Baaa ..... Humbug.

The cold winds do blow and we shall have snow ....and the Bluetongue midges - according to DEFRA decree today - will bite no more for a while. At least, this is what we and the midges have been told and the farmers, desperate to do some moving of stock at last, are not going to argue.

But what about the future of those sheep still abiding in the fields? How are they to be kept from succumbing to the Bluetongue infection-carrying culicoides of next Spring?

In its usual mixture of ponderous bossiness and defensiveness, DEFRA says:

"In keeping with the principles set out in the Bluetongue Control Strategy,which was developed in partnership with the farming industry, livestock keepers will be offered the opportunity to purchase vaccine from the vaccine bank..."

Which is all very well if you are one of the relatively well-off cattle farmers. Values have held up this year and will be expected to continue to do so next year. A farmer with a thousand head of beef cattle or 500 dairy cattle can be thought wealthy compared to the sheep farmers. But a sheep farm with a thousand ewes is not a wealthy farm at all. It's running at a loss and this year has been disastrous.

If we consider such a farm with 1000+ adult sheep, there will be nearly 2000 lambs just at the very time that bluetongue is going to return with a vengeance - as it did in Northern Europe this year. The virulence of its return there took everyone by surprise. If the vaccine is ready, now that a firm order has at last been placed by England (but not Wales or Scotland) 2 doses per animal at 50p a dose is the best case scenario. Sheep farmers like this then will be required to find £3000 to protect their animals - but these are animals who are worth pitiful amounts now. If vaccine turns out to be £1 a dose they will need £6000.

They simply cannot afford it.

DEFRA seems wilfully ignorant of just how miserable the past months and years have been. Sheep farmers will simply give up - and having to take the decision to do so will be the worst kind of painful nightmare for them.

And for the country? We tend to take for granted the rural way of life and the sights and sounds of upland Britain. The uplands are there; a pastoral idyll to believe in. Most of us do not have to work to maintain it. But we treasure it and life is better just knowing that it is there.

How many people realise that an entire way of life is on a knife edge and the uplands could soon disappear? Does DEFRA understand this? As the Yorkshire farmer Alistair Davy says,

" if you want to see the future, just look at the west coast of Scotland .. the farmers had no other industry to rely on, ...all the animals have gone ......if the sheep and the cows are no longer grazing, it wouldn't take long for it to become impenetrable with bracken and bramble. For the last few years, the true picture of the problems facing agriculture have been masked..."

And why are the sheep farmers being told to pay when they simply do not have the means? The EU Commissioners have agreed to fund the first year's vaccination campaign with 100% costs of vaccines and 50% of the costs.

When DEFRA officialdom was challenged on this, the reply came back that if the UK accepted this offer there would be “other costs that would probably be greater". "Other costs" ?

Perhaps one reason why DEFRA has been so very silent on the question of the Brussels offer is because funding for vaccination is conditional on the traceability of the vaccinated animals. The EU has been very sniffy indeed about the UK's dithering over this. The UK's plans for a National Livestock database has been sputtering along for years.

In 2004, "Identifying and Tracking Livestock in England " was published by the National Audit Office (pdf). Pages 45 and 46 of that document show how - for years on end - previous reports from several different concerned bodies, had followed one after another, all urging an efficient system of traceability. In spite of this endless procession of good intentions, nothing of worth materialised. In February 2004, following the NAO report, the Public Accounts Committee gave Sir Brian Bender and co the sort of hard time that never gets reported in the media and ought to be. One Treasury Minute response to the PAC conclusions also makes fascinating reading. Mr Gerry Steinberg, Labour MP for the city of Durham, prophetically asked Sir Brian Bender:

"You will not be coming back in two years' time and saying 'Well, the IT was difficult, we could not get the software'....?"

That was 2004. Sir Brian couldn't get the software.....

But it's the farmers who must now pay for this and other catalogues of failure.

We have to vaccinate the sheep. Other European countries are not in our situation. There, the cattle far outnumber the sheep and vaccinating the cattle and some sheep should confer a degree of protection on the whole animal population. 80% will do it. But in Britain the ratio of cattle to sheep is more like 25:75, the other way round. If sheep farmers can't afford to vaccinate then the sheep are not going to be vaccinated. That means that even of the cattle farmers do vaccinate the disease is not going to be stopped. Where are DEFRA's "other costs" then? It will cost many animals their lives and farmers their livelihoods. It will cost us the uplands. Bluetongue will be the death of sheep farming unless we can get the sheep vaccinated.

Cannot some way be found simply to by-pass DEFRA with all its inefficiency, its failure to comprehend farming, disease and its pitifully inadequate grasp of technology, virology and vaccination? Unless funding can somehow pass direct from the EU to the sheep farmers this will be the last Christmas for many whose simple satisfaction was to see their sheep safely graze.

Most recent warmwell Bluetongue Posts

(full details ans links at warmwell.com)

December 21 ~ DEFRA confirms VFP

The vector-free period for Bluetongue disease has been declared from Thursday 20 December, "allowing relaxation of certain movement restrictions in relation to the control of Bluetongue". See Defra website and Farmers Guardian

December 21 ~ "We deserve an explanation"
We understand that Defra has said that if the UK took up the offer of EC funding for vaccination, there would be “other costs” that would probably be greater. "Other costs" - to what does this refer? An emailer writes,
"We deserve an explanation. Does this refer to traceability, surveillance and accountability, all dependent on a competent government department capable of communicating and handling data?
If Defra reject the offer and make livestock keepers pay while at the same time allow low levels of vaccination putting all at risk, without true and comprehensive consultation, then Defra must take full financial and moral responsibility for the consequences to all livestock keepers."The way DEFRA is reacting to the crisis is irregular to say the least. Its officials are behaving as if wholly unaware of the real feeling in the farming community, and the policy threatens to pose far more risk than it aims to solve.

