaign-to-expand-bluetongue-protection-zone.html

Latest rumours are that the bluetongue zone is to be widened (because of more cases). This will pull more farmers under the BT restrictions but it is thought that more abattoirs are in the new zone so it could increase slaughter capacity.

FWIW, I'd love to believe the zone will never reach Wales, but I'm sure that's a pipe dream.  Regardless, it needs to be widened to allow those currently within some relief in being able to move stock and carry on in business.

It's interesting that the ever-heavier burden of legislation has caused so many local abbatoirs and markets to vanish leaving us so vulnerable when a situation like this appears.  This in itself needs to be highlighted when the investigations into the crisis start.

 

I'm really not sure how you can put a circle about an area of the country for this type of disease. I'm sure the midges wont heed DEFRA's dictats. Living close to Wales (and marketing lambs there), I fear we might get the silly situation of England being in a BTV zone and Wales not.

I do not see how the farmers in the present BTV zone can put up with restrictions until summer 2008. It is highly likely the disease will have spread by then anyway. Why not accept the situation based on what has happened in Northern Europe and make the best of a bad job. The primary consideration should be animal welfare, both in terms of feeding stock and sorting out this vaccine asap. Next, farmers' businesses should be considered - how to enable trade, at least in the UK. Whether you get the disease or not depends on bad luck, wind, & temperature and rather less on trading animals.

It would be nice if the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer either came up with some useful suggestions or simply shut up.

The control zone boundaries have indeed moved a little today. Yesterday I was outside, today I'm three quaters in , one quater out , which is probably the worst possible situation. I will have to graze turnips in careful order so as not to move stock from inside to outside and Lord knows what happens if the sheep get out and go the other side of the hedge. I hope the midges can identify district boundaries !

After coming back from the meeting at Ashford Market which was very informative and helped a lot to explain everything. (I look like a plonker if I am wrong in my assumption) but I think its his user name Frank the Wool did a lot of the organising of, as well as explaining everything clearly a lot better than I can, I can understand why they are not pushing for the whole of the UK to be a CZ as I can understand it helping a bit in slowing it down and can appreciate how it must be like for farms outside the area not wanting to go in to it as once they make it larger they can't make it smaller for at least 18 months after the last case. Where we thought both the 2 other options mentioned were better 1 where the area was extended a bit to include more abbatoirs and the 2 which was a special licence to move direct to slaughter outside the zone under strict condition which would be more hastle but probably the better of the 2.

Also a quick thank you to those who were involved in the meeting as it helped a lot in understanding the situation a lot more and I think my dad found it a lot easier to understand than me.

We've got some photos. I will have to post them tomorrow so you can spot yourself!

 On a more serious note thanks for the update. It sounds like a good meeting.

I hope there isn't one of me in it otherwise it'll put people off their food.

Thats ok I am sure there will be others that were present that will explain everything a lot clearer.

I couldn't make it to Ashford for the meeting so any account of what was said is appreciated, haven't got in touch with anyone who may have attended so not up to speed on exact situation. I agree that it would help us if we could move to abattoirs outside zone at least then we wouldn't all be at the mercy of theose inside the zone. I haven't got cattle back from keep yet but will do in a couple of weeks and have got to decide what to do with them, so any information posted on here is greatly appreciated. I'm sure the midges were there seeing what they can do to mess it all up for us even more !!!!!

Heather, I don't think it's the midges that mess it up - those that mess it up are rather larger and spend their working lives in air conditioned offices.

Sorry if I have a rather pessimistic view of BTV, but we had a frost earlier this week. By tea time the midges were still playing! The temperature this evening was 15 degrees C at 7.30pm in Shropshire and we are a third of the way through October. I think we have to get real - or our political masters do! We live with diseases like Chlostridia and Pasteurella and vaccinate accordingly. Thank goodness we didn't have so many restrictions when those vaccines were developed or we may never have had them! Just what is the problem with a dead vaccine? Obviously it must not harm the animal and be effective, but once you get past that stage........?

Frankly, it all boils down to those that take the decisions rarely see an animal any more. They may consult the NFU etc but they are a million miles away from the day to day problems of a farming business. The same goes for politicians generally, - they are professional politicians. Very few of them have lived outside public bodies of some sort or another - or had to earn their own living from a business. You can see that in the way they pass the buck. FMD escapes from Pirbright - oh, but the drains were not DEFRA's responsibility!

I think we have to pull together on this one - affected or not. The auctioneer from Newark wants to know how people are affected by the BTV restrictions. Well, I am not - as far as I know, at present, but would like to add my support. Is there any way I can do this that would be useful to his cause and those trapped in the restricted zone?