Archived News

15th November 2007

Today began bright and crisp and was just perfect for a walk. Autumn must be one of our best months! 

The trees, particularly Oak are still laden with colourful leaves and the variation in colours across the landscape never ceases to amaze me. I took my camera with me today and I am pleased with some shots I took of Oak trees, showing the contrasts between one living tree and a dead tree.

The most important work on the farm over the last few days has been the movement of cattle, which is now permitted in the FMD Risk Zone with a movement license.  Amanda was pleased that things went smoothly yesterday bringing 20 cattle back from Epsom and 93 from West Humble.

The cattle have now been moved to their winter keep and are all fairly close to home.  Feeder rings are placed in the fields and these are topped up by Donald every couple of days with fodder.

The calves which were on the automatic milk machine at Manor Farm, have been moved to West Lane and the barn here was mucked out.

The muck is loaded into a trailer and then tipped out in a field where it will eventually be spread to fertilize the soil. It has been a busy time for Roy and Sam who have also been mucking out the barns on a neighbouring farm.

Bluetongue, Avian Flu and Foot and Mouth

Whilst our industry is under enormous pressure to cope with the ongoing restrictions and impact of Foot and Mouth Disease, Bluetongue and now Avian Influenza, which have all 'arrived' within the space of four months, it is shocking to hear the Government's recent proposal to charge farmers £40m a year to help cover the cost of dealing with animal diseases. 

The industry already bears most of the cost of disease as we have seen with FMD and Bluetongue. The so-called compensation of £12m provided to (some) farmers for FMD included payments of as little as £800 to hill farmers who were unable to take their livestock to market and therefore lost their annual income which could be in the region of £10,000

It is incredibly insensitive for the Government to make this suggestion when many farming businesses have been devastated by the escape of Foot and Mouth Disease from Pirbright.

The NFU has just returned from a fact finding trip to France and have seen first hand the affects of Bluetongue which is spread by midges. BTV-8 virus strain is affecting northern Europe. France has 3,000 infected premises, Netherlands 5,000 and Germany over 13,000.  We need to see whether they are changing their farming systems or just waiting for vaccines (there isn't a vaccine for 8 strain yet).

The disease is in the midge population and the female needs a blood meal before breeding. Some British midges breed in dung heaps or stagnant water so it is advisable to keep livestock away from these areas. The frosty weather is ideal for killing off midges and the number of positive premises is slowing down.

Naturally we will take any precautions necessary to prevent animal disease such as Bluetongue and will use a vaccine if advised, once a vaccine is in production. 

There are no human health implications from Bluetongue.

Here is a summary of Avian Flu information from a farming website:

H5N1 Avian Influenza does not pass easily from birds to people.  People can become infected but rarely are.  Where they have caught H5N1 in other countries it is because of close and prolonged contact with infected poultry.  There is no evidence that H5N1 has acquired the ability to pass easily from person to person.  It is important to remember that Avian Influenza is a disease of birds.

Be Vigilant

We need to take serious consideration of the staffing levels required to check about 1,000 head of cattle twice every day, because this is what is being asked of us by DEFRA for bluetongue and Foot and Mouth surveillance.

Generally we have two members of staff undertaking a great variety of livestock related work and whilst that work is undertaken the cattle will be checked over. However, if more detailed inspection is required as in recent weeks, this is a very time consuming task and for these checks to be undertaken twice daily, very little routine (but never the less important animal husbandry) work can be done.  This has meant staff working longer hours and pulling more people onto these inspections to ensure that all necessary tasks are undertaken, for example calves need to be given their milk twice a day, clean bedding and water and de budding is a necessity or their horns will grow. Maybe DEFRA would like to send us some extra staff! Back