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A farmer based in the Dublin mountains has lost up to 12% of her lambs due to Schmallenberg (SBV).
“We’ve lost up to 10 lambs due to SBV this spring. If this continues for the rest of lambing we’re likely to lose up to a third of our lambs,” Selina Guinness told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“The disease seems to be on the increase. We had two cases confirmed by Backweston last year and the man who scans our ewes has seen cases on farms across Wicklow and Wexford.’’
Guinness doesn’t believe that the scale of the problem is appreciated, and has called for SBV to be notifiable and Government-subsidised vaccinations introduced.
SBV is carried and spread by midges and causes late-term abortions in sheep and cattle and offspring with severe physical deformities.
Double the number
The latest figures from the Department of Agriculture show that there were 38 confirmed cases of SBV submitted to its Regional Vet Labs up to 18 February, which is more than double the number at the same time last year.
There were six confirmed bovine cases in the same period in both years, but bovine testing has increased by almost 60%, with 311 cases submitted for testing this year.
A vaccine for SBV is available in Northern Ireland, but was discontinued in the Republic of Ireland due to low farmer uptake.
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