WITH THE cost of a full blown bluetongue outbreak in Scotland conservatively estimated at £100 million it is hardly surprising that the whole industry is trying to keep the deadly viral disease at bay.

Vaccination is part of the defence network and 120 farmers gathered in Perth on Thursday night eager to discuss the recently launched compulsory programme which should see all cattle and sheep protected by April 30.

Scottish Government vet Martin Blissett and Mike Dixon of vaccine manufacturers Merial Animal Health gave useful presentations, but inev- itably it was questions from the audience which dominated as beef and sheep producers sought answers to the issues which had emerged since vaccination started on November 3.

“This is the first national vaccination programme since brucellosis and we are very keen to get it right and we will be very happy to take back issues which you raise,” said Mr Blissett.

One of the first to speak was Ronnie Mackie, The Ross, Madderty, who asked if it would still be possible for him to sell cows with spring-born calves at foot at sales in May.

As the rules stand at present young animals must be vaccinated before they leave the farm of birth or before six months of age. But as Mr Dixon had pointed out the Merial vaccine cannot be used before an animal is three months old. Effectively this means that April-born calves could not be sold until July at the earliest.

The same problem could apply with ewes sold with lambs at foot.

Pat Lawson of United Auctions felt the problem could be avoided by producers filling in a declaration form to say the dams had been vaccinated but that the calves had not. The same might apply where a dairy calf was brought in as a foster calf.

Mr Blissett thought these sort of arrangements might be possible and he would take the problem back to his working group.

There is already a voluntary declaration form available which has been drawn up in conjunction with NFUS and both Mr Blissett and Neil Ritchie of the Scottish Government animal health department urged producers to use them whenever possible.

The situation would be eased if the vaccine could be used on one-month- old animals but Mr Dixon was adamant that the Merial vaccine, the only one subsidised by the Scottish Government, could not be used effectively on such young animals.

Several calf producers complained about the difficulty of bringing in three-month-old calves from grass and of handling them for vaccination.

The whole issue of waste was brought into focus by vet Susan Waddell of the Ashworth Vet Group in Crieff, who asked, “Will the 12 million doses ordered be enough?”

She said, “I realise that there is allowance for 10% waste and that animals sold for slaughter within the vaccination window do not now need to be injected. But I think the wastage will be more like 20% and possibly much higher.

“The initial batch of guns supplied with the vaccine was also overdosing by at least 10%. If we run out will the Scottish Government subsidise any balance required?”

Neil Ritchie would give no commitment that there would be further expenditure, only saying that there would be “a close eye kept on the situation.”

Mr Dixon for Merial pointed out problems with the dispensing guns had been rectified. However, it seems that overdosing is still a problem, with Gordon Mackie, Ardownie, Monifieth, pointing out he had only managed 85 doses out of a 100-millilitre bottle instead of 100.

Part of the waste can be explained by the eight-hour life put on the vaccine once the seal on the bottle has been broken. This means someone with 60 cattle will waste 40 doses from one bottle unless it can be shared with a neighbour.

However, it transpired that the vaccine does not lose effectiveness after eight hours but that the condition is included on the label to avoid any problems caused by loss of sterility, such as abscesses.

David Armstrong, South Ardittie, Methven, suggested that the problem could be overcome if the applicator was kept on a part-used bottle and it was kept in a fridge for use another day.

Mr Dixon pointed out that there could be some risk because the vaccine had no preservative included.

Despite the focus on vaccination it was clear that keeping the disease out was the priority. France has had over 22,000 cases of BTV serotype 8—(the strain which appeared in England in 2007 and the one which is being vaccinated at present—and 3500 cases of BTV serotype 1 for which there is no vaccine available.

Pat Lambert, Pitlochie, Gateside, said, “This is a horrendous scenario.

“It only needs some comedian to import a fancy tup or a dairy heifer carrying BTV1 or the newly-emerged BTV6 and the whole industry is at huge risk.”