While cases of bluetongue are increasing in Isère, farmers have decided to have their animals vaccinated. This is the case on this farm in Chapareillan, in Isère. With a syringe in his hand, Quentin Jadis approaches the neck of one of his cows. He administers the booster vaccine against the epizootic to all his cattle, which have come down from the mountain pastures to the family farm for this vaccination session.
loading
This summer, Gala, 14, a cow on the farm contracted the disease. “She had swelling in her mouth so she couldn’t eat. Her eyes were swollen, it looked like they were going to explode and she was drooling a lot. We thought she was going to die.”remembers the young farmer. He is part of a pastoral group, a group of cattle and sheep breeders, where several animals have been affected by bluetongue: “Out of the hundred cattle, half were affected, two of them seriously.”
Lucie Amadieu
Cases contracted at altitude
Faced with these cases which appear in valleys or in mountain pastures, this breeder made the decision to vaccinate your entire herd against the two variants bluetongue. This is a gesture that was not done here for the cows because the disease-carrying midge did not survive at altitude, recalls Stéphanie Brun-Leprince-Jadis, associated with her son on the farm. “On the mountain, we did not think that the midge would rise to 1500 meters of altitude. Well yes, it is everywhere. It is linked to climate change I think. As the veterinarian told us: ‘you have gone from good years but I think the illnesses will catch up with you now too’.”
For the moment, these cows are returning to mountain pastures protected against bluetongue. They will come back down later when the weather becomes too wintery.
