Farm movements caused Settle cases

29 May 2001



‘Farm movements caused Settle cases’

By FWi staff

MOVEMENTS of people, vehicles, equipment and animals have caused the spread of foot-and-mouth in the Settle area, says the Ministry of Agriculture.

Fourteen of the first 20 outbreaks of the disease so far examined have been linked to these factors, says MAFF.

There have been 31 cases in the Settle cluster.

Farming practices have inadvertently exacerbated the spread, said Chief Scientific Officer David King and Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore.

“Many farms have parcels of land away from home premises, including some fell and moorland,” they said in a statement.

“Consequently, there have been many movements of people, vehicles and equipment, as well as 350 licensed animal movements.

Animal movements, which had been needed to “carry out normal animal husbandry and working practices” have now stopped, they added.

The farms are family-run mixed enterprises with dairy and beef cattle and – almost always – sheep.

It is believed that the source of the outbreak is previously undetected virus in sheep on one of the farms.

Further investigations are continuing in a bid to discover the source of the infection in sheep, and why cattle became infected, says MAFF.

Investigations into six other farms are continuing, but it is expected that they will be linked to the other infected premises.

Meanwhile, another case of foot-and-mouth has been confirmed in Devon, the first for over a week.

The case, near Wembworthy, where 175 cattle and 143 sheep will be culled, is the 166th in the county.

Six new cases were confirmed on Monday (28 May), taking the total number of UK confirmed cases up to 1661.

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