A UK farm based in Horsham, West Sussex has been given permission by Horsham District Council to build an isolation barn for the quarantine of sick sheep and cattle on site.
The Curtis Farm at Green Lane is an agricultural holding of approximately 100ac which forms part of a larger agricultural business farming around 1,500ac locally.
The barn will be used in the case where animals require temporary accommodation in a building or other structure because they are sick, or giving birth, or newly born, or to provide shelter against extreme weather conditions.
The barn would be used for the storage of feed, bedding and machinery, as well as for the isolation of animals infected by diseases.
The new shed may also be used for lambing when not in use for quarantining.
The barn would be approximately 54.3m in length, 18.3m in width, and height to the ridge of the building would be approximately 11.9m, with an eaves height of 9.5m.
Isolation barn
The barn is sited on a separate parcel to detach the barn from the existing farming complex to aid in instances of quarantining with a greater distance.
Animals with cases of bovine tuberculosis (TB) and bluetongue should be isolated to prevent spread of the disease. In many herds or flocks, only one or two animals may be affected.
Pre-movement TB tests in England from July to September 2024 led to the identification of 103 reactors, including 4 inconclusive reactors (IR) that became reactors at retest, out of 112,243 tests completed.
The total number of BTV-3 cases or bluetongue in Great Britain for the 2024 to 2025 vector season is 256 (254 in England and 2 (high risk moves) in Wales).