21 December 2007 ~ "It is understood that following an extensive surveillance programme, Defra will announce the amnesty on restrictions in the coming weeks."
The Farmers Guardian reports that Defra will announce the amnesty on restrictions in the coming weeks.
"....The relaxation will allow farmers in the zones to move animals into disease-free areas, both in the UK and the EU, easing the immediate pressure on the livestock industry. With no new cases of the disease in domestic livestock for almost a month, many farmers are now urging Defra to scale back the restrictions and allow farm-to-farm movements....." The article repeats that farmers will have to pay for the vaccine and that "With demand likely to outstrip supply, Defra are currently consulting with stakeholders on how a vaccination strategy can be put in place."

21 December 2007 ~ "Defra are currently consulting with stakeholders on how a vaccination strategy can be put in place"
Once again, we are concerned at the use of the word "stakeholders". The "stakeholders" with whom DEFRA are consulting - Defra’s selected “core group”- do not represent small and family farms, smallholders or companion animal keepers.
The Department's recent announcement of voluntary, rather than compulsory, vaccination has not been widely discussed, and a large portion of the livestock, veterinary and scientific sectors would not agree to support it - if they were to be given the chance of being consulted.
21 December 2007 ~ German exporter's checks for Bluetongue before exporting the Middlesborough cow

We have been sent a pdf file that the 35 dairy cattle for breeding that arrived on December 1st had certification that appeared correct. One cow was PCR and Elisa positive The importer said there had been insecticide treatment on the 5th and 11th of November. PCR carried out on the sample on 23rd November was negative. As Sabine Zentis says below, " The only way animals can be moved safely is either to buy a vaccinated animal or an animal that has tested positive for antibodies but negative for the virus."

20 December 2007 ~ More imported Bluetongue infected cows - from the Netherlands

20 imported cows on a farm in Worcester. They have all been killed - but this does not seem to have been done in order to avoid enlarging the zones (Worcester is already within the Surveillance zone). It seems a pity that it was thought necessary to kill these cows. In winter, the chances of a midge biting one, becoming infected and passing the infection on are surely very remote? Were the cows actually still infectious as well as previously infected? (Comment welcome - comment received) What is certain is that infected livestock cannot spread the disease to other animals directly.
The Farmers Guardian reports that " ...The NFU have now called on Defra to ban imports from EU bluetongue zones until they have developed a strategy to ensure that imported livestock can be properly policed..." and the Worcester News also has the story. (The news was not on the DEFRA website at when we reported on this at 2 p.m.....and still had not, nearly three hours later. Now, this evening, it has appeared.)

20 December 2007 ~ "How is infection maintained during the colder time of the year?"

asks Sabine Zentis on ProMed ".......BTV-8 is different in that many more cattle show severe clinical signs of disease in a way not experienced in any other outbreak of bluetongue. What are the long term effects on cattle health and productivity? What are the effects on the fetus, depending on the state of pregnancy of the dam when infected? Is re-infection with the same serotype on a wide scale possible, as allegedly experienced by some farmers?....."
In reply to her questions and comments, the moderator says
"... Direct and closer contact between field and laboratory, farm and researcher is required. The livelihood of thousands (probably more than 10 000; the absence of exact figures is another manifestation of the deficient investigation effort) of animal breeders in 8 European countries has been severely affected by BTV-8 since its initial discovery (Belgium, August 2006). Animal suffering is another issue.
.... prospects for 2008 are rather bleak, particularly in areas -- such as Wales and Scotland, but also in other vast regions -- where large populations of susceptible animals may be exposed to BTV-8 for the 1st time next year [2008], while their preventive vaccination has not yet been secured....." Read posting and commentary in full on ProMed

Dec 20 2007 ~ "with new tags it is asking flies to attack sheep as soon as they smell blood "

Traceability of sheep. The EU decision to bring in electronic tagging for sheep at the end of 2009 is discussed on the opposite page For most UK farmers, as Neil Parish says, the cost is going to be out of proportion to the financial value of the animals. " We are simply not there yet with the technology needed to make this work. Cast ewes are worth only a few pounds, so how can farmers afford to tag them with microchips and purchase expensive readers?" he says. An email today points out that ear tags not only hurt the animals when they are put in or torn out, they also attract midges. " I always used antiseptic spray but I doubt very much that the commercial farmer will spend even more money buying spray for every ear they tag .... ear tags in any animal can only be a danger in attracting all sorts of flies and midges in warm weather." (email)

Thursday 20 Dec 2007 ~ UK sheep are not traceable in the way cattle are - but it is vital that they are vaccinated.

One of the conditions for EU funding for vaccination would seem to be the traceability of the vaccinated animals. (As we noted below this is a possibility for UK silence on the subject of the EU's agreement to fund the first year's vaccination programme. The EU took away our derogation on double tagging because the European Union’s Food and Veterinary Office considered neither UK sheep identification nor the UK's enforcement of the system adequate ) Sheep are not traceable in the way cattle are - but, as Ruth Watkins has pointed out,
"this did not stop the Italians and others from achieving over 80% vaccination against BTV and showing this was sufficient to control the infection (they suffer from repeated reintroduction by midges on the wind)." The ratio of cattle to sheep in Germany and France is probably almost 80:20 anyway so if they vaccinated all cattle sheep may hardly be sufficient to maintain BTV. In the UK, however, the ratio of cattle to sheep is more like 25:75, - ie the other way round. It is essential for us to vaccinate our sheep.

19 Dec 2007 ~ The German veterinary organisation is requesting compulsory vaccination for all bovines

UPDATE We see that the french press have publicised the Commission's agreement to finance the bluetongue vaccination campaign - and yet, like the UK, Germany too appears to be ignoring this and is planning to make cattle farmers pay for the vaccine and administration themselves.- There are about 2.4 million sheep and 13 million cows in Germany. In the UK there are 10.3 million cattle and over 33.3 million sheep. (Cattle have to be vaccinated twice) One wonders how on earth any vaccination "plan" that tells farmers vaccination is voluntary and must be paid for can reduce disease or have any impact on the spread of the virus. We understand that the German veterinary organisation is requesting compulsory vaccination for all bovines - and wonder if our own veterinary societies will manage to speak out.

