Sheep Veterinary Society
Division of the British Veterinary Association

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After two months of tough decisions, hard work and real distress for those affected, we now have real cause for cautious optimism in the battle against foot-and-mouth disease.

Number of cases

From a peak of 43 in the week ending 1 April, the average daily number of cases had fallen to 16 in the week ending 22 April.

Slaughter figures

Over 2 million animals have now been slaughtered for disease control purposes, of which around three-quarters are sheep, 20 per cent are cattle and 5 per cent pigs. Over 500,000 animals have been slaughtered under the welfare slaughter scheme.

Reducing the backlog

As I write there are 152,000 animals awaiting slaughter and 218,000 carcasses awaiting disposal in Great Britain. The backlog of data not entered on the database that holds these figures has been greatly reduced. Nonetheless, these figures still tend to overstate the position; we believe that the only significant disposal backlog is in Devon - around 85,000 animals - and we are addressing this as a top priority.

Lifting of restrictions

To date we have been able to lift restrictions in eleven different areas, where there have been no new cases for 30 days and thorough veterinary and sereolgogical (blood) testing has taken place. As a result, the tighter movement restrictions associated with infected areas have been lifted from about 5,000sq km (some 1¼ million acres) of the country affecting around 12,500 farms.
Public health
There are no completely risk-free disposal options. The Department of Health has published updated and consolidated guidelines. The method of disposal in each case is the safest and most effective in the circumstances.

Slaughter policy on infected and contiguous premises

The Government's policies for slaughter on infected premises within 24 hours, and on contiguous premises within 48 hours, have been crucial to the control of the epidemic. They remain so; otherwise there is a real danger of a further wave of infection. Following formal advice from the Chief Scientific Adviser and the Chief Veterinary Officer, and after consultation with the veterinary profession and with the expert scientific group advising the Government on the course of the disease, I have announced a broadening of the existing areas of discretion for local veterinary judgement in the light of the developing disease situation.

This development is not - as some have reported - a relaxation; its purpose is to improve the achievement of the policy by refining the instructions given to staff in the field. Neither is it a response to media attention on the plight of any individual animal. Our decisions are made on the basis of the best scientific advice, not newspaper headlines.

The key points are

        We will continue to kill all animals that are dangerous contacts (via known movements of animals, personnel, vehicles and equipment). This will include animals on many neighbouring farms (and beyond).

        On other contiguous premises, susceptible animals will still be killed. Cattle may be spared if there is adequate biosecurity. This will be a matter for local veterinary judgement, taking account of all the circumstances. MAFF have published guidance, agreed with the veterinary profession, on the biosecurity measures which farmers can take to help protect their animals from infection. Where cattle are not culled they will be subject to regular veterinary patrols.

These refinements will not lead to change in the policy of culling of pigs and sheep on contiguous premises. Pigs pose a high disease risk and can spread the virus rapidly. Sheep can carry the disease without showing symptoms, thereby causing further undetected spread.

Nucleus breeding flocks of rare breeds of sheep of particular genetic merit may be spared in the national interest, provided they can be isolated from other susceptible livestock and managed in compliance with tight biosecurity. In addition separate guidance is being produced for hefted sheep.

Vaccination

The Government accepts the case for vaccinating cattle in North Cumbria and possibly Devon, given the particular issues in those regions, particularly the intensity of infection in certain areas and the turnout of cattle from indoor housing to outdoor grazing, but only if the vaccination programme is supported by a substantial majority of the farming community, by veterinarians, by the wider food industry and by consumers.

That level of support is not there and the signs are that it will not now be achieved. Without that support a vaccination programme would be very difficult to implement on the ground. We continue our discussions with all those who would be affected, but the case for a vaccination programme becomes less compelling as the number of daily confirmed cases and the weight of infection in the hotspot areas continue to fall.

Livestock Welfare Disposal Scheme

In the first week of April 53,000 animals were slaughtered under the Scheme, rising to 143,000 in the second week of April and over 150,000 last week. At one stage applications apparently totalled close to 2 million animals. After the removal of the many duplicated applications (one particular producer made 14 separate applications for the same animals). applications now cover some 1.3 million animals. Well over half a million of these have now been dealt with, either slaughtered and disposed of or withdrawn voluntarily, or because there was no welfare case. We are on course to remove the backlog by mid-May.

