A number of vets who bought vaccine stocks at full price were left furious when Defra cut prices without warning, forcing them to follow suit and take a loss on their products.

James Allcock of Cheshire-based vets Lambert, Leonard and May – part of the XL veterinary group - said the move left a ‘sour taste' in the mouth and had threatened to undermine the industry's efforts to work closely with Defra.

The price cut cost the business thousands after his practice was inundated with farmers asking for refunds on vaccines bought previously as well as those looking for vaccine at the new price.

Mr Allcock said: “A practice like ours needs to make sure we have good stock levels, and especially coming up to the summer we had to make sure we had enough vaccine.

“So we bought in 4,000 doses from Defra at the full price and just a couple of weeks later they turned round and half-priced it.

“We had no option but to supply it at that price because farmers had been told it had been reduced and they came in expecting to pay the new price.

“The people I feel really sorry for are those who have done their best for the industry and got the vaccine in early, only to find they could have saved a lot of money if they had waited. It was a real slap in the face for those farmers.”

The problem is not isolated to Mr Allcock's practice, but has seen a number of vets who had prepared for the bluetongue season suffer financial losses.

Gareth Hateley, a council member of the British Cattle Veterinary Association, said while it was not a widespread issue, there had been a number of reports of financial losses at practices across the country.

He said: “We are aware of a number of practices which have been affected and they tend to be the proactive ones that were encouraging their clients to vaccinate.

“From a pragmatic point of view it is understandable why Defra reduced the price because it encourages vaccination but there are concerns about how the timing of it and how it was released and that it has led to financial losses in some cases.”

British Veterinary Association president Nicky Paull said she sympathised with vets who had been ‘kept in the dark' over the price cut

She said: “There is still some ill feeling out there as, although the decrease in the price of vaccine was being discussed within the core group, the confidentiality of those discussions left the veterinary profession in the dark about the price cut.

“I am aware that many vets have had to deal with complaints from farmers who had bought the vaccine at the original price and were feeling short changed.

“I fully empathise with this as it is extremely aggravating to buy something and then see it advertised in a sale at half price the following week.”

However, she said encouraging farmers to vaccinate remained the top priority and following a meeting with French farmers last week she said she was in ‘no doubt' that the disease remains a very real threat.