19 Dec 2007 ~ Firm UK vaccine order placed for 22.5 million doses. Farmers to be asked to pay for it in spite of EU agreeing to contribute costs

DEFRA has at last placed a firm order for 22.5 million doses of Bluetongue vaccine . The order has been placed only with Intervet. See News release. We note with some concern the sentence: "In keeping with the principles set out in the Bluetongue Control Strategy, which was developed in partnership with the farming industry, livestock keepers will be offered the opportunity to purchase vaccine from the vaccine bank. " - this seems odd when we now know that the EU is underwriting the cost of vaccine and half the cost of the administration next year. See below. Does DEFRA consider that, because the "control strategy" was developed "in partnership" with those members of the farming industry who make up the "core" stakeholders, that this entitles DEFRA to continue to ask all affected farmers to pay? We'd welcome any emailed comment or explanation about why DEFRA still feels it necessary to ask farmers to pay for the vaccine.

Dec 19 ~DEFRA "more likely they will want farmers to pay for it from the start and get used to doing so, as the EU won't pick up the tab for ever .."

"...and UK Govt. certainly don't want to either." One of several answers to the question above came from Jane Barribal: "The whole thing is so damn ridiculous and becomes more farcical by the day. The farmers I speak to now (in and out of the zones) are totally sick of all the restrictions and rubbish from DEFRA. They just want the vaccine manufactured ASAP and to be able to buy it wherever they are without any restrictions. Basically, just want to be left alone to get on with farming."

Wednesday 19 Dec 2007 ~ questions over the safety of allowing animals from EU bluetongue zones into free areas of the UK.
The Farmers Guardian reports that an investigation is underway to determine how the infected cow passed a veterinary inspection in Germany before being exported here. It is surprising that so few seem to understand the nature of the disease, spread only by the bite of an infected female midge of the culicoides family. It does not pass from animal to animal and the only viable way to prevent its spread is vaccination with the appropriate BTv-8 strain of vaccine. As Sabine Zentis points out below, "I am sure the blood test done on this animal prior to export would have returned a negative result. But, as always, between sampling and export there are approximately 10 days and during this time a lot can happen...."
The only way animals can be moved safely is either to buy a vaccinated animal or an animal that has tested positive for antibodies but negative for the virus. Read Frau Zentis' email in full.
It will be interesting to see what the meeting convened by the EU Commission in Brussels ( in the Charlemagne building) on 16 January 2008 will bring forth. We are very relieved to know that Frau Zentis and another eminent member of ELA will be attending this meeting.

Tuesday 18 Dec 2007 ~ The EU committee agreed yesterday to contribute to the costs for vaccination.

We understand that Markos Kyprianou has agreed that the EU will contribute to the costs of vaccination. Countries have to submit their vaccination plans before the middle of January. We are told, "This is for 2008, it is not clear if this is also for 2009"
We wonder whether DEFRA will be communicating this information. The Commission's article 3 of 90/424/EEC provides 100% compensation for vaccine and 50% of costs for the first year of emergency vaccination at least, but this somehow never seems to be mentioned in DEFRA news releases. Instead, we read in the November 13th Statement by Mr Benn, that "......we are developing a detailed vaccination plan for approval by the European Commission and livestock keepers will be offered the opportunity to purchase vaccine from the bank. to buy vaccine."
Perhaps this will now change.

Monday December 17 ~ BVA says rules make no sense

"We're taking a huge risk.." Vets are questioning how it can be that livestock can still be imported from the continent where there have been thousands of cases of bluetongue disease, while farmers are restricted over where they can sell animals within this country. On Farming Today (Listen again) Anna Hill hears the concerns of the British Veterinary Association which believes the current EU rules just don’t make sense. (Warmwell transcript Nick Blayney says "We have a small window of opportunity where with proper use of vaccine we may be able to eradicate this disease." but can anyone tell us whether the 20 million doses have yet been actually and definitely ordered and if so, from which companies? )
UPDATE One emailer writes,
"Are you sure that Nick Blayney’s last word was “culled”? Or was it “cold”? I’ve played it over and over and can’t tell! “ …Thank goodness it was culled." I would also challenge Defra’s lack of willingness to attempt to change EU and OIE regulations."

Dec 15 2007 ~ "If DEFRA feel it is safe to forego the declaration of new control and surveillance zones around the Middlesborough cow, then people ought to be free to move animals out of the Surveillance zone into the unrestricted areas without expensive testing."

It is difficult not to be in full agreement with this email - which continues,
"This is not allowed to farmers . Yet is allowed for DEFRA, without explanation given. (They have also missed part of the South Coast of England off the restriction zone when it looks like it is within 150 km of France. The edge of the red area on the EU map should be continuous across the channel.)" Animals are, at present, allowed between premises in the protection zone, and from the surveillance zone to the protection zone but no animals have been allowed to move out of the zones. After the onset of the vector free period (and see below that Germany is not declaring one at all this year) UK animals can only move out of the surveillance zone to an unrestricted zone when expensive tests for virus or antibodies have been done at prescribed times (14 days for PCR testing and 28 days for antibody testing after the start of the VFP).

Saturday Dec 15 2007 ~ Vaccine for Wales

"Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones has written to Hilary Benn to join the tendering process and order 2.5 million doses of bluetongue vaccine which will be made available for purchase by livestock keepers in Wales on a voluntary basis....The European Commission has declared that vaccination will be permitted only inside a bluetongue Protection Zone. The Welsh Assembly Government has the power to declare a Protection Zone within Wales if it is considered that enabling vaccination would benefit disease control. The Minister said:
"There have been no cases of bluetongue in Wales to date but given the unpredictability of this disease I am determined that we have resources available to us should they be required." www.egovmonitor.com

Saturday Dec 15 2007 ~ email received from Sabine Zentis about the imported cow found to be infected with Bluetongue in Middlesborough

Extract: "I am sure the blood test done on this animal prior to export would have returned a negative result. But, as always, between sampling and export there are approximately 10 days and during this time a lot can happen....... with regard to the vector free period, for Germany the Government has declared there will be no vector free period this year..... People should get real; the only way animals can be moved safely is either to buy a vaccinated animal or an animal that tested positive for antibodies but negative for the virus...." Read email in full.

