Soaring cases of Bluetongue serotype-3 (BTV-3) have prompted an urgent industry webinar to highlight the devastating impact of the disease.
The webinar, arranged by AHDB, will take place on Wednesday, August 5, at 5pm. It is being held to update farmers and vets on the current bluetongue situation, what they can do as the disease progresses and support available as it is crucial to know what to look out for, and report to the APHA as soon as possible after noticing clinical signs.
Hotspots of BTV-3 include the South West of England where Torch Farm Vets saw nearly 130 holdings with clinical cases in July, plus many more in the past week alone.
A South West farmer whose flock has been impacted by the disease said the speed at which it spread had been ‘mind-blowing’, with ‘heartbreaking’ implications for the health of her sheep.
Jess Partlett, from Torch Farms Vets, says: “The situation is getting rapidly worse. Many farmers are losing sheep and seeing signs of bluetongue in cattle.
“I think many farmers didn’t expect bluetongue would impact us here to the extent that it has done, and also in such a rapid way.
“In hindsight, many farmers now feel vaccination would have helped limit the impact this disease is having on the South West farming community and its stock.
“Many have now taken up vaccination to help reduce the risk and impact to their herds and flocks.”
Vaccination is the only defence against this virus and is essential to help protect herds and flocks.
A farmer on Exmoor, who has asked not to be named, says if she had known how bad the losses were going to be on her flock, she ‘would have made the finances work’ and found a way to vaccinate them in spring.
The farmer says the mental stress of seeing what it has done to the flock and her family has been heartbreaking. She has since vaccinated the flock.
She is urging farmers to speak to their vet and consider vaccinating now in a bid to limit any damage over the lambing period.
Additionally, she is concerned other farmers may think they are losing stock due to the hot weather and not connecting the dots to investigate signs of bluetongue.
Sign up to the webinar
The webinar will cover the current situation with an update from Defra, what clinical signs to look for and how to report. In addition, there will be vaccine advice, plus an update from Jenny Schmidt at Torch Farm Vets on what they are seeing in the live situation, on-farm.
Speakers also include: Gordon Hickman, Joint Head of Exotic Disease Policy Defra, sheep vet Fiona Lovatt from Sheep Vet Society/Flockhealth Ltd, Neil Shand, CEO NBA, Phil Stocker, CEO NSA – chaired by Zoe Lloyd, AHDB Animal Health & Welfare Scientist.
Sign up to the webinar via: https://ahdb.org.uk/events/bluetongue-virus-update-5-august
Questions can be sent in advance via: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=S-UsoT09RkOV7_8Tyl3UfbHOzqCV3JdBmrrarBNHZt9URVFBQVFFMjNZM0lVRE5RT1VCR1BBWEdZUi4u&route=shorturl
