Disease fear hits hopes

It appears to be a case of new year, new blow for Shropshire's farmers, writes Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous.

With the National Farmers' Union celebrating its centenary this year there were hopes that the heartache of 2007 could be left firmly in the past.

But as Government vets descended on farms in north Shropshire and Cheshire this weekend those hopes look to have been dashed.

For livestock farmers across our region it is the worst news possible - prices for their animals have already hit rock bottom while production costs continue to soar.

And just weeks after UK exports were reintroduced, new cases of bluetongue will put the entire industry back to square one.

The impact of a repeat export closure will, in itself, have a huge effect on prices at auction. If animals cannot be sold abroad then they flood the UK market instead and depress prices across the board.

Simon Latter, who farms just outside Whitchurch, said the timing could not have been worse.

"This is the most expensive time of the year for sheep producers. They are entering the lambing season as well as moving store cattle to market. Most of them will probably be wondering what on earth the point is."

The first case in the UK was detected last September. The disease spread to other parts of south-east England and protection and surveillance zones remain in place. If tests on the new suspect cases show that the midges which carry the virus are active in the area, restricted zones will be extended to cover most of Wales, north-west England and farms around the Bristol Channel.

Mark Holdstock from BBC Radio 4's Farming Today said: "This would limit animal movements, and would be a huge blow to livestock farmers struggling to cope with existing bluetongue restrictions, and last year's foot-and-mouth outbreak."

Former NFU county chairman John Brown, a cattle farmer from Bagley, near Ellesmere, said any positive test would hit the most vulnerable farmers hardest.

"Sheep farmers have had a nightmare in 2007 and this news would make life difficult for those farmers whose lives are already pretty damn difficult," he said.

Paul Dutton, who runs a dairy herd at Calverhall, near Whitchurch, said the news was "hugely disturbing".

"A month ago Defra stated that we were not in a midge-flying period; the air temperature was too low for any movement," he said. "And now we have this. What next?"