ISSUED AT 12.00noon, August 4, 2007 THE FARMING world has been left reeling by the shock news late on Friday evening (August 3), that a case of foot-and-mouth had been confirmed in a batch of finishing cattle on a farm near Guildford, in southern England.
An immediate standstill on all livestock movements throughout the UK were put in place and a 3km protection zone thrown around the infected premises, just outside the infected farm at Wanborough, in Surrey. This was backed up by a 10km ‘surveillance zone’ centred around the infected premises.
All animal on the farm are in the process of being slaughtered, once again raising the 2001 spectre of heaps of dead livestock being incinerated in huge funeral pyres and then buried.
Given that the 2001 outbreak started after an infected pig was found at an abattoir in Brentwood, in Essex, and then quickly escalated to rapidly infect huges areas of the country, most notably South-west Scotland, Cumbria, and Devon, the entire industry was holding its breath this weekend, fervently hoping that this outbreak could be contained quickly. The 2001 foot-and-mouth disaster cost the nation an estimated £5bn, including £1.34bn paid out in compensation to farmers for slaughtered livestock.
The industry is bracing itself today (Saturday, August 4) for what might happen next. Worryingly, the infected cattle had what was described as ‘old lesions’ — in other words, some had been infected for some time and were in recovery.
That begs the question: How long had the virus been on the farm and, more worryingly, where did it come from in the first place? Although it is thought that the movement records on the farm showed that there had been no animal movements recorded during the last two-three weeks, this was a store fattening enterprise which relies on buying in stock from other farms.
The implications then become more sinister. It obviously suggests that the virus has been present on some other units, prior to movement to the Guildford farm.
The outbreak will be a test of the measures put in place following the fiasco of the 2001 FMD outbreak, where experts concluded that faster reaction times from officialdom, would have contained the outbreak more quickly
Luckily, the main round of autumn sales is yet to start. Though there have been some pedigree ram sales already this season, the massive store and breeding sheep sales have yet to begin in earnest. One of the first sales of breeding sheep was a sale of 20,000 ewes at Bicester, on Oxfordshire. It was thought that some of those had been bought by Scottish buyers.
Those sheep would have been allowed to complete their journey because they were in transit when the livestock movement ban came into play. However, though not officially stated, it was hoped these sheep would be isolated on farm and monitored.
An immediate standstill on all livestock movements throughout the UK were put in place and a 3km protection zone thrown around the infected premises, just outside the infected farm at Wanborough, in Surrey. This was backed up by a 10km ‘surveillance zone’ centred around the infected premises.
All animal on the farm are in the process of being slaughtered, once again raising the 2001 spectre of heaps of dead livestock being incinerated in huge funeral pyres and then buried.
Given that the 2001 outbreak started after an infected pig was found at an abattoir in Brentwood, in Essex, and then quickly escalated to rapidly infect huges areas of the country, most notably South-west Scotland, Cumbria, and Devon, the entire industry was holding its breath this weekend, fervently hoping that this outbreak could be contained quickly. The 2001 foot-and-mouth disaster cost the nation an estimated £5bn, including £1.34bn paid out in compensation to farmers for slaughtered livestock.
The industry is bracing itself today (Saturday, August 4) for what might happen next. Worryingly, the infected cattle had what was described as ‘old lesions’ — in other words, some had been infected for some time and were in recovery.
That begs the question: How long had the virus been on the farm and, more worryingly, where did it come from in the first place? Although it is thought that the movement records on the farm showed that there had been no animal movements recorded during the last two-three weeks, this was a store fattening enterprise which relies on buying in stock from other farms.
The implications then become more sinister. It obviously suggests that the virus has been present on some other units, prior to movement to the Guildford farm.
The outbreak will be a test of the measures put in place following the fiasco of the 2001 FMD outbreak, where experts concluded that faster reaction times from officialdom, would have contained the outbreak more quickly
Luckily, the main round of autumn sales is yet to start. Though there have been some pedigree ram sales already this season, the massive store and breeding sheep sales have yet to begin in earnest. One of the first sales of breeding sheep was a sale of 20,000 ewes at Bicester, on Oxfordshire. It was thought that some of those had been bought by Scottish buyers.
Those sheep would have been allowed to complete their journey because they were in transit when the livestock movement ban came into play. However, though not officially stated, it was hoped these sheep would be isolated on farm and monitored.
Comment