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Farmers are being warned of the emergence of a new strain of bluetongue virus (BTV-3), which is spreading rapidly in the Netherlands.

Ruminant Health and Welfare (RH&W) has facilitated emergency meetings this week, bringing together over 40 key stakeholders and representatives from across the industry, to ensure the four nations are prepared for this emerging disease threat.

The existing BTV-8 serotype vaccine will not offer cross-protection against the new strain, making any outbreaks difficult to control, said Dr Joseph Henry, president of the Sheep Veterinary Society and member of RH&W’s steering group.

As a result, it’s especially important to follow advice to take action and prioritise good biosecurity measures, whilst remaining extremely vigilant to the disease.

Dr Henry added: “What we are advising is three-fold. Farmers need to beware when buying animals in, especially from Europe, take action to report any signs of the disease, and at all times, remain vigilant,” explains Dr Joseph Henry, president of the Sheep Veterinary Society and member of RH&W’s steering group.

New BTV strain in two European countries

BTV-3 is a viral disease transmitted by biting midges, which affects all ruminants (e.g. sheep, cattle, goats and deer) and camelids (e.g. llama and alpaca).

The new strain has been reported on more than 700 farms in the Netherlands and a new case was reported in Belgium this week. BTV-3 appears to mimic BTV-8 in its behaviour, according to Cat Mclaughlin, NFU chief animal health and welfare advisor, and member of RH&W steering group.

She added: “Currently, there are no reports of the new strain in the UK. But it is felt that due to the nature of bluetongue’s ability to spread via infected midges, and current warm weather conditions, the risk of it reaching the UK is increasing, so we must adhere to advice and do all we can to keep it out,” she says.

Dr Henry said: “It remains extremely difficult to protect against midges and a vector borne disease. However, there is always a role for good biosecurity and insecticides, but it’s important to differentiate between products licensed for use on animals, and those designed for use on building and vehicles.”

Buyer beware

Phil Stocker, NSA chief executive and member of RH&W steering group, adds that bluetongue does not pose a threat to human health, but it remains a notifiable disease.

“We’d strongly advise farmers to beware when buying livestock from Europe, and to request pre-movement testing of animals prior to departure,” he says.

“All imports of live animals are subject to post-import testing with restricted movements until a negative post-import test result has been confirmed, so caution is key.”

Symptoms of BTV-3 can vary across ruminants, with sheep generally exhibiting more overt symptoms than cattle, but both can showcase clinical signs.

In sheep these include: drooling, mouth lesions, high fever, lameness and oedema (swollen heads) and sudden death. Cattle are not usually as severely affected but may show similar clinical signs as well as teat, eye, coronary band and nose lesions.

RH&W’s advice to farmers and their vets is as follows:

1. Buyer beware, only source animals from Europe responsibly.
2. Take action, prioritise biosecurity and report any suspicious clinical signs.
3. Vigilance is key, monitor livestock closely.

In the UK, bluetongue, including BTV-3, is a notifiable disease, so anyone suspecting the disease must take action and report it to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

Further information and resources can be found here: https://ruminanthw.org.uk/bluetongue-virus/

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The Association is now urging UK governments to consider what next steps will be made following the report to advance sheep health and welfare.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker has welcomed the report, saying the Association is “especially encouraged to see the appreciation from the committee that there is value in a four-nation, consistent approach to any future action or amendments to the regulations, ensuring the removal of potential confusion on best practice in the different home nations and frictionless trade across UK borders continues”.

The report, titled ‘Animal Welfare Committee report on the Implications of Castration and Tailing in Sheep’, concludes that current operations of tailing or castrating lambs do impair the comfort of animals and that solutions should be investigated to minimise this.

Mr Stocker continued: “NSA is in agreement that work needs to be done to find solutions to minimise any discomfort felt by animals. This report is an opportunity for new techniques and innovations to be thoroughly explored and legislation amended to accommodate these.”

While in support of the report’s findings, the Association still considers it important that the the fundamental reasons for tailing and castration to improve the welfare of stock, including preventing flystrike and unwanted pregnancies must not be ignored in any future recommendations.