The Scheme is to deal with severe welfare problems arising from the FMD movement restrictions that cannot be dealt with by any other means. We have extended progressively the options to deal with welfare problems and re-established routes for healthy livestock into the food chain. Farmers in Infected Areas, but outside the 3km Protection Zones surrounding Infected Premises, can now enter healthy livestock into the food chain, which means that the vast majority of farmers do not need the Welfare Disposal Scheme. The rate of withdrawals from the Welfare Scheme backlog should increase as a result.

Payment rates

To ensure that payments for the Livestock Welfare Disposal Scheme do not offer a better deal than the real market, payments under the scheme have been cut from Monday, 30 April. The rates for cull and draft ewes, new season lamb, clean cattle, and pigs are being cut to a level that represents about 70 per cent current market prices. For hoggets and cull sows the rate will be 80 per cent. The scheme be reviewed on 22 May. Meanwhile, I shall discuss with the industry the separate market-related issues in respect of light lambs and cull sows that would normally have gone for export. It would be misleading to expect an early resumption of export markets, but taxpayers cannot be expected to buy out this problem.

Origins and spread of foot and mouth

On the proposed ban on pigswill, we received about 150 responses to the recent consultation, almost all of which favoured a ban. I expect to make an announcement on this shortly. We have also received a large number of comments on our proposed 20-day standstill period, after movements on farm, for sheep, goats and cattle. I have decided to extend the consultation period for a further month from the initial deadline of 11 May. The cross-departmental examination of the controls on commercial and personal imports of meat and meat products is well underway, and I will have something more to say on this in the near future.

Restocking Form A premises

Final cleansing and disinfection of the premises has to be completed, signed off, and a minimum period of 21 days has to elapse before livestock can be reintroduced. Animals can only be moved onto the premises under licence issued by the local Animal Health Office. Whether or not a licence is issued will depend on the local disease situation.

Cattle should be reintroduced to all parts of the farm that previously contained them. The same applies to sheep and goats. A MAFF Veterinary Officer (VO) will inspect the animals once a week for a period of 28 days. At the end of this period the animals will be blood sampled for the presence of FMD antibodies. If the results are negative, and subject to final inspection, restrictions will be removed.

For pigs a small number of sentinel animals should be reintroduced to all parts of the farm that previously contained pigs. They will be inspected by a MAFF VO twice weekly for the first two weeks and then weekly for the next two weeks. Full restocking may only take place if none of the sentinel pigs develop any clinical signs of FMD during the 28 day period.

For mixed restocking, partial restocking or where other susceptible species are involved , advice should be sought from the local Animal Health Office. If no restocking takes place Form A restrictions can be lifted after four months.

Options for the future

Combating foot and mouth disease remains the Government's top priority. But as the disease is brought under control, questions arise from farmers and others in the rural economy about options for the future. We therefore intend to work in partnership with farmers and others to identify ways of assisting the recovery of the farming sector. We shall focus in particular on farmers directly affected by FMD who face choices about their futures, and on those regions of the UK hardest hit by FMD, in particular Cumbria and Devon.

As a first stage, Government will concentrate on the need to provide high quality, targeted business and agronomic advice to individual farmers, and will explore ways of improving marketing in the livestock sector to the benefit of the whole food chain. The Government also intends to help livestock farmers to decide the optimum basis on which restocking should take place, taking into account the desirability of rebuilding flocks and herds which are high quality, disease free, extensively-reared and farmed in environmentally sustainable ways. As a further component of our recovery strategy, we shall work with the industry to develop insurance options against both animal disease and the economic consequences which disease brings, and will share our thinking on this with other EU partners.

Work to help farmers emerge from the crisis has begun, and will form part of Government's longer term strategy for helping UK farming to restructure in sustainable, market-orientated and environmentally responsible ways; and taking forward our policy for bringing about CAP reform.

NICK BROWN