Plan BTV vaccination ready for summer

FARMERS across the country breathed a sigh of relief at the end of summer last year, celebrating a successful battle against bluetongue after a vaccination campaign largely stamped out the disease for 2008.

Much of that credit was given to farmers in the south of England, where over 80 per cent chose to vaccinate their stock, providing a layer of protection that stopped the disease in its tracks.

But further north in England, uptake was alarmingly low and with the UK still at risk from the disease there are fears another year of poor uptake in some areas could see the disease return in 2009.

With the new year now well underway there is a renewed impetus to encourage farmers to start vaccinating early and take advantage of the 12 million doses left over from last year's campaign.

“We are in an ideal position to start vaccinating,” says Merial Animal Health's veterinary manager Brian Rice. “The ideal time to do it is between now and turnout because that means stock will be protected by the time midges become active again.

“At the moment there is almost no risk because temperatures are too low, but once they start increasing then we would hope most farmers would have protected their stock.”

Tom Tupper, who runs 1,100 breeding ewes at Bignor in Sussex, began vaccinating this week.

He says: “The ewes are heavily pregnant at the moment and are six weeks from lambing, so we are getting them done now because we don't want it during lambing.

“We will also vaccinate the lambs at four to five weeks old. There should be some protection passed on by the mother but we are not sure how much and how long it lasts, so we will vaccinate.”

For every farmer, the timing of vaccination will be different and it will be up to individuals to discuss it with vets, but general advice from the industry remains to get stock protected early.

The advice is particularly important considering some vaccine supplies will be out of date by the end of this month, with the rest due to expire at the end of June.

Although there was no actively circulating disease in the UK last year, the risk of bluetongue returning to the UK is still high and industry experts are once again pointing to the experiences of farmers in France and Holland who have battled unsuccess-fully to keep the disease at bay.

One dairy farmer from Holland, who has been touring the UK this week, is Jakob Pustjens, who has been meeting farmers in auction markets to encourage them to learn from continental colleagues.

Mr Pustjens milks 100 Holstein Friesians with 90 followers on a 40-hectare (99-acre) farm.

He saw first-hand the effects of the disease when his farm was hit by bluetongue in 2007, reversing almost 20 years work to improve the health status of his herd.

“Even though the herd is now officially free from a number of important diseases, including Johne's disease, BVD, leptospirosis and IBR, bluetongue created a lot of problems for us,” he says.

“Over 20 per cent of our cows had problems with their feet and difficulty walking, milk yields dropped from an average of 30 litres per day to 28 litres, cows were more difficult to get back in calf and our calving index slipped from 390 days to over 410 days.”

For farmers in the south of England, where disease arrived in 2007, there is a strong appetite for vaccination, but Mr Tupper says his colleagues further north in England may not be quite so enthusiastic.

“We are just 20 miles from the south coast here. It could easily be blown in across the Channel so there is a very immediate risk there,” he says.

“Imported animals are also a risk and they can bring the disease into any part of the country.

“On the continent they also have other serotypes for which we can't vaccinate here, so we have to be mindful of those as well when importing stock.

“I would hope there will be a very good uptake in the south again this year. Farmers down here did a fantastic job last year of keeping the country protected but I think it will be quite a struggle convincing those in the north of England to do it again.”

Financial benefits

If farmers are planning to vaccinate, then doing it earlier rather than later could also reap financial benefits.

At present, the 12m doses held at veterinary wholesalers have already been paid for by Defra under the terms of last year's tender.

However, once that runs out and the three companies licensed to sell vaccine on the UK market start to compete, that could change.

Mr Rice says: “It probably would change once the open market comes in and once those reserves of vaccine have been sold.

“No decision has been made on the pricing structure yet and it will be dependent on a number of factors, so it is impossible to say at this stage just what it will be.”

While none of the manufacturers have made a final decision on prices, industry insiders believe the profit margins are tight, and the vaccines sold last year were most likely offered at very close to the cost of production.

But with three manufacturers on the market in 2009, there is also the element of competition, which has potential to drive prices down. That leaves farmers the choice to gamble and take today's prices or risk waiting to pay the price on the open market.