The National Sheep Association (NSA) is calling for British farmers to “think hard” and consider the risks to the UK’s disease status if considering importing sheep from countries with a risk of disease.
It follows the discovery of bluetongue in a consignment of four sheep imported from France.
NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: “The import and export of quality breeding animals is an important part of advancing sheep genetics and a valuable trade.
Farmers and traders involved should be aware of the risks, and also aware that they may not only be putting individual farms at risk but could also threaten our entire livestock industry.
“Livestock being imported from affected areas of Europe, as these four sheep were, must be effectively vaccinated against bluetongue before they’re sent off-farm.
“In this situation, something has gone wrong, which means potentially infective sheep were brought into the UK. Fortunately, APHA controls identified this and the animals having been destroyed.
“With no compensation, this will have cost the importer in question serious money let alone the costs incurred by APHA.”
‘The system cannot be fully relied upon’
The NSA is strongly advising farmers, and anyone involved in this type of trade to research the high-risk diseases associated with different countries before choosing to import and if it is felt necessary to bring animals in, consider taking steps beyond statutory controls to give real assurance.
Stocker added: “It is a legal requirement for stock to have been vaccinated for bluetongue prior to export; this case shows the system cannot be fully relied upon.
“The NSA would like to see farmers and traders apply the ‘buyer beware’ principle and to have the animals tested to make sure they have developed immunity prior to leaving the farm of origin.”
“We know farmers in several European countries are suffering from ongoing problems with several different strains of BTV, mainly being picked up in routine surveillance, and our sympathy is very much with them.
“Whilst we recognise that there are valuable bloodlines available in some of these areas, there is no benefit to anyone in spreading this disease and we would expect anyone looking to bring animals into the UK to take every precaution against this.
“Animals arriving in the UK should be kept in isolation until APHA has completed tests, but even with this, it would be very hard to isolate them in such a way that midges are unable to get to them and potentially cause a major outbreak here in the UK.
The NSA couldn’t be more serious about urging farmers to run full risk assessments and think hard before importing animals from any ‘at risk’ areas.
“In addition to checking they have had their vaccinations, we would strongly advise demanding a PCR and serology blood test before they leave the departing farm and country.”
NSA has spoken to APHA about this topic and is supporting its efforts to identify what went wrong in this case and to work to prevent similar situations arising in the future.