Friday December 14 2007 ~ UK imports Bluetongue infected cow.
The unfortunate cow came from inside a Protection Zone in Lower Saxony and, says DEFRA, "was detected through routine post-import testing carried out on all bluetongue susceptible animals entering the UK"
DEFRA announces that the farm near Middlesbrough has been placed under restrictions, adding that the BTv Protection Zone is not going to include the area at present and there will be no changes.
" the cow will be culled as it potentially provides a source of infection for the local midge population, and therefore other animals." , Comments about this, (and in particular the decision to kill the cow and its likely infectivity to any hardy midges,) would be welcome.
UPDATE See below. (We also hear that the cow has been there for 2 weeks)

Friday December 14 2007 ~ The cow "..should never have received papers for export."

Once again, we are very grateful to Dr Ruth Watkins for her view, sent to warmwell this evening:
"If the midge free period has not been declared, the period when there is no transmission, then the farm should be in a control zone surrounded by a surveillance zone. There is no mention of when the cow entered the country. She should never have been exported from the protection zone anyway. She should never have received papers for export. Culling her does not preclude the epidemiological steps that should be taken.
I notice that part of the South coast of Britain should really be in a surveillance zone, 150 km from France but is not.
When DEFRA insists British farmers keep to rules that it flouts without explanation it loses further credibility."

Friday December 14 2007 ~ "Member States agreed that the deadline for submitting their vaccination plans for 2008 to the Commission could be 31 January 2008"

Here is the report of the Working Group on an EU harmonised strategy on vaccination against Bluetongue, Brussels 3 December 2007. It includes each Member State's preliminary estimates on vaccine needs against Bluetongue.

Friday December 14 2007 ~ "Vaccines producers provided assurance that they have enough production capacity to supply vaccines for mass vaccination in the EU "

Short report of the meeting on November 21st with the vaccine producers. The report conatins a preliminary indication of the capacity for vaccine supply of each producer.
A report from the meeting on November 5th on an EU harmonised strategy on vaccination can be seen on this pdf file.

Thursday December 13 2007 ~ Most recent UK bluetongue report (No. 10) does report 66 confirmed BT outbreaks.

We reported 66 on December 8th. The OIE "Wahid Interface" shows the latest update from Fred Landeg, sent on the 6th December, confirms this number.
As an emailer drily remarks, "DEFRA’s people who are charged with updating the website probably haven’t been told yet. ..."

Thursday December 13 2007 ~" it will be impossible for the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly to enjoy the benefit of having a full range of options at its disposal if it has not ordered vaccine and there is none to hand.."

Kim Haywood of the NBA is quoted in Stackyard today in an article that also suggests that Defra may be prepared to extend the current protection zone to cover all of England’s counties so that any cattle or sheep farmer can take part in a cross-England vaccination protection programme.
Kim Haywood said, "Decisions are easier in England because the disease is already circulating within its borders while in Scotland and Wales there is still debate on whether there will ever be a bluetongue outbreak and the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly has yet to decide whether to order any vaccine.” (More)

Thursday December 13 2007 ~ "Get vaccine for bluetongue now" Daily Post

The Welsh newspaper quotes a Belgian sheep farmer, Jan Van Grinderachter, who has been talking to members the Suffolk Sheep Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Club "Some animals you see and think will die, but they survive. Others look OK and two days later they are dead,” he said and added that treatment should not be started until symptoms are seen because fever is needed to kickstart the immune system. New needles for each case is essential. He urged farmers not to get stock too fat and ensure they receive adequate vitamins and minerals to strengthen immune systems. He said: “If they have a reserve of vitamin E and selenium it helps.”
"Symptoms include excessive saliva – a “white beard” – and bulging of eyes. Often there’s blood in nasal mucus, inflammation of the mouth, oedema, lameness and stiffness, doziness and loss of appetite. Read article ( the writer's reference to "inactive vaccine" means , of course, "inactivated" vaccine.)

Thursday December 13 2007 ~ ProMed's BTV-8 Update for week 48 (26 Nov - 2 Dec 2007)

Sabine Zentis has compiled for ProMed an update of the situation in Europe which can be seen on ProMed here 44 271 outbreaks of BTV serotype 8 have been reported in Europe since the beginning of July 2007.
Frau Zentis' report from Germany describes the severe losses in one flock of dairy sheep. It also suggests strongly that fallow deer, reported not to have shown symptoms, can throw off the disease quickly. A letter from Germany to the Vet Record reports the death of an alpaca and, although the cause of death is not definitively proved, "PCR revealed sequences of bluetongue virus in tissue samples (blood, lymph nodes and spleen), whereas no sequences of ovine herpesvirus type 2 were detectable"

Wednesday December 12 2007 ~ Has vaccine been ordered or not? The government still "plan to make an announcement on the outcome shortly."

When Bill Wiggin asked what effect the decision to suspend the SAPO licence at Merial would have on the production of a bluetongue vaccine, Jonathan Shaw's reply was virtually the same as that given before - that it was "too early to say", that the suspension of the SAPO licence didn't prevent Merial from conducting "development of a bluetongue vaccine" and that "We are currently considering bids from all three companies that were submitted following our recent tendering exercise and we plan to make an announcement on the outcome shortly."
Yet we knew in the middle of November that Merial had already produced the ‘master virus seed’, used to make the active part of the finished vaccine and that the large scale production of finished vaccine was to switch to its Lyons plant. European Commission health spokesman Philip Tod said Brussels was working with the relevant authorities to ‘speed up the marketing authorisation process'.
Since vaccine was acknowledged to be the only logical way forward and that it would, according to Bernard Vallat in March, be "very, very useful to have a vaccine ready to be used in all Europe by the Spring of 2008", the way governments and the EU have responded to this issue can hardly be termed "speeded up".

