The relentless spread of Bluetongue across the UK continues with at least 110 holdings now affected. The latest cases are reported in Hertfordshire, requiring the Protection Zone to be extended further into Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. A separate case further North has required the Protection Zone to be extended wider into Norfolk and Lincolnshire, whilst the Surveillance Zone now reaches into North and West Yorkshire
Even more worryingly, despite the Defra notion of winter providing a lull in infection (the so-called Vector Free Period), the Bluetongue virus may have survived the winter here in pregnant cows before infecting three newborn calves in Northern Ireland last month. They were infected with bluetongue despite their mother testing negative for the disease.
Posted in EFRC, News and events
