Bluetongue Disease - Symptoms, Vaccine & Restrictions Discussion

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The state of play this side of the ditch
www.gov.uk

Bluetongue: news, information and guidance for livestock keepers

How to spot, report and prevent the spread of bluetongue, and information on current cases and movement restrictions.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

Latest situation​

Update 30 August 2024​

Following reports of clinical suspicion in sheep and cattle on 2 new premises in Norfolk and Suffolk, bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) has been confirmed at these premises. There is now evidence that there is some local transmission of bluetongue virus and in accordance with the bluetongue disease control framework, the existing temporary control zone (TCZ) has been revoked and replaced by a larger bluetongue restricted zone covering Norfolk and Suffolk. The total number of cases of Bluetongue virus BTV- 3 stands at 5 infected premises. Movement restrictions apply to all ruminants and camelids moving out of the zone and to movement of their germinal products within the zone. Farmers are urged to only move animals within the zone where this is absolutely necessary.

Confirmed cases and control zones​

2024/25 vector season​

Since 26 August 2024 bluetongue has been confirmed on 5 premises.

Previous cases​

2023/2024 vector season​

Between November 2023 and March 2024 there were 126 bluetongue cases in England on 73 premises in 4 counties. There were 119 cases in cattle and 7 cases in sheep. During this period bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) was found in Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk.
 
Paw said:
@AYF
www.farminguk.com

Wales' second case of bluetongue confirmed in Anglesey

A case of bluetongue has been recorded in Anglesey after an animal was moved there from England, the Welsh government has confirmed.
www.farminguk.com www.farminguk.com
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Yup. Still not sure where on Anglesey mind

What I do know is, the animal(s) were culled, then all the "native" stock on the farm were monitored and tested.
Nothing else came down, so therefore isn't in the midge population, so won't spread.
So no restrictions needed thankfully.

I've been told that it requires a certain breed of midge, so good chance that breed isn't round here. Who knows.
Neighbour thinks it will be country wide in a few weeks with bugger all that can be done.
 
Am I the only one who thinks a 20 km exclusion zone and locking herd's down within that area is totally dumb?
They have now confirmed the bluetongue outbreak on the farm in NI was not caused by importing animals, but must have been caused by midge's flying over from the UK. But don't worry, the midge's will totally respect the no-fly-zone!
Also, to the best of my knowledge, it's not contagious.
 
Mid
MasseyS said:
Am I the only one who thinks a 20 km exclusion zone and locking herd's down within that area is totally dumb?
They have now confirmed the bluetongue outbreak on the farm in NI was not caused by importing animals, but must have been caused by midge's flying over from the UK. But don't worry, the midge's will totally respect the no-fly-zone!
Also, to the best of my knowledge, it's not contagious.
Click to expand...
Midgies at this time of the year and in the cold???
 
I had a bad enough outbreak of smallenberg before in sheep,losing 30 plus lambs out of a small enough flock,also caused by midgets


would a summer outbreak,stop the defoematies,get it over em,so to speak?



Youd imagine,if its in the north,it must be all over the island?
 
MasseyS said:
Am I the only one who thinks a 20 km exclusion zone and locking herd's down within that area is totally dumb?
They have now confirmed the bluetongue outbreak on the farm in NI was not caused by importing animals, but must have been caused by midge's flying over from the UK. But don't worry, the midge's will totally respect the no-fly-zone!
Also, to the best of my knowledge, it's not contagious.
Click to expand...
surprised the winter fair is going ahead, given all that has happened .seemingly southern and stock rightly so is not allowed to compete this year,
 
Id be surprised if it has blown over.
Hasn't been nearly as big a thing over the Western side of the Uk as they were forecasting.
Surely be very unlucky for midges to make it that far without outbreaks on the way?
 
AYF said:
Id be surprised if it has blown over.
Hasn't been nearly as big a thing over the Western side of the Uk as they were forecasting.
Surely be very unlucky for midges to make it that far without outbreaks on the way?
Click to expand...
Mind you, just had a look on the map. Seems to be a bigger thing in @Big Vern 's area than Wales, so close ish to Ireland I suppose.


