Do not want to be a harbinger of doom but what does any body know about Schmallenberg virus that is affecting sheep in't south.
Please somebody tell me this is not another foot & mouth with a closure of the countryside ala 2000?
Do not want to be a harbinger of doom but what does any body know about Schmallenberg virus that is affecting sheep in't south.
Please somebody tell me this is not another foot & mouth with a closure of the countryside ala 2000?
Its caused by Midges came over from Germany (Schmallenberg hence the name) Nothing we can do !
Originally Posted by beaker
Do not want to be a harbinger of doom but what does any body know about Schmallenberg virus that is affecting sheep in't south.
Please somebody tell me this is not another foot & mouth with a closure of the countryside ala 2000?
Might not be a closure issue. It is insect bourne:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-disea...lenberg-virus/
From what Ive heard it's transferred by midges and there's not much chance of stopping them from getting everywhere - so no point in shutting the countryside.
Best bet is we all get out there and kill handfuls of the little b***ards.
“The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.”
Geoff Cox Lonsdale Fellrunners
Thanks andy and Rodders for that. It would seem that there will be no closure as it is spread by airborne insects and not from our feet tramping happily over our beloved hills and moors. Phew.
it can't even be transfer between lambs in the same ewe, Ewes are having 2 lambs, one still born due to the Virus and the other perfectly well, that why they don't know the scale of the disaster untill the lambs are born.
There shouldnt be any closure of the countryside unlike foot&mouth schmallenberg is not a Notifiable Disease so no restrictions .Also schmallenberg spreads with midges the same way as bluetongue does wich is a Notifiable Disease .and when we had an outbreak of bluetongue 3km protection zone and 10k surveillance zone was used to deal with the problem.Not shuting down the contryside as they did with f&M ,the big problem with schmallenberg is that curently thereis no vaccine available to give the livestock.
hopefully the schmallenberg outbreak will have been dealt with , and those bloody midges stay in Europe!!!
Phew indeed, that was a close call. Us fellrunners can keep on running up and down hills then. Sod the farmers and their livelihoods.
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