Dec 12 2007 ~ Animal disease cost sharing consultation launched yesterday

In spite of the widespread view that the government's decision to press on with this is "divorced from reality" DEFRA has launched its "Consultation on responsibility and cost sharing for animal Health and welfare: next steps – your views matter ".
The aim is to get farmers to contribute to the cost of diseases such as foot-and-mouth and bluetongue.
"....This comes at a time when the whole of the livestock sector is in severe economic crisis. To suggest now that the industry should be picking up additional costs from government is divorced from reality.”The statement from 28 organisations including the National Farmers’ Union, National Pig Association, British Poultry Council, National Beef Association and National Sheep Association (See FWi) says that costs must be minimised and a genuine joint responsibility for animal disease policy must be established before there is any question of sharing them.

Dec 12 2007 ~"....it is surely crazy for Defra to suggest that it should achieve its spending cut targets simply by transferring costs to the industry..."

In the Lords on Thursday, the Earl of Caithness asked why farming should pick up the cost of managing an outbreak from a body that cannot even manage its own laboratory safely and whose management skills and efficiency are so lacking:
"...I understand that it costs the Government nearly six times as much per head to collect sheep for TSE testing as it does for the National Fallen Stock Company to collect equivalent casualty animals. If Defra needs to save a lot of money, which it does, it should look to more efficient ways of carrying out the work, rather than simply handing a bill to the industry..."Again, we quote Dr Roger Breeze in the paper "Industry Cost Sharing"
"Industry cannot negotiate meaningfully if its "negotiation" comments are only responses to proposals and goals of the government." Since it is virtually impossible for farmers to get insurance against exotic animal disease, the present consultation simply adds to the burdens and worries faced by so many. As we saw in August, (www.financemarkets.co.uk) "insurers are failing farmers by not offering insurance cover for the impact of foot and mouth disease....there is little insurance protection for loss following an incidence of foot and mouth..."

Dec 10 2007 ~ Accuracy of Bluetongue presentations reporting is questioned

The official presentations on the ScoFCAH meeting in Brussels last week can be downloaded here - but one of our correspondents from Germany is sceptical and says he is
".... quite angry: the numbers are completely out..! There you can read: 17,091 sheep ill, 32% letality, 3% "stamped out", - which would mean nearly 6,000 dead sheep in the whole of Germany.
As far as I know, estimated by officials from its regional ministry, there are more than 20,000 dead sheep and 2,000 dead cattle in North Rhine-Westphalia alone!" (Letality is a word we do not recognise. For the benefit of fellow ignoramuses we'd very much appreciate a definition. Is it exactly the same as "mortality"?)
UPDATE kind emailer writes, "I think the word letality must come from "lethal" and if you look at page 4 of the document attached (sorry about its size) this would appear to mean mortality. The term stamping out really shouldn’t be used here. Did this not come from culling to stamp out further spread of a disease – FMD? I think the German document means by stamping out to destroy (or put down) animals rather than animals that died."

Dec 8 2007 ~ There are now 66 premises on which Bluetongue has been found (Defra website not yet updated) in the existing Protection Zone.

There are no changes to the zones. UK zones will be aligned to mainland Europe zones and this should facilitate movement between zones when live export resumes. By Monday 10th DEFRA expects to have news on its website about permission for movements between premises on the same holding but which are within 5 miles either side of a restricted area border, since at present the border line sometimes actually cuts through farms.
Official news of the vaccination order is imminent. We hear that announcements are nearly ready on the potential declaration of a vector free period and the allowance of movements of animals to live out of restricted zones. Testing requirements for such movements and the associated measures will make them unviable for many if not all commercial flocks but it might be of help for high value pedigree animals. (Our thanks for this to the NSA's update. The information above is partly paraphrased from it.)

Dec 7 2007 ~ Worries that BTV-8 in the north of France and BTV-1 in the South might meet and cause even more problems are probably groundless

Expert opinion seen by Warmwell has this to say: "I tend to lean towards Ruth's view that the co-circulation of 2 serotypes does not mean increased virulence or heightened disease risk. There can be exchange of genetic material (recombination) between 2 serotypes in the field but as far as is known these will, firstly, be minuscule (in evolutionary terms) and, secondly, have never spawned a "supervirulent" new serotype of BTV (nor led to sudden elevated virulence within a known serotype) i.e. the genes linked to virulence are highly conserved."

Dec 7 2007 ~ 20 million doses have been ordered by DEFRA for England

Latest information (unable to find this yet on the internet) is that the UK has ordered 20 Million doses for England, and that vaccination - according to current legislation - will only be allowed in the protection zone (the blue bits). More as soon as we hear.



Dec 7 2007 ~ "Let them eat hay"

The Daily Post reports,
" the industry is beginning to think the unthinkable.....crisis-hit Welsh farming has evoked the spectre of the Scottish Clearances as the industry “fights for its life” amid spiralling gloom." The unthinkable indeed - but when there is so evidently an irritated disdain for farming among several powerful, urban politicians, it is a thought that keeps recurring. As Newbury's Richard Benyon said in Tuesday's debate: "... one of my constituents telephoned the DEFRA office to ask what he should do with the 1,400 lambs that he had to move that week. He was asked, "Well, haven't you got any hay for them?" ..." (Tuesday's debate on DEFRA)

December 7 2007 ~ "work is being done at Tetracore to develop test reagents for on-site Bluetongue testing.."

An American emailer from Kansas, concerned that portable, on-site rapid RT-PCR does not seem to be being used in his country either, asked the reagent company about prices for the test kits for animal diseases. They can be used with the portable on-site machines to detect animal disease at the actual site of possible infection before symptoms appear - as well as in fixed-base RT-PCR equipment. He was told that the basic reagent kit price is 12 dollars for each and they are sold in sets of 64. They are working on a reagent for BTv.

December 7 2007 ~ " if you think education is expensive then try ignorance."

