听The volume of sheep sales taking place has really stepped up over the last week or so, both commercial and pedigree. On the whole trade across the board seems to be extremely good and the recent rain has also helped buyer confidence, particularly for store lambs.
Farmers Guardian reports of sales where many producers are achieving five-figure prices, is in stark contrast to reports about the spread of bluetongue and how many farmers are struggling with both the financial cost of this along with the emotional stress of dealing with dead and sick animals. It just highlights the highs and lows of farming.
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It seems inevitable that bluetongue is now creeping north and spreading to areas where it has not seen before. It is worrying that there seems to be a big delay in the results of testing and reinforces the fact that the government needs to invest more and support the industry more in terms of disease surveillance and testing with the threat of more diseases spreading from the continent.
On a more positive note, John Rossiter, auctioneer at Ashford, in his View from the Rostrum article says that after the south east suffering from bluetongue for the last few years, there is no sign of it this time. He suggests that this may be because there is some vaccine holdover and livestock have developed some immunity. It may be of little comfort to those in the midst of an outbreak but this has to be good news for the future.
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