Archived News

8th October 2007

We are just trying to fathom out the regulations regarding the movement of livestock within the Foot and Mouth Surveillance Zone, from one part of a holding to another part of a holding along a public highway.  It is hardly light reading and is not made any easier when I know I should get back to homework supervision or boys bedtime, but unfortunately this is the reality of life on our farm at present.

We have the welfare of 940 animals to consider and this is a time is great concern. In particular there are two groups of cattle who really do need to move to gain access to grass or at least be in a field which is accessible by the feeder wagon.

93 cattle need to cross over a lane from one field to another and even for that we must apply for an exemption, which may or may not be granted.  If the exemption is granted it is subject to the cattle being examined by a veterinary inspector.

Today Laurence received a call from Animal Health undertaking tracings from the August outbreak.  They wanted to know about the movements of the spray contractor who sprayed our wheat at Normandy and other locations across our farm, also our Agronomist who had previously walked through the Normandy fields and subsequently here. It is reassuring that these records are being taken.

This evening our neighbour telephoned to inform us that his cows are having bloods taken on Friday as part of the enhanced surveillance in the area.  We will move our cattle further to the east of their field so they are not alarmed by the inevitable noise the cows are likely to make as they are expected to do something away from their normal routine.

Our holding is deemed to be within the September surveillance zone because we have fields in there, so we cannot move catte to slaughter and if we have fallen stock (which are not permitted to leave the premises) there is an exemption to bury on site within very strict perameters.

The latest Epidemiology Report describes Enhanced Surveillance Areas in which all cattle will undergo serological testing.  We are not sure whether our cattle will need testing because they are all currently outside all zones. Some cattle were moved off fields just prior to those fields being placed in the SZ, but there doesn't appear to be a set answer on this, we will just have to wait and see. Back