Sheep, cattle and Schmallenberg virus

It was a little over a year ago that a new disease of sheep and cattle caused by the Schmallenberg virus (SBV) hit the headlines. As its name suggests the disease is caused by a virus which is spread by midges which bite the livestock and pass on the virus. The main impact is that it causes stillbirths and birth defects in calves and lambs which can obviously have a significant economic impact on farmers. The disease first raised its head in the autumn of 2011 when farmers reported stillbirths in sheep in East Anglia. It is thought that the ewes had become infected by midges which must have been blown across from the continent where the disease was already well established.
  
Up until recently however I have heard of few instances in this area but in the last few weeks everything has changed and farmers locally are reporting lambs being born with leg deformities in significant numbers and also some calves being lost.

Paddy Gordon from Shepton Vet Group said, "We have recently had a number of non-viable lambs presented with fused joints and we have now had positive results for Scmallenberg in both lambs and in our dairy herds. Our view is that it is likely there has been infection across the county but the effect on livestock will be variable depending on the stage of pregnancy. We are hearing reports of normal lambing and of flocks with a high proportion of lambs affected." Thus it seems the effect is sporadic rather than widespread, but if you are one of the farmers affected it can be a real problem.

This obviously demonstrates that during this summer infected midges must have been active in this area and one assumes the disease is now here to stay. However on a brighter note I understand that animals that have been infected can develop immunity which should help reduce the impact of the disease in subsequent years. One would also assume that if youngstock can gain immunity before they reach breeding age then this would again help reduce the impact of the disease going forward.

There may also be the possibility of developing a vaccine, as I believe vaccines exist for similar diseases but that still does not help those with livestock which have not yet developed immunity either naturally or via vaccination. In these herds and flocks it looks as though losses of calves and lambs could be a problem at least in the short term and it is certainly a worry to a growing number of farmers in this area. Unfortunately there is little that can be done at this stage, as infection will have been spread by biting midges during the summer. Finally I think it is worth mentioning that there is no known risk to humans.


James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be delayed

Following failure to reach agreement last week on the overall EU Budget for 2014 to 2020 it seems almost inevitable that this will result in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) being further delayed. This is because it seems difficult to see how the latter can be agreed in detail until it is known how much money there is to spend.

The current form of the CAP was meant to come to an end at the end of this year but with talks still at an early stage the timetable has already slipped a year and it seems now that 1st January 2015 is the most likely date for the reforms to come in to place.

Indeed Owen Patterson, our DEFRA secretary spoke at the European Ministers meeting in Brussels last week and urged ministers not to rush in to the reforms. He explained that the last CAP reform had seen the UK rush into an agreement only to be hit months later by £550m in EU "disallowance" fines. Whether this was the EU’s fault or that of our own Rural Payment Agency (RPA) who were tasked with administering the system, I am not certain.

Whoever was to blame, the introduction of the “Single Payment Scheme” back in 2005 caused chaos, particularly in England and we do not want this to happen again. The problems experienced were a symptom of the fact we carried out some very major reforms in a very short timescale and certainly the RPA did not have time to set up robust computer systems to cope with the complexity of what the politicians had agreed.

Therefore I think Patterson’s call not to rush the reforms this time around is sensible because I am sorting out one or two problematic cases where clients of mine are still arguing over the claims they made going back to 2005. This level of confusion and incompetence must not be allowed to happen again and so if the reforms are to be delayed to 1st January 2015 I hope this will give the politicians time to agree a workable package going forward.

However, farmers must appreciate that whatever is agreed it is likely that the level of support they will receive from the EU will fall in real terms over the coming years and with many livestock farmers still relying on these payments to make a profit, farmers must look to get their businesses in good shape now while market conditions are generally favourable.


James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk