The recent identification of the first cases of bluetongue virus in Scotland should serve as alarm bells to farmers in Ireland and Northern Ireland. This was the warning delivered by Adam Conlon, Carn Vet Clinic, at a joint suckler event held by Milford Mart and Teagasc Donegal on Monday evening.

Adam told farmers that “it’s only over in Carlisle and Dunfermline – one gust of wind will bring that over so in the next two or three months we will see it.

“Midge activity up here is only starting, it’s only kicked off in the last week or two, so once the midge comes across it will be a problem for sheep and sucklers.”

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Time to vaccinate

Adam said he will push vaccination as hard as he can, as it is the only form of protection available.

“The way it works in cattle, you won’t physically see a change. You might see their head down for a couple of days and that’s probably about the height of it that you will see.

“But if you have a cow in-calf that gets bit by an [infected] midge when it comes to February or March time, when you are calving, there is a chance that you could have a dummy calf.

“For fattening cattle, if you don’t want to vaccinate that’s fine, but for sheep you (large flocks) could loose five, six, seven sheep every day if you get it.

“That’s what’s happening in the south of England and it’s worked it’s way up very quickly – it took six weeks to get from Cornwall in the south of England to Dunfermline – that’s over a time and a half of the length of Ireland in six weeks.”

Cost of vaccinating

Adam said that farmers in Ireland and Northern Ireland could miss out on the worst effects of the virus in 2025, but stated that “it will be here next year without a shadow of a doubt”.

The cost of the vaccine was highlighted as €6.50 to €6.80 per bovines and half of that for sheep who only require one treatment.

It is well worth it – you are losing the price of the ewe, the price of the lamb and also have to pay knackery charges. For €3 for a sheep it’s a no brainer.

“It is a bit of hardship – it’s a lot of jagging to do but if you lose 20, 30, 40 sheep, it won’t discriminate, it will kill adults, it will kill lambs.

“There was a great uptake in the first half of the year but it has slowed drastically in the last three months.”

Timing of vaccination

In response to questions about the safety of vaccinating pregnant animals, Adam said that all vaccines approved for use in Ireland and Northern Ireland have been shown to be safe to administer to pregnant animals. He commented that the earlier that the vaccine is administrated, then the greater the prospects of protecting the animal and the foetus.

It takes approximately three weeks for immunity to build following administering the primary course of two vaccinations in cattle and one in sheep.

Patricia Van Veen, Zoetis, told farmers that the virus brought the Dutch sheep industry to its knees.

She said that the mixed farming enterprises of cattle and sheep in Ireland favour virus spread as cattle are suitable hosts for spreading the virus in the midge population.

She reinforced advice delivered by Adam stating that the virus is going to stay and warned that it could have similar longer term incidence as IBR.