My calculations are that i require 80 doses to cover all the stock, rams, ewes & lambs, and hogs. As i would like to be able to move outside of the PZ once the post vaccinating period is up, i guess the cheapest option would be to get my vet to do the job and certify the sheep as vaccinated.

If you look at the, as ever, helpful advice on vaccination on DEFRA's website you will find that it says that for post-vaccination movements out of the PZ you will have to have some form of certification from your vet or your vet will have to administer the vaccine (and probably record the tag numbers of the animals vaccinated).  It also says for the details to look at the movement guidance section.

If you take this advice you will probably not be astounded to find the following advice:

Livestock vaccinated with an inactivated BTV vaccine will be able to move subject to specific conditions. However as vaccination is not currently available in the UK this option in not presently available to the industry.

I fear that, although someone in DEFRA may know what exactly these specific conditions will be, they're not letting on to we poor sods at the sharp end.  Perhaps they're waiting for a new Chief Vet to be appointed before they can release such sensitive information!

Hopefully, anyone wanting to have their stock certified as vaccinated shouldn't actually need to have their stock vaccinated by the vet, just have a vet "supervise" the vaccination. I'm not entirely sure what form this supervision may take, but it may be that they have to watch the first few being sone to be satisfied you're doing the job right, or they may want to see the whole lot done - if that's the case and you're simply paying them to stand there you may as well pay them to jab them too!!

Alternatively and it is a long shot, those that have good relationships with their vet may simply be able to achieve certification by returning the empty vaccine vials along with a list of the vaccinated animals. Like I say, its a long shot, but how many vets will have time to stand and watch vaccination being done?

Meanwhile, the likelihood is vaccine WILL be available in the early part of next week. I have no idea how much will come, but reading between the lines it could be enough to do the high risk area as per DEFRA's priority map - note this differs from the protection zones, so some may have to wait a while longer than others. 

 Jonathan Long, Livestock Editor, FW

It seems that the DEFRA pages on vaccination were updated on 25 April without fanfare.  The vaccination page http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/bluetongue/control/vaccination/index.htm gives details of the rules that will apply to movements after vaccination (notably the 60 day period between vaccination and permitted movement out of the PZ) and the level of certification required.  Briefly, in all cases the licence must be accompanied by a self-certification (Annex 2) dealing with the location of the animals before movement etc.. 

For movement to an SZ or free area within England or the Welsh Control Zone there will need to be a veterinary declaration which certifies that the amount of vaccine prescribed was sufficient to vaccinate the numbers kept and that evidence of empty bottles has been seen (Annex 4).

For movement to free areas in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or intra community, the vet certificate at Annex 3 must be completed, which certifies that the vet has administered the vaccine.

The licence itself and the various annexes is at http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/bluetongue/pdf/exd479-080425.pdf. Presumably this will be the final version but it is still marked DRAFT. 

Maybe different between Wales and England and out here we will be last to get the vaccine, but I was chatting to my vet about this last week.  It seems the vets are obliged to verify who's been vaccinating and how much they've used.  At the very minimum they take the bottles back and measure how much, if any, is left.  I get the impression they are worrying that there will be comeback if people haven't been vaccinating properly so they will be thinking hard about how well they know their clients to trust they will be administering properly.

DEFRA will hopefully make an announcement later today regarding the release of vaccine and that could mean vaccine is available as early as tomorrow (it will travel overnight to vets).

However, as some of you will know there have been rumours circulating about the vaccine only being available initially in 20ml bottles. As far as I understand it this is correct in so much as the first 1m doses will come in 20ml bottles with the next 2m doses coming in 50ml bottles. There was going to be a fivee day gap in between the release of the two batches of vaccine, but its quite possible that since the first batch has been delayed the gap will be significantly shorter or the two batches may be released simultaneously. We are waiting for clarification from DEFRA on this.

 Jonathan Long, Livestock Editor, FW

It now look's like DEFRA will be making its announcement tomorrow morning, delaying the delivery of vaccine by another day. This will of course still be earlier than we originally expected it to arrive, but it is increasingly frustrating as we have been expecting an announcement and hence vaccine delivery since the middle of last week and every day that goes by is another day for stock to potentially become infected.

There also appears to be some blame shifting going between the various parties involved, so they're sat there arguing while we all face the prospect of stock becoming infected with one of the most devastating diseases known. Great!

What's new! They don't give a tinker's toss anyway, the more livestock they can do away with, the better!

top tup:

There also appears to be some blame shifting going between the various parties involved

We had a form from our vets earlier in the year about mid march to give them an estimated number of doses required and earlier this week had another come asking for the actual amount we would like. Now all we have to do is get either a mini fridge or a sh one too keep it in when it comes as our normal one is usually brusting as it is.

For Scottish farmers the government will be paying half the price of vaccination... pretty interesting...

SJK,

 best bet is not to have it all at once unless you're going to use it all in one go. We're vaccinating tomorrow, so I guess your vaccine will be along shortly if you've not already had "the call" already! Best of luck with it, here's hoping it all goes to plan.

 Jonathan Long, FW Livestock Editor

I had "the call" last night, the vet wants the vaccine collected asap, so i'll pick it up today and store it until saturday when i can get everyone done in an hour or two. Hopefully my lot are being shorn tomorrow, which will make vaccinating a lot easier (anyone with Greyface Dartmoors will know what i mean!)