Archived News

18th August 2007
The blood tests and swabs taken from our calves on Monday have confirmed our earlier diagnosis of Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR). IBR is an acute viral disease which in young animals mainly affects the upper respiratory tract and can lead to a fatal pneumonia. A  DEFRA vet is coming in every couple of days to monitor the livestock.

We applied to DEFRA yesterday for a licence to enter the Protection Zone (PZ) at Normandy in order to harvest 100 acres of Wheat. Straw cannot be taken out of the PZ until 3 months after the PZ has been lifted but we are not sure what the situation is on the grain. Presumably this is a totally new situation for DEFRA because the 2001 FMD outbreak was earlier in the year, long before harvest.

The oat straw has been stored at Crossways Farm and now the bales of wheat straw are being taken off the Park Farm fields and will be stored at West Lane.

Although it has stopped raining, it is too wet to harvest today, so Laurence is back in the office catching up with some paperwork.

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