NSA is clear that any future amendments or proposals to legislation must consider the whole farm and supply chain implications.

So far, the report has been published on the Scottish and Welsh government websites, and Mr Stocker urged Defra to follow.

“Defra’s own findings and responses from this report were expected to be published months ago. We would welcome further opportunity to discuss this with Defra at the earliest given opportunity.”

The work was published by the AWC, formerly the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC), an expert advisory body on farm animal welfare matters. Read the full report here.

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The latest results from the Zoetis Parasite Watch Scheme revealed worm egg counts in lambs varying from 70 to well over 700 eggs per gram (EPG) at the end of August, with an average of 380 EPG.

Therefore, farmers should consider conducting faecal egg counts (FEC) on their animals, which is also a good indication of the need for treatment in lambs alongside growth rates.

The Zoetis Parasite Watch Scheme collects data from 26 farms to provide a comprehensive parasite tracking service. Each farm takes FEC samples every 2-3 weeks through the spring and summer, with results uploaded to www.parasitewatch.co.uk.

Zoetis vet Patricia van Veen said the extreme and variable weather is making predictions difficult and is likely contributing to localised spikes in FECs. Parasite Watch data from previous years shows the parasite challenge remains a real risk into the autumn.

“Fluke is more challenging to monitor through FECs at this time of the year, as the time between infection and egg production, known as the pre-patent period, is 10-12 weeks. During this period, the early immature migrating larvae do a lot of damage, causing the disease known as acute fluke in any age of sheep,” she explained.

“Ewes and rams also need monitoring in the approach to tupping as fluke burdens could impact their condition and conception rates.”

Sheep farmer John Yeomans from Newtown, Powys, who takes part in the parasite watch scheme, said he treated his animals earlier this year due to the increased parasite risk and challenging summer.

He tups 530-550, mostly Beulah ewes and 170 ewe lambs each year, bringing them back to the home farm in October and returning them to the hill in December until lambing.

“Our farm is heavily stocked, with the ewes grazing high-up, so we demand a lot of them,” he said.

“Over the past decade, we have noticed that fluke can pose a real risk on our farm, sometimes resulting in dead sheep. We have done post mortems on them before and found them to be full of fluke.”

John, who farms with his wife Sarah and three sons, Tom, Jack and Joe, says he not only monitors worms and fluke by regular testing but is also trying to do more targeted worming based on weight gains in lambs.

“We must use medicines responsibly to safeguard their use,” he added.

Mrs van Veen stressed the importance of farmers working with their animal health provider to select the best product, particularly when there is a mixed parasite burden in their lambs.

“CYDECTIN TriclaMox Drench for Sheep is one option for treating lambs for mixed fluke and worm burdens. It contains the potent active moxidectin (3-ML group), which persists for 35 days and will treat stomach worms. The other active ingredient is triclabendazole, which is effective against early immature as well as late immature and adult fluke.

“However, if fluke is not an issue, then a persistent 3-ML wormer, such as CYDECTIN Oral Solution For Sheep can be used to selectively treat lambs during the Autumn as challenges have been shown to remain high during this time of the year,” Ms Van Veen explained.

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As the sheep breeding season gets underway, later lambing flocks will now be able to source vaccines protecting breeding ewes from enzootic abortion (EAE).

With the vaccine needing to be administered at least four weeks before tupping it has been a critical time for sheep farmers trying to source the vaccine.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker urged sheep farmers to speak to their vet or vaccine supplier to ensure ewes are protected.

“After months of NSA calling for any action to improve vaccine stocks it is particularly good news to hear of some return to normal,” he commented.

Vital vaccines for sheep and beef have become scarce during the past three years due to disruptions to animal vaccine supplies. These include those for clostridial diseases, Pasteurellosis, toxoplasmosis, enzootic abortion, foot rot, and orf.

Ceva Animal Health recently announced stock challenges for the Cevac Chlamydia EAE vaccine, reported earlier this year, had been resolved. 

