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The race to vaccinate against Blue Tongue is well underway on many members’ farms.

One of the first members to receive his vaccine and undertake the essential task was Farmer Director Richard Davis, who runs a 310-acre farm in Bedfordshire. He completed the task in mid May, some three weeks before he expected to begin!

Richard was keen to recount his experience to StraightTalk and possibly provide some useful pointers for those members yet to start their vaccination programme.

“Order as many 50ml bottles as you can, as the 20ml bottle costs about a third more. However as the vaccine doesn’t last more than six to eight hours once opened, plan what you need and how best to use what you’ve got.

“Also make sure you have a decent gun with a wide tube from the bottle to gun - one that is about 20cm long. I cut mine down from the one supplied because the vaccine doesn’t flow freely,” he added.

Richard said members shouldn’t worry too much about lost production. His cows dropped about 70 litres over a normal day’s production of 2500 litres for the first two days, with normal production resuming on the third day.

He estimated it took around 3.5 hours to vaccinate 200 animals, excluding the time taken to round-up and sort stock. And in three weeks time, the task begins again. Two weeks after that the cows will be immune.

Farmers who have heard rumours about possible abortions should also be reassured from the experience of Richard’s local vet. Out of 17,000 vaccinations there has been only one abortion in the practice and that was an alpaca.

“I urge all members to vaccinate. It is a small cost when compared with the likely loss of production, cost of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs, not to mention the deformed calves, abortions and infertility if the midges spread blue tongue in the herd,” he said.

“Members with sheep should also vaccinate their flocks as mortality rates in sheep are over 30%.”