Several animal diseases, including bluetongue (BT) and epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHD), are currently spreading in French livestock farms.
Bluetongue, haemorrhagic disease and still avian flu: the progression of certain animal diseases worries French farmers. “For a farmer, every morning to enter his barn and see animals spread out, it’s a catastrophe” deplored this Thursday morning the president of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, on BFMTV-RMC. “It’s not under control”, regretted the leader of the main agricultural union, mentioning a lack of vaccines for livestock.
“We need vaccines to treat the herd, whether it is bluetongue serotype 3 in the north of France, serotype 8 with a variant, the epizootic haemorrhagic disease affecting cattle, or the return of avian flu,” listed Arnaud Rousseau.
“10% of the sheep flock”
According to the president of the FNSEA, “we have already lost” at present “10% of the sheep flock”. However, “when you don’t have the ewes, you don’t have the lambs”, he continued. “What is blocking today is anticipation, it is the capacity to quickly collect the vaccines”, estimated Arnaud Rousseau. While he welcomed the vaccine orders announced by the State, he nevertheless felt that it was necessary to “move faster” and implement rapid compensation for the affected breeders.
“When you have lost your animals, how do you build the new operating cycle?” asked Arnaud Rousseau.
Face to Face: Arnaud Rousseau – 12/09
Also known as bluetongue disease, bluetongue (BT) is a viral disease affecting domestic (sheep, cattle, goats) and wild ruminants. Farmers have had to deal with two serotypes of the virus (BTV8 and BTV4) since 2017, and a new serotype (BTV3) has started to spread to France from neighboring countries. A vaccination campaign, which will continue until the end of the year, was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture in August.
In just eight days
Too late, according to the breeders. “The disease was already advanced when the vaccines arrived on August 16. The disease develops in just eight days. Part of the herd was already sick and 20% of the animals could not be vaccinated,” assured Yohann Sommé, president of the Federation of Sheep Breeders of the Ardennes, to BFM Business.
Jeremy Bruno BFMTV journalist