NSA will be discussing the recent shortage of livestock vaccines in the UK in its next NSA Breakfast Club.

Attendees will hear from Jonathon Statham – chair of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England Committee – who will discuss the reasons behind the shortages across supply chains, how it is being rectified and how long it might take to resolve, as well as the wider long term impacts across the livestock sector.

“We will also hear from Dr Joe Henry – specialist beef and sheep vet (Black Sheep Vets) on management practices, how to mitigate long term impacts and what to do if you can’t access vaccines along with what should be classed as priority stock and how you can move towards overcoming some impacts of a vaccine shortage across industry,” Mr Stocker concludes.

The NSA Breakfast Club webinar series is free to join. ‘Vaccines, why we can’t get them and how to manage the implications’ will take place on Wednesday 4^th October at 8.30am. To register visit: https://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/events/forthcoming-events/240141/nsa-breakfast-club-webinar-vaccines-why-we-can-t-get-them-and-how-to-manage-the-implications/

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As farmers continue to experience issues sourcing essential vaccines, the webinar will provide a useful opportunity to understand more about the complications and impacts on animal health as well as to hear from experts on what to do if farmers are unable to access vaccines.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: “This webinar will provide a fuller update on the vaccine availability situation across the UK, giving a chance to attendees to hear and ask questions over alternative strategies to reduce disease risk.”

For over a year, problems with supply have persisted across many vaccines, including those preventing clostridial and pasteurella disease, abortion, lameness and orf, with some more acutely affected than others.

NSA has been in regular contact with manufacturing companies to try to help resolve the shortages seen across the country, as well as writing to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and Lord Benyon, minister of state at Defra.

More recently, the organisation has written to Sir Robert Goodwill as chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee, suggesting this would be a useful topic for them to investigate.

Commenting on the upcoming webinar, which is part of the NSA Breakfast Club series, Mr Stocker said:

“In this NSA Breakfast Club, we will hear from Jonathon Statham – chair of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England Committee – who will discuss the reasons why we are seeing a shortage across supply chains, how it might be rectified, and how long this might take to resolve, as well as the wider long term impacts this shortage might have across the livestock industry.

“We will also hear from Dr Joe Henry – specialist beef and sheep vet (Black Sheep Vets) on management practices, how to mitigate long-term impacts and what to do if you can’t access vaccines along with what should be classed as priority stock and how you can move towards overcoming some impacts of a vaccine shortage across industry.”

The webinar, titled ‘Vaccines, why we can’t get them and how to manage the implications’, is free to join and will take place on Wednesday 4th October at 8.30am. To register for the event, visit the NSA website here.

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Speaking on behalf of SCOPS, independent sheep consultant Lesley Stubbings said even if incoming sheep look well, come from a top-priced pen or even a known source, they can still wreak havoc.

The list of threats includes sheep scab, lice, resistant roundworms and/or liver fluke, Haemonchus contortus (the barber’s pole worm), contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD), footrot and orf to mention a few.

She added: “If you were guarding a valuable treasure you would probably keep it in a fortress, with sturdy walls, strong gates, and vigilant guards.

“If your fortress was approached by unknown people you wouldn’t just let them in, you would stop them and carry out checks to make sure they were not a threat to your treasure, not think about it once they were inside the walls. Yet that is what many sheep farmers do every autumn when they bring in replacement sheep.”

“Most of these you cannot see and some, such as CODD or sheep scab, can take some time to show themselves. The only way to protect your flock is to put a safeguarding policy in place.”

The fortress for sheep farmers is their fences, their guards are testing and appropriate treatment, and their gates are the steps taken to isolate new sheep. Key to the whole process is making sure they go into an isolation period (quarantine), Lesley concluded.

Kevin Harrison, a sheep farmer from near Bristol who chairs the SCOPS group, has many years’ experience of buying in replacement females and running the risk of bringing in new health problems.

He commented: “Of course, an effective quarantine policy requires some time and costs money, but this is nothing compared to the cost of importing one or more of these diseases.

