Keep cattle inside, farmers told

1 April 2001



Keep cattle inside, farmers told

By Jeremy Hunt

FARMERS leader Ben Gill has told livestock producers in Cumbria to keep cattle indoors to minimise the risk of foot-and-mouth disease.

Many producers are coming to the end of their winter feeding supplies and are preparing to turn out stock on to spring grazing pastures.

Mr Gill, who is president of the National Farmers Union, visited livestock producers in Cumbria on Saturday (31 March).

A decision on whether to vaccinate against foot-and-mouth is on hold, he said.

Farmers remain divided on the role vaccination can play in controlling the virus but there is widespread agreement that more information is needed on the issue.

Many sheep farmers believe vaccination can play a role in saving their stock. But the government is only considering vaccination for cattle.

Mr Gill confirmed the governments view that if herds remained indoors they would stand less risk of contracting foot and mouth.

Steve Heaton, north west regional NFU director, said Mr Gill believed farmers would now be asked to keep their herds house.

“Advice to the government has been to hold-off vaccination for the time being.

“We know that a lot of farms are already running short of feed but we hope that within 48-hours a mechanism can be devised to ease that situation.

“We are asking cattle farmers, both beef and dairy, to defer turnout for several weeks,” said Mr Heaton.