Very serious consequences for farmers, says minister

There are “very serious” consequences for the agri-community in Northern Ireland if bluetongue virus (BTV-3) gets hold, the agriculture minister has said.

Spread by midges, bluetongue poses no threat to the public or food safety but can affect cloven-hoofed animals like sheep and cattle.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said its surveillance indicated the presence of the disease in two cows at an abattoir near Bangor, County Down.

A 20km Temporary Control Zone (TCZ) was put in place at 21:00 BST on Saturday. Minister Andrew Muir said “it’s really important to have vigilance around this”.

He urged farmers to “report it urgently” and “isolate infected animals” if they see signs on infection.

Muir added: “The most important thing going forward here is we focus on the eradication of this.”

“While this does not have an impact on public health and food safety, it has potentially very serious consequences on agri-food and has caused real anxiety within the farming community.”

Speaking on Good Morning Ulster, the minister encouraged farmers to get their animals vaccinated, but said it’s their “choice”.

“If it was me, as a farmer, I would be taking that up, but it’s for others to make their own decisions on individual circumstances around this,” he said.

“The level of uptake has been relatively low,” he said.

“It’s largely farmers who have got very high value livestock who have decided to use the vaccine.”

Moves of species susceptible to bluetongue on or off premises within the TCZ are prohibited while officials carry out further investigations.

A general licence is available that allows animals to cross the boundary if they are going directly to slaughter.

William Irvine, from the Ulster Farmers’ Union, said: “We are very concerned about this development.”

“We were hopeful that we had escaped it for the season, but just on the last lap it has appeared and all precautions now need to be taken,” he said.

He said that the vaccination has not been widely taken up by farmers, but says this is a “game changer now”.

Bluetongue virus (BTV-3) affects cattle, goats, sheep, deer and camelids such as llamas and alpacas.

It can cause ulcers or sores around the animal’s mouth and face, difficulties swallowing and breathing, fever and lameness, foetal deformities and stillbirths.

The latest outbreak began in the Netherlands in 2023, where tens of thousands of sheep died, and midges blown over from the continent began infecting livestock in the south-east of England too.

But the impact of BTV-3 seems to vary considerably across different regions, with some animals showing little sign of infection and managing to recover.