“For example, sheep scab can take up to six months to show its hand, by which time the majority of the breeding ewes in a flock will be affected, along with young lambs. Anyone who’s gone through that will tell you it’s a very unpleasant experience, very difficult to deal with, and devastating for your flock’s health status.”

A wide range of practical biosecurity and quarantine advice for farmers, vets and advisers is available on the SCOPS website:
www.scops.org.uk/internal-parasites/quarantine-advice-for-internal-and-external-parasites

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Recent stock challenges for the EAE vaccine Cevac Chlamydia announced earlier this year have now been resolved, and farmers can now vaccinate ewes against the disease as follows:

• The vaccine can be used no later than four weeks before the rams go in
• Shearlings (one year plus) and older can be vaccinated within four months before tupping
• Ewe lambs can be vaccinated with Cevac Chlamydia from five months of age

Roy Geary, regional director for Northern Europe at Ceva Animal Health, which manufactures the vaccine, said: “While we realise that the temporary delay of Cevac Chlamydia has been inconvenient to our valued sheep farmers we would like to thank them for their patience and support during this challenging time.

“The vaccine supply is now available in the UK for the latter end of the season. Farmers tupping later in October should therefore vaccinate their flocks to protect their ewes from this devastating disease.”

Fiona Lovatt BVSc PhD, past president of the Sheep Veterinary Society and RCVS recognised specialist in sheep health and production, added: “It has been such a challenge recently to get hold of the vaccines and this has been incredibly frustrating for both sheep farmers and their vets.

“So, it is really very good news that there is new EAE vaccine stock available and it should be just about in time for those tupping later in October.”

She reminded farmers that an outbreak of EAE comes with devastating consequences and vaccination is critical to preventing the disease.

To order Cevac Chlamydia or for information on EAE and vaccination, speak to your vet or go to www.enzooticabortion.co.uk.

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According to Iain Macdonald, market intelligence manager at QMS, lamb market supply looks set to remain low if the recent picture of firm export demand and soft import volumes continues.

Meanwhile, lamb price inflation on the domestic retail market has slowed, which Mr Macdonald said could help underpin sales volumes this autumn, given continuing strong price increases for other proteins.

“Despite a slow start to the season, weekly finished lamb auction volumes have reached a normal autumn range in Scotland,” he said. “Finished lamb prices remain below the new season peak, reached in May, but began September at a record level for the time of year at Scottish marts.”

“At an average of 245p/kg lwt in the first week of September, prices were up 6% on the same week in 2022 and by 20% on the five-year average,” Mr Macdonald reported.

He went on to highlight the importance of international trade, which saw a quarter of UK sheepmeat exported in 2022, with imports equating to around a quarter of domestic market supply.

“HMRC data for the first half of 2023 highlights a firm export trade, with the volume shipped overseas rising by more than 14% year-on-year, and the average export price remaining close to the highs of 2022, down 2% year-on-year at £6.64/kg,” Mr Macdonald explained.

Meanwhile, import weakness in the final quarter of 2022 persisted into 2023, with UK sheepmeat import volumes down 32% in the first half of the year, despite highly competitive import prices averaging nearly 19% lower than in 2022 at £5.21/kg.

Mr Macdonald added a combination of all these factors have led to a reduced supply in the domestic market, down by 11% on 2022 in product weight. Moreover, a similar outlook in Europe has provided UK farmers with further export opportunities, contributing to a reduced domestic supply.

“Tight EU supply has supported our export opportunities, with EU sheepmeat production falling 6.5% year-on-year in the first five months of 2023, according to the EU Commission, while in the year as a whole, EU consumption is set to rebound to its highest level since 2019.”

Looking forward to the remainder of the season, domestic supply is set to remain tight.  Following a dry autumn in 2022, there were reports of poor scanning rates, particularly south of the border, and lamb numbers have seen a 5% year-on-year reduction, according to June census data from England.

With England accounting for around half of the GB flock, a smaller GB lamb crop this year seems almost certain, benefitting prices further down the line, Mr Macdonald concluded.