For diseases such as FMD, bovine tuberculosis, H5N1, Bluetongue - and soon, no doubt, Equine Influenza and many more, the UK's continuing ignorance of state-of-the-art rapid diagnostic technology is incomprehensible. As Roger Breeze said in an email yesterday (in response to a query about the price of the test reagents quoted by Tetracore to our American correspondent,)
"... There is an old saying that if you think education is expensive then try ignorance. I cannot believe that 12 dollars is excessive for a test for the world's most dangerous livestock disease that finds infected animals before signs of illness (and infectivity to others), that is produced in a facility licensed by USDA and FDA and manufactured under good laboratory practices, and that finds as few as 10 dead virus particles compared to the 1000 particles necessary to detect by cell culture." (more) The harping on about "validation" may be a way of deflecting challenge - but validation for rRT-PCR is not required by the OIE for its use in an emergency like an FMD outbreak. We can only hope that things change very soon. As for Bluetongue policy, is DEFRA listening to the experts at IAH and elsewhere - or listening only to those who consider that ignorance is a positive asset when it comes to giving scientific advice? Latest Blog.
December 5 2007 ~ The Dutch Ministry has already sent a report of the meeting to all those concerned in its own country

SCoFCAH Meeting, Brussels, Dec 3 and 4. It would appear from early reports that only 3 Member States have tendered for BTV8 vaccines so far. We hear that the Commission believes the vaccines will certainly be available in May/June - but if insufficient amounts have been ordered it is going to be a problem for Member States to decide which animals and which areas should be vaccinated first. Although the Commission's article 3 of 90/424/EEC provides 100% compensation for vaccine and 50% of costs for the first year of emergency vaccination at least, this is somehow never mentioned in the UK. What is mentioned is that farmers themselves are to pay for vaccines. We are hoping to publish a translated report from Holland of the SCoFCAH meeting very shortly. The Dutch Ministry has already sent the report to those concerned in its own country by email. We, on the other hand, do not yet know for certain if the UK was even represented at the meeting and would much appreciate any information on this point.

December 5 2007 ~"not only has DEFRA offloaded on to unions, charities and advisory groups the problems of responding at farm business level to bluetongue and foot and mouth, but it has not had the decency to tell them that it has done so."

The final self-congratulatory resolution notwithstanding, last night's debate raised example after example of DEFRA's lack of communication, understanding and management skill. One heartfelt speech by Malcolm Moss gave examples from his constituency of the problems caused - not by the disease itself - but by DEFRA's handling of people and regulations, that would take the breath away were it not for the fact that we are now used to such tales of woe.

December 5 2007 ~ "As far as DEFRA is concerned, there are 21 drowning cattle and their newborn calves."

The extraordinary case of Mr.Frank Harris' stranded cows, raised in yesterday's debate by. Malcolm Moss (North-East Cambridgeshire), makes for miserable reading.
"I rang my office to say that he had 21 suckler cows in calf on the Whittlesey washes on the Nene river. We had telephone contact the same day from other farmers who confirmed that there were a further 200 suckler cows on the same washlands.... Knowing that the land would be flooded, Mr. Harris asked whether we could intervene on his behalf and asked for his cattle to be blood tested so that they could be moved into a protection zone on his farm about 3 miles away, but outside the zone. The same day we wrote on Mr. Harris's behalf to Lord Rooker's office asking for an exception or relaxation to be made on the grounds of animal welfare. We left messages at Lord Rooker's office again on 6 November. A week later on 12 November, we spoke to an official who said that he would chase the matter up, but we have never, to this day, received a response or even an acknowledgement from DEFRA. Mr. Harris has repeatedly tried to obtain permission from the State Veterinary Service in Bury St. Edmunds to move his cattle, but to no avail. Since our inquiries, the land has flooded and some of the cattle, we are informed, have given birth. As far as DEFRA is concerned, there are 21 drowning cattle and their newborn calves." The debate lasted from 7.25 to 10.15 pm last night. Here it is as a pdf file for ease of searching.

December 5 2007 ~ The case of the stranded cattle. Is the SVS liable under the new Animal Welfare Act for allowing unnecessary suffering?

A vet contacted warmwell today to remind us that a study of the 2006 Animal Welfare Act might prove interesting. We agree. The Bury St Edmunds 'Animal Health' Office (SVS) might be liable under the AWA in that they knew animals were likely to suffer. Although the Act considers "whether the conduct which caused the suffering was in compliance with any relevant enactment or any relevant provisions of a licence or code of practice issued under an enactment" it also, in the same section, considers
"whether the conduct concerned was in all the circumstances that of a reasonably competent and humane person." Under the Act one does not actually have to prove suffering. The case is one that should never have been allowed to happen. The farmer's premises are only three miles away. He has not even been permitted to prove via testing that his animals are safe to be moved back to the farm. Such inflexibility is neither competent nor humane. How can we have come to this?

December 5 2007 ~ "I rather doubt that many who have had to contend with DEFRA over the years will share in the general air of back-slapping. .."

said Peter Ainsworth, but after the party faithful came trooping back to the Chamber to divide (but not to listen) the voting resulted in the following extraordinary resolution. However, the Yorkshire Post today publishes Peter Ainsworth's thoughts on DEFRA's competence. Punches are not pulled.

December 5 2007 ~ "It’s vital that an effective vaccine is widely available as soon as possible, ideally before next Spring.." Peter Barr CBE

www.meatinfo.co.uk"Speaking the annual MLC Chairman’s Reception in Brussels last night (4 December) Barr told members of the European Commission and Parliament and representatives of the UK meat and livestock industry that the industry faces a number of challenges, not only in the UK but across the European Community. “The challenge of Blue Tongue is widespread and one with which many Member States are only too familiar. It’s vital that an effective vaccine is widely available as soon as possible, ideally before next Spring,” he said. “Without a vaccine I’m seriously concerned that the costs of this disease will start rising exponentially.”
Warmwell is still hoping for news of what was actually said in relation to Bluetongue at the Brussels SCofCAH meetings on Monday and Tuesday this week. As we say below, the vaccine producers maintain that getting vaccine in sufficient quantity is not a problem - provided that adequate orders are firmly made. But this has been being said for well over a month now and the apparent inaction seems extraordinary.