It's a bigger killer of sheep than cattle apparently, but can cause big infertility problems which can be mayhem for a lot of farming systems!
 
AYF said:
Mind you, just had a look on the map. Seems to be a bigger thing in @Big Vern 's area than Wales, so close ish to Ireland I suppose.


It's a bigger killer of sheep than cattle apparently, but can cause big infertility problems which can be mayhem for a lot of farming systems!
Click to expand...
Have you vaccinated your herd against it? and how much is the vaccine costing?
 
gooey_oleary said:
I had a bad enough outbreak of smallenberg before in sheep,losing 30 plus lambs out of a small enough flock,also caused by midgets


would a summer outbreak,stop the defoematies,get it over em,so to speak?



Youd imagine,if its in the north,it must be all over the island?
Click to expand...
We had a year of that shite here with the cows, started with a cow throwing calf about 3 weeks early. A set of twins that got to about 2 weeks old one became absolutely listless suddenly and died within about 12 hours, the second was gone the same way within 24hours. It was only after a nightmare of a job trying to calve a cow, legs down head down, got it out and when thr calf was on the ground it curled back in so much its head was stuck in to its back legs that we realised what it was. 5 cows that year with problems, tested and they were all positive for it.

They said at the time it was a case of if the infected midges hit them just at the wrong period of calf growth, I think it was when the spinal cord was forming at the brain that it caused the major problems
 
drew said:
We had a year of that shite here with the cows, started with a cow throwing calf about 3 weeks early. A set of twins that got to about 2 weeks old one became absolutely listless suddenly and died within about 12 hours, the second was gone the same way within 24hours. It was only after a nightmare of a job trying to calve a cow, legs down head down, got it out and when thr calf was on the ground it curled back in so much its head was stuck in to its back legs that we realised what it was. 5 cows that year with problems, tested and they were all positive for it.

They said at the time it was a case of if the infected midges hit them just at the wrong period of calf growth, I think it was when the spinal cord was forming at the brain that it caused the major problems
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a herd that calves 80% in 6 weeks would be in big trouble if they got hit at the wrong time with it , dairying has become very dependant on everything going right and having all its eggs in one basket
 
humungus said:
a herd that calves 80% in 6 weeks would be in big trouble if they got hit at the wrong time with it , dairying has become very dependant on everything going right and having all its eggs in one basket
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I would think we were lucky enough to only have 5 considering that very fact, numbers here wouldnt be at the scale of any dairy herd but we’d be tight on calving spread. It seemed at the time a matter of a few days could have been enough to completely escape or get hammered with it. We were pushing up numbers a bit at the time and it dropped us back
 
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drew said:
We had a year of that shite here with the cows, started with a cow throwing calf about 3 weeks early. A set of twins that got to about 2 weeks old one became absolutely listless suddenly and died within about 12 hours, the second was gone the same way within 24hours. It was only after a nightmare of a job trying to calve a cow, legs down head down, got it out and when thr calf was on the ground it curled back in so much its head was stuck in to its back legs that we realised what it was. 5 cows that year with problems, tested and they were all positive for it.

They said at the time it was a case of if the infected midges hit them just at the wrong period of calf growth, I think it was when the spinal cord was forming at the brain that it caused the major problems
Click to expand...
It used cause the leg or back bones in lambs to fuse together,obviously enough,the poor sheep couldnt lamb then,and it was hardship on em then to handle em

Got a few other deformaties out alive and had to put them down,not a thing i fancy repeating too often,shooting lambs a few mins


Hopefully the autumn dipping will be sufficent to keep midges away
 
gooey_oleary said:
It used cause the leg or back bones in lambs to fuse together,obviously enough,the poor sheep couldnt lamb then,and it was hardship on em then to handle em

Got a few other deformaties out alive and had to put them down,not a thing i fancy repeating too often,shooting lambs a few mins


Hopefully the autumn dipping will be sufficent to keep midges away
Click to expand...

Uneducated question!!
How do the midges affect them?
Is it through feed or do they bite them?
Dipped here in September, 🤞
 
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