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#HealthyFeetHappySheep is an industry-wide collaboration that is a direct outcome of the work conducted by the Farm Vet Champion sheep ambassador group. It will run from September until December and aims to engage with as many vets working with sheep farmer clients as possible.

“We all know that maintaining healthy feet in flocks not only benefits sheep welfare but improves farmer well-being with less time, money and stress being diverted to dealing with lameness issues,” explained independent specialist sheep vet Fiona Lovatt, who has developed the campaign.

“A sound flock always means better flock sustainability and overall performance.”

The campaign also aims to reduce antibiotic use in the sheep sector, with the vast majority of drugs being administered to treat lameness, Ms Lovatt added.

“We have plenty of evidence to show that we need to use injectable antibiotics to effectively treat lame sheep, but we are encouraging the use of ‘Plan Prevent Protect’ principles to reduce the chances of sheep going lame in the first place,” she said.

A new website accompanying the campaign is the main resource of downloadable assets with sections for both vets:

• Vet toolkit to aid vets as they undertake Healthy Feet flock visits
• Resources for vets who want to run Flock Health Club or sheep farmer meetings for clients

And farmers:

• How to keep sheep feet healthy
• What to do if I’ve got lame sheep

To help the campaign reach more farmers and industry professionals, a couple of short films have been made starring well-known sheep vets Phillipa Page and Joe Angell, farmers on the HCC Stoc+ program and celebrity sheep farmer, Gareth Wyn Jones.

Films will be released via social media channels and to the #HealthyFeetHappySheep website over the next couple of weeks.

“In recent years there have been really positive advances in understanding the causes of lameness in sheep and how to control it,” said Liz Nabb, farm vet, lameness researcher and Veterinary Investigation Officer.

“Many farmers have applied this new knowledge and now realise that lameness doesn’t have to be accepted as part of farming sheep, and they have healthier, more productive flocks as a result.

“#HealthyFeetHappySheep is aiming to make sure every sheep farmer has access to this knowledge and how it can be applied to their own flock.”

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The Northern Region of the National Sheep Association (NSA) teamed up with AHDB and various speakers to host the event at the J36 Rural Auction Centre in Cumbria. The event considered the direct support to farm businesses declining across the UK. More farmers are considering diversifying their sheep farming activities to supplement their income.

The morning session focused on direct selling of sheep meat products, purposely coinciding with ‘Love Lamb Week’. John Geldard shared the successes of the Plumgarths Farm Shop and associated family businesses in Cumbria, while Karl Pendlebury of AHDB and independent butcher Peter Allonby delivered an excellent butchery demonstration as the backdrop to a wide-ranging discussion about adding value to lamb carcasses.

Consumers want convenience

Karl and Peter understood the many approaches to the marketing of lamb; be it through box schemes, a farm shop, farmers markets, or online retailing. They were clear that whatever the approach was, the priority had to be convenience.

“Consumers want something that is convenient and will be quick to prepare and cook – but that can be good news, as they’ll then eat lamb more often, rather than only cooking a roasting joint on a Sunday or, increasingly, only on a special occasion,” said Karl Pendlebury.

Grace Randall, AHDB retail and consumer insight manager, echoed these consumer trends. She presented how domestic lamb sales would decline if the market failed to diversify beyond roasting joints.

Sheep farming must keep up with inevitable change

The attention turned to diversification ventures other than selling lamb after lunch. The sentiment of ‘time waiting for no man’, stressed throughout the morning session, was echoed in the afternoon. Speakers included Rebecca Wilson, an influencer on social media, and holiday pod entrepreneurs Vicky Slater and Kevin Holiday – both of whom have been able to thrive by adapting to the latest trends and consumer interests.

The positive attitude towards change embodied by John Geldard when he built his farm shop in the early 2000s was still applicable 20 years later and to all diversification types.

“Change will never stop; it’s about keeping up with it,” he said. “But remember, it’s important not to go into diversification to save your business. It will only work if it’s to strengthen your business. That’s been proven many times over the years. You need to build it from the bottom up.”

There were plenty of takeaways from the event for the sheep farming community to consider and action. You can find out more about the NSA and future events on the NSA website.

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