December 4/5 2007 ~A chance to put questions to Merial

David Biland, managing director for Merial (UK and Ireland), has agreed to answer questions from Farmers Weekly readers during an interview to be carried out later this week. " If you have a question - or just want to read what others have already suggested - look at the Merial Animal Health discussion thread on the forums. To post a question you will need to be signed in to the forums."

December 4 2007 ~ Tests for the bluetongue disease on a Scottish cow returned negative results.

The results are reported by the BBC on the cow on a farm near Dumfries as negative. It would be interesting to know what tests were used and what other diseases were included in the screening test.
The SCoFCAH meeting in Brussels today and yesterday may have produced some interesting information on several issues and we look forward keenly to news. See agenda.

December 3 2007 ~ Who is advising the government on Bluetongue?

It would be interesting to know many of those vets advising DEFRA on Bluetongue are specialists in that disease in any sense of the word. Are they even partially informed or merely working in a fog. It is a deep worry that partially informed advisers take no responsiblity, cannot take any decisions, and hide behind a tangle of rules and regulations to defend their inaction. As far as we know, not one of the people advising the UK government is a specialist, not one of them, as far as we know, is a farmer. Any email to tell us our fears are groundless, that there are experts in the disease giving sound advice and that they are indeed taking responsibility for their advice - would be reassuring and very welcome.
UPDATE We have been reminded that there is indeed expertise at the Institute of Animal Health-
"There is real expertise at the IAH - and they advise DEFRA - what DEFRA does with the advice is another matter ...."

December 1 2007 ~ "....The increased budget for 2008 from €52.97.000 in 2007 is mainly due to an increased allocation to counter Bluetongue disease in many Member states."

www.europa.eu"The European Commission has approved a financial package of €186.57 million to support programmes to eradicate, control and monitor animal diseases in 2008" ........ For the year 2008, 61 annual or multi-annual programmes to eradicate 10 important animal diseases have been granted Community financial support. The total EU contribution to these programmes is €70.075.000. The increased budget for 2008 from €52.97.000 in 2007 is mainly due to an increased allocation to counter Bluetongue disease in many Member states."
How much of this will the UK be asking for, one wonders.

November 30 ~ " the PZ will be expanded west and vaccination will follow it. Apparently, the PZ can be expanded to cover the whole SZ"

A sheep farmer from Gloucestershire writes, " As I understand the situation, at the moment, vaccination can only be done within the Protection Zone and then, when completed, the PZ will be expanded west and vaccination will follow it. Apparently, the PZ can be expanded to cover the whole Surveillance Zone. The decision has to be made about then moving into the 'clean' zone. Hope this is of help. When I hear more next week I'll let you know."
We very much appreciate information like this and hope that next week's SCOFCAH working party meeting will help enlighten us all further.

November 30 ~ "There is no timescale currently for any reinstatement of the SAPO licence," Defra spokeswoman
As we reported below, the SAPO licence was revoked yet again following the latest bio-security incident at the Pirbright site. The Farmers Guardian, (Alastair Driver) however quotes a Merial spokesman who says, "We are still confident Merial will be able to supply BTV vaccines in time to protect cows and sheep effectively in Europe next year,"
November 30 2007 ~ Bluetongue has now reached the Czech Republic

Movement restrictions are in place. A cow in the far west has been diagnosed with BTV-8 making the Czech republic the ninth Northern European country to be affected. See www.boerderij.nl/
UPDATE - On the ProMed page reporting this outbreak (not yet accessible on the server) , the Moderator (AS) says, "It is likely that the virus will overwinter over this year's (2007) winter as it did last year. Results of entomological surveillance in the affected countries, to identify the vector species responsible for the striking spread of the disease, are anticipated with great interest and concern."

November 30 2007 ~ " To hold up vaccination for sheep and cattle until the appropriate vaccination strategy has been decided for goats would not only be highly irresponsible, it would endanger all three species."

On the subject of the vaccination of goats, an emailer asks,
" It has not yet been established what is the appropriate course of vaccination for goats using the new BTV8 vaccine. Have you not considered the obvious - that adequate vaccination for sheep and cattle in the UK would go a long way towards safeguarding goats, as the number of infected midges would be greatly reduced?Once an appropriate vaccination strategy for goats has been established, they too will be able to be included in any UK vaccination strategy."All informed comment is welcome. (What we do know from Holland is that goat holders who have been affected and their colleagues want to vaccinate next year. One does not hear them complaining about the vaccine not being suitable for goats.)

November 29 2007 ~ "get out the word that goats will not be spared.."

It is with consternation that warmwell heard that in the UK goats may not be included in the initial marketing authorisation for vaccine " as the work required might delay release for cattle and sheep". The level of cover given to goats is being investigated by at least one of the three manufacturers, according to a member of the GVS. A correspondent writes from Holland
"Most small-scale keepers an hobby holders thought up till two months ago that BT was not for goats. But we know now of 26 infected farms (dairy goats); and through some goat holders I know that more and more goats do get affected. Most of them are dull, hazy, have difficulty walking. And an occasional dying by suffocation. If you then consider that last year not one goat was reported, then one can only fear for next year. So get out the word that goats will not be spared."

November 29 2007 ~"at this time of year I would not expect to find the virus on the move significantly out of the control or protection zone" Dr Ruth Watkins.

Our expert virologist correspondent writes "..I would not expect there are any infected animals inside the surveillance zone. It seems disproportionate at this time of the year that animals a mere 50 yards the other side of the surveillance zone on the Welsh border cannot be moved for 60 days after the start of the midge free time is declared - they might declare it at after the start of January.
I would like to see the results of surveillance inside the surveillance zone. On balance I think we should not introduce infected animals into Wales at this juncture before vaccination is available and has been given. I hope they will vaccinate essentially all of England (to include the buffer of some 200km beyond the control or protection zone line)" We are always very grateful for informed comment.

November 29 2007 ~ "CLA Wales is urging the Assembly Government to stop dallying and order in stocks of bluetongue vaccine to create a firebreak along the border."

And as the Welsh Daily Post points out, "For this to happen it would first need to apply to the EU for consent to vaccinate in a bluetongue-free area."

