Bluetongue will be back with a vengeance next year, European experience shows

When bluetongue first arrived at Bart Sammels’s small Belgian sheep farm in October 2006, it did not seem too serious.

Out of his flock of 70 pedigree Texel ewes, two appeared a bit unwell, though there were none of the obvious symptoms.

He was, therefore, surprised when one of the ewes dropped dead. But even though it was later confirmed as bluetongue, the other ewe survived, got pregnant again and produced a healthy lamb the following spring.

Mr Sammels half-hoped that that was the end of it.

But then, in July of this year, the virus returned with a vengeance. “It has been far more aggressive this time, affecting most of my flock and wiping out all of my profit,” he said (see table).

It was on the evening of 21 July that Mr Sammels went out to his fields to check on his sheep and found six or seven of them looking very ill.

“My first thought was bluetongue. They had a lot of fever and many were lying down. They were not eating, though many had their heads down to the ground and were salivating. Others had their heads in the water trough – not drinking, just trying to cool the burning inside their mouths.”

Over the next few days the symptoms got worse. The loss of weight was rapid. “Looking at the sheep reminded me of starving people in Ethiopia,” said Mr Sammels.

And then they started dying. “The worst time was coming out to the field that first weekend in August and finding six sheep dead and the rest lying down. At that point I would happily have got out of farming.”

In total 90% of the 70 ewes and 30 shearlings caught the virus and 31 of them perished, a death rate of 35%.

“I fear for British farmers who will have to live with bluetongue next year,” says Belgain sheep farmer Bart Sammels.

Mr Sammels was luckier with the lambs, as these were in a different place, not so close to the wood and stream where the midges were most active. They didn’t totally escape, though, and 25 ewe lambs caught the disease in late August, of which six died.

“I’d already sold the ram lambs to the slaughterhouse,” said Mr Sammels. “They were not ready to go and I took a lower price, but it was the lesser of two evils.”

As time went on, the surviving sheep continued to show symptoms, losing their wool and suffering swollen joints and lameness. But the death rate slowed. “The vets say that days two and nine are the crucial ones, when most deaths occur. Beyond day nine, the chances of survival increase.”

But there are no reliable patterns, says Mr Sammels. “Some sheep that showed the worst symptoms recovered fully and are in lamb again. Others, that looked OK, were dead within a matter of hours.”

There are also doubts about the immunity. “The vets tell us that once a sheep has had the disease, it won’t have it again. But locally, people are saying this is not always the case. It’s another one of the big unknowns.”