NFU – Schmallenberg could be a ‘catastrophe’

The Schmallenberg virus has the potential to become a catastrophe in the UK, according to NFU livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh.

The virus has now hit 58 UK farms across 11 counties in the south of England and spread to more than 1,000 farms across Europe as a whole.

Mr Mackintosh told a conference seminar that a campaign which matched the effort and co-ordination of the one which tackled bluetongue, was needed to tackle the Schmallenberg virus.

“Any suspicious cases must be reported. Without this information we will not build an accurate picture and we need that to drive the vaccine development and production process,” Mr Mackintosh said.

Delegate and sheep farmer Frank Langrish who farms in Kent said cases were growing quickly and many of his neighbouring farms had suffered.

“Ewes scanned in lamb are empty. The losses are 10% from reabsorption alone. Deformed lambs account for another 15%,” Mr Langrish said.

“It will be worse than bluetongue. We don’t even have a vaccine,” he added.

See our special pages on the NFU Conference and elections 2012

For more background and information go to our Schmallenberg dedicated page

Give your view on the situation on our Schmallenberg forum