{"id":641309,"date":"2026-10-01T05:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641309\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T05:36:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:36:39","slug":"bluetongue-outbreak-really-distressing-for-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/641309\/","title":{"rendered":"Bluetongue outbreak ‘really distressing for farmers’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It’s been extremely emotionally and financially difficult for a lot of farmers,” said Tom Clark.<\/p>\n

The Dorset-based vet is becoming increasingly worried about an ongoing outbreak of bluetongue in the county.<\/p>\n

Fifty cases have already been confirmed in Dorset, with Oxfordshire and Isle of Wight also joining the government list of affected areas in recent days<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tim Gelfs, who has farmed in Dorset for the past 20 years, told the BBC that his “biggest” concern was the long-term impact of the outbreak on the fertility of livestock.<\/p>\n

Bluetongue has been found in more than 2,000 farm animals in the UK since July, with nearly 1,200 potential cases still under investigation.<\/p>\n

The virus, which causes fever and lameness, does not affect humans and is spread by midges rather than direct contact between animals.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Bluetongue has been found in more than 2,000 farm animals in the UK since July [BBC]<\/p>\n

Clark said the recent outbreak had been “really distressing for farmers”.<\/p>\n

“Although there has been a vaccine available not everybody took up the vaccine so there’s been a lot of unvaccinated animals,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“There’s nothing you can do to halt the virus once they’ve got it, you’ve just got to nurse the animals – but not all of them will make it.”<\/p>\n

Gelfs, from Westleaze Farm in Beaminster, said his farm had experienced one case “just over a month ago” in a young stock bull.<\/p>\n

“We brought him in, treated him, got him tested by the vets. He came back three weeks later, confirmed that he had bluetongue,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Tim<\/p>\n

Tim Gelfs says he is concerned by the impact on livestock fertility [BBC]<\/p>\n

Cattle “eventually, generally get over it”, although their infected bull did not, Gelfs said.<\/p>\n

But even those animals who did survive infections “don’t seem to thrive as well” afterwards, he explained.<\/p>\n

“The rams and stock bulls, they’re less fertile, and that will have a serious knock-on effect for next year.”<\/p>\n

“So we won’t actually get the lambs and the calves next year. Going forward, progeny (offspring) could be a big issue.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fifty cases of bluetongue have been confirmed in Dorset [Animal Plant and Health Agency]<\/p>\n

The particular strain of bluetongue currently affecting livestock, serotype 3 (BTV-3)<\/a>, was first found in England in 2023.<\/p>\n

It can often kill sheep, whilst in cattle it is less likely to be fatal, but can cause a drop in milk production, and lead to failed pregnancies and birth defects.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of the virus include fever, lameness, facial swelling, nasal discharge and mouth ulcers.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Department for Food and Rural Affairs said bluetongue posed no threat to the public or food safety.<\/p>\n

Whilst vaccinations are having an impact it said, bluetongue restricted zones remain across the whole of England and Wales.<\/p>\n

More on this storyRelated internet links<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“It’s been extremely emotionally and financially difficult for a lot of farmers,” said Tom Clark. The Dorset-based vet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[48454,85367,103,61,60,100729,272276,272277],"class_list":["post-641309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-dorset","tag-farm-animals","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-isle-of-wight","tag-tim-gelfs","tag-tom-clark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}