THE Yorkshire region of the CLA is urging North Yorkshire farmers who have not already vaccinated their livestock against Bluetongue disease to contact their vet and do so urgently.

With the first anniversary of bluetongue being detected in England approaching (22 September 2007), North Yorkshire was included in the protection zone earlier this month (7 August 2008) allowing vaccination to take place.

The disease which cannot naturally pass between animals is transmitted by midges and at its worst can kill both cattle and sheep. It swept across Europe in 2007 and this year France has reported 4,543 cases of bluetongue, including cases in Calais, with a dramatic increase in the number of new infections – almost 900 in one week. The Netherlands recently confirmed its first case of the disease in 2008.

The message is clear, to protect our industry from this disease ‘don’t hesitate, vaccinate’

Dorothy Fairburn - CLA Yorkshire

So far 137 cases have been detected in England and as yet no new outbreaks of the disease have been reported in 2008 but the Joint campaign Against Bluetongue (JAB), of which the CLA is a member, warns that continued vaccination is imperative with the disease expected to re-emerge now that the midge season has started.

Nearly 19 million vaccine doses have already been made available to English farmers, with another 13 million doses to be released in the coming weeks, but for the roll-out programme to continue its success, farmers now coming into the protection zone will need to vaccinate at the earliest opportunity to prevent the threat of bluetongue from spreading.

CLA Yorkshire Regional Director Dorothy Fairburn said: “The explosion in the number of cases on the continent acts as a timely reminder to those farmers in the current protection zone who have not yet vaccinated and the dangers this presents to their unprotected livestock.

“Severe economic hardship resulted from bluetongue not only across Europe but also to farmers in the Eastern areas of England. The message is clear, to protect our industry from this disease ‘don’t hesitate, vaccinate’.”