During the past fortnight SAC Consulting Veterinary Services has confirmed two diagnoses of Schmallenberg Virus (SBV) infection in malformed lambs in two Scottish flocks close to the border with England. This follows the increasing numbers of affected lambs identified in England and Wales throughout the winter of 2016/17.
George Caldow, Head of SAC Consulting Veterinary Services said: "It can be difficult to predict how widespread any infection will turn out to have been or to be, but there are some important points that give us an indication of the likely impact that SBV infection will have this spring on Scottish livestock. In winter 2016/17 SRUC vets have not diagnosed SBV in either early lambing flocks in Scotland, or in all-year-round calving dairy herds in Scotland.
"It is therefore inferred that at the time of maximum midge activity in 2016 there was unlikely to have been SBV present in the midges in Scotland otherwise we would have seen cases in these two categories of animals."
Mr Caldow went on: "The midge population progressively declines as we move in to winter and midge numbers will have been low during the time of maximum vulnerability of the main Scottish spring-lambing flock, which is likely to have been December and January. Therefore it may be that only small numbers of ewes will have been infected with few affected lambs being born, and these are likely to be in flocks in the southernmost part of the country.
"The limited information we have to date suggests that the midge population in some parts of southern Scotland became infected in late autumn probably due to the gradual spread north of infected midges."
* Meanwhile, key industry representatives in the grain supply chain failed to reach an agreement this week on the national roll-out of an electronic passport - a six-year project being facilitated by AHDB.
The projected cost of a national roll-out was £2.5m over the next five years with the cost being funded from cereal and oilseed levies.
An eGrain Passport pilot project involving the milling and malting supply chains was carried out by AHDB in 2015. This was followed by a six-month industry consultation in 2016 which was broadly well-received, although the proposed roll-out failed to get approval from the Cereals Liaison Group when it met in London on Tuesday.
Market round-up
Lawrie & Symington Ltd sold 347 store heifers in Lanark on Tuesday to a top of 261.1p per kg and an average of 216.2p, while 400 store, beef-bred bullocks peaked at 257.6p and levelled at 224.4p. Thirty-five store, dairy-bred bullocks sold to 183.3p and averaged 144.1p.
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