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Farmers say they'll beat bluetongue outbreak together
AS farmers started battening down the hatches to beat a disease carried by midges, it emerged today that a ram at the centre of the bluetongue outbreak in the city was bought in Suffolk.
AS farmers started battening down the hatches to beat a disease carried by midges, it emerged today that a ram at the centre of the bluetongue outbreak in the city was bought in Suffolk.The Peterborough farmer, whose sheep were quarantined by experts from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) yesterday, bought the animal before the initial outbreak was diagnosed in cluster areas around Ipswich and Lowestoft.
Are you worried about the effect of the bluetongue virus on the farming industry? What do you think? Add your comments below, email our news team: news@peterboroughtoday.co.uk or telephone our newsdesk 01733 555111
Related: Factfile: Bluetongue.
'Show your support and buy British lamb'.
Animals must not be moved out of zone.
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Today, farmers in the Peterborough area vowed to stick together to do everything they can to prevent the spread of the disease from Fitzwilliam Farm on the Milton Estates near Bretton.
Yesterday, vets from the Government agency could be seen testing a flock of more than 1,400 sheep and 12 cattle at Fitzwilliam Farm.
Visitors, who were mostly officials, could be seen scrubbing their boots down with disinfectant every time they entered or left the stone walled farm premises in lush countryside close to the huge Bretton township.
A statement from Milton Estates said that the ram had "provisionally tested positive for bluetongue disease" and that formal confirmation of the test results is expected later today.
The statement added: "It is now well understood that there is no risk to human health and there is no requirement for compulsory slaughter of infected stock. Disease control measures principally involve controlling the movement of animals in areas where the disease is present."
Les Hall, who runs Fitzwilliam Farm on the Milton Estates, was not available for comment today, but Stuart Bish from the National Farmers' Union said Mr Hall was "understandably upset" that bluetongue had affected one of his prized animals.
Fellow farmer Peter Horrell who farms just four miles away in Elton, and is familiar with the farming operation at Milton Estates said: "I spoke to Milton Estates on Monday when they told me they had a suspected case of bluetongue.
"The sheep was bought from a farm in Suffolk before the disease was first spotted so it was all done legally. The staff at Milton will now have to wait while animals are tested, there is nothing that they can do but wait.
"It is a pretty gloomy scenario, but the fact is that Europe has it, we have got it and even if the winter weather calms it down, it will be back with a vengeance next year.
"It is a disease we can all do without, but something that we have to learn to live with.
"I am just four miles from the estate and if we get a wind then I am vulnerable but I know there is nothing I can do, it is out of our control. I am in a bad enough position, but these sheep farmers are in a horrendous position."News of the purchase of the ram in Suffolk could solve what was thought to be a mystery as to how the disease had jumped 100 miles west to infect a sheep in Peterborough.
Confirmation of the Peterborough case was given in the House of Commons yesterday by the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, who said DEFRA officials had extended the protection zone to cover almost all low land England, which restricts movements of cattle, sheep, goats and deer.
Today, Cambridgshire NFU delegate, Michael Sly, who farms at Thorney, near Peterborough said: "We have about 130 breeding yaws and a couple of hundred lambs, so I am concerned that it could spread and we will be affected.
"It is quite difficult to put any precautions in place. There are ideas that you could bring stock in and avoid keeping dung heaps near to the animals or anywhere where the midges may breed. The worse periods are dawn and dusk when the midges can be out.
"We are just hoping that a vaccine will be available by next summer and that, for now, the cold weather will fight it off.
"At my farm today, we will be checking all of our sheep for symptoms of the disease and we will keep doing that until we know we are in the clear.
"All livestock farmers are intertwined, stock comes down from the north to be thinned or fattened and then it is taken to Wales where it will be put on supermarket shelves.
"We are all in this together so we will stick by each other and support each other as much as we can. We have all got to stand and fight together out of this situation."
Today, Shailesh Vara, MP for North West Cambridgeshire, urged the Government to take action to help the farmers in the zone.
As concerns grow about the future impact of if bluetongue continues to spread, Andrew Mercer, chief executive at the East Of England Showground, in Alwalton, near Peterborough which hosts many agricultural shows throughout the year, said if restrictions are still in force by next spring it could be bad news for the annual Country Show in the city.
He said: "This is a real shock. In terms of our plans at the moment it will not affect us too much in the short term, but long term it will – but we do not know how yet.
"It is still very early days, and our only saving grace – although no consolation to farmers – is there is still a long time before the big show."
Meanwhile, Sacrewell Farm and Country Centre, which has many rare animals which attract visitors and schools trips to the city is hoping it will not have an impact on business.
General manager Peter Thompson said: "I don't think it will have any immediate impact on our visitors in that it's transferable by midges. Obviously it has movement restrictions which were already in place.
"But it doesn't get transferred from animal to animal, it relies on midges, so we don't think it will affect visitors."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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