November 29 2007 ~ "There appears to be no intelligible strategy as to how the 10 - 20 million doses would be deployed."

James Irvine, writing from Scotland last week at www.land-care.org.uk
"....On the basis of these numbers Scotland would clearly get none. It would just have to wait, as England did, until the disease arrives. And wait in the long queue for more vaccine to be made by the vaccine manufacturers. A long queue because most of the EU will be trying to play catch up with BT vaccination which they should have planned long ago.
One really has to wonder just who is giving advice to Defra. Or is Defra over-riding advice that it is being given? Are the epidemiological modellers at work here, with their apparent lack of understanding of how vaccination works? Or are the selfish, short-term commercial interests of pedigree breeders being favoured over the industry as a whole?
No scientist worth his/her salt would recommend voluntary vaccination in the case of Bluetongue. Likewise, no scientist worth his/her salt would recommend waiting until a predicted disease arrives, rather than vaccinating before it arrives. But other so-called "stakeholders" might, their ears deaf to science."Dr Irvine adds, "Valuable time was wasted by the EC as it argued interminably over the consequences to trade from the spread of Bluetongue within EU Member States. Only now does the EC appear to be tackling the obvious task of putting together a coherent vaccination policy."

November 28 2007 ~ Bluetongue situation in the EU and Bluetongue vaccination strategy for 2008 - items 5 ande 6 on Monday's Agenda in Brussels

Warmwell is grateful to have been sent the agenda for the STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE FOOD CHAIN AND ANIMAL HEALTH Section Animal Health and Welfare Section Controls and Import Conditions Section Biological Safety of the Food Chain to take place on Monday and Tuesday of next week (see also below) . The pdf file of the agenda for those two days may be viewed here.

November 28 2007 ~The vaccine industry has indicated they can together produce sufficient vaccine for the whole European market.

The leadtime is 6-8 months. They need orders (either direct or by tenders) if there is to be any hope that vaccine is available by May/June/July but if they do get orders, it is looking as though 260 million inactivated vaccine doses could be available by May/June 2008 and a mass vaccination programme will be able to happen. Why, in that case, should it be necessary to exclude animals from the mass vaccination?

November 28 2007 ~ When will vaccine be ordered? Which animals will have priority? Why cannot zones be widened?

One looks in vain at the DEFRA website to find the answers to questions such as the details of a vaccine strategy for when a vaccine becomes available.
There will not be a meeting in Brussels to discuss vaccination until January 16th UPDATE (Apologies for the sentence in italics. We meant no full conference dedicated to this subject. In fact, as we mentioned below, there will be a ScofCah meeting on Monday and Tuesday of next week. See above) but if there is to be a scramble for the vaccine, Member States are likely to be jostling for position when it comes to establish who has priority and an EU wide strategy agreed by every Member State is surely urgently needed.
If, as some believe, Defra wants the option to vaccinate the now-called "surveillance zone" first, it will leave the 9,890 premises with ruminants in the Protection Zone unprotected (and so likely to suffer similar losses as experienced in Belgium and Holland this year). Is DEFRA thinking in terms of what presents the lowest risk and the most 'acceptable' losses? Any information would be gratefully received. Dr Watkins' advice (see her proposed vaccination policy) is that "Vaccination should begin where the infection will first emerge in 2008 and be most intense, that is in the control zone (now called the protection zone)..."
A pdf file showing clinical signs (Netherlands last year) can be seen here.

November 28 2007 ~ “The movement restrictions and the UK export ban have had a particularly heavy impact on hill sheep farmers."

www.n-e-life.com/forbusiness"Businesses in North East England hit by the restrictions caused by Foot and Mouth Disease and Bluetongue are being offered a route to specialist support through Business Link North East. Firms affected by the restrictions can now call 0845 600 9 006
.... “Although the practicalities of moving livestock are slowly returning to near normal, this will have an impact for years to come. At a regional level, we want to help farmers and other affected businesses to recover as best they can and perhaps make their business less susceptible to this type of crisis.

November 26 2007 ~ Is the EU offer to pay for bluetongue vaccine dependent on EU-approved traceability?

When the UK lost its derogation on the double tagging of sheep it was because the European Union’s Food and Veterinary Office considered neither UK sheep identification nor its enforcement of the system adequate.
The EU Commission's offer to pay 100% of vaccine and 50% costs in the first year of Bluetongue vaccination is likely, according to a reliable source in Suffolk, to be linked to a proper national traceability scheme. Is this why DEFRA has kept so quiet about the Commission's offer?

November 26 2007 ~ What happened to plans for a National Livestock database?

In 2003 a report, "Identifying and Tracking Livestock in England " was published by the National Audit Office (pdf) . Pages 45 and 46 show how previous reports from several different concerned bodies, had followed one another for years all urging an efficient system of traceability. In spite of this procession, the NAO's 'Timetable for introduction of the Livestock Identification and Tracing Programme' optimistically predicted that there would indeed be an "Introduction of EID in 2006 ..." In February 2004, following the NAO report, the Public Accounts Committee gave Sir Brian Bender and co rather a hard time (A Treasury Minute response to the PAC conclusions also makes fascinating reading); the Oral Evidence makes one wince both at and for the DEFRA witnesses. Mr Gerry Steinberg, ( Labour MP for the city of Durham), prophetically asked Sir Brian Bender: "You will not be coming back in two years' time and saying 'Well, the IT was difficult, we could not get the software'....?" and commented drily,"I will read about it in two years' time in the newspapers or find it on the web."

November 26 2007 ~ Three years later, the UK has no viable Livestock database along Dutch or Irish lines.

The "Draft partial Regulatory Impact Assessment on sheep and goat EID" (pdf file) favoured Option 3 - to "implement minimum level EID from 1 January 2008" but even this is not now likely to be introduced - and no new date has been set for its implementation.
One does wonder how much money has been spent on NOT setting up a workable register - and whether this failure to get to grips with the IT required is going to deprive the UK of the funding for a vital bluetongue vaccination programme. Any information or comment would be most gratefully received.


(These are the more recent bluetongue postings from the main warmwell.com website)