We’re in danger of sounding like a well worn record on bluetongue vaccinations.
But it seems the message FW, vets and others keep giving has not yet sunk in. If you have not seen the bluetongue disease in your area, do not assume you won’t.
Too many UK farmers still believe they can avoid vaccinating because they have no experience of the disease. Thousands of vaccine doses have been wasted, terrible risks taken with the national herd and vets have been left to pick up the bill.
Bluetongue has not been endemic in this country thanks to the sterling efforts to vaccinate by 80 per cent of farmers in the south east and east anglia. They built a firewall of protection that saved the day last year but it is dangerous to rely on the actions of a few when the responsibility should lie with the whole farming community..
Midges are already active in some parts of the country and we need everyone to get behind the jab campaign before turning out livestock. The threat is still there either through windborne incursion or via animals legally brought in from the Continent.
Anyone in any doubt about the risks simply has to look at the devastation in France where 20,000 holdings were hit with BTV8. Look at the map of Europe in this week's issue of the magazine and you will see that the UK fares better that most other countries on the various bluetongue strains.
This year, we should be concerned about BTV8 and the new BTV1 strain because the latter is blighting France farms and threatens to come across the channel. The cold weather is no guarantee to stopping the spread. Vets are warning that midge larvae and possibly adults could have survived the cold snap. It only takes a few days of milder weather for breeding to start with a vengeance and we’ve already seen some of that in the last couple of weeks in the south.
In protecting your farm by vaccinating, you are helping to eradicate the disease nationally. Unlike TB, bluetongue is a problem we can tackle head-on and is not a burden we are forced to live with.
Those who vaccinated their stock last year will simply need to administer a single jab again this year with the booster. Those who did not should give two doses with three weeks in between. Farmers in the south are being encouraged to vaccinate against the BTV1 strain as well.
Taking effective control now and acting collectively demonstrates real understanding of the disease. More importantly it sends a crucial signal to Government that farmers are in charge of their own destiny.