Positive news for sheep farms in North Holland after a difficult year: a vaccine against the bluetongue virus is being developed. It offers hope for the affected companies. “This is great news.”
Sheep farmers in our province saw their sheep suffer last year from a tidal wave of infections with the bluetongue virus. That led to distressing situations, such as: Wilko and Hermien Kemp from Kortenhoef. They have the first Dutch farm where the bluetongue virus broke out. “Seventy percent of our sheep have died from the virus,” says Wilko. “At the peak I had twenty dead sheep in one day.”
Antibodies
He is very happy that a vaccine is on the way, but also wants to guard against too much optimism. “I don’t know yet what it will cost. I can assume it will be a normal amount.”
Once the time comes, he doesn’t yet know how many vaccines he will have to take. “I still have to discuss this with the vet. I have the illusion that the remaining sheep have had it all. They should have enough antibodies.” Only his lambs born in May will probably need to be vaccinated.
Furthermore, Wilko and Hermien’s animals are now doing well again. “Those who survived have recovered wonderfully.” He expects to welcome the first lambs this month.
One company busy
At least one company is developing a vaccine against the bluetongue virus. This was said by outgoing Agriculture Minister Adema today in the House of Representatives. “I will speed up the admission processes so that hopefully a safe and effective vaccine will be available before the midge season (midges are the mosquitoes that transmit the virus, ed.) by the middle of this year,” the ANP news agency quotes him as saying.
Adema cannot say which company or companies are involved “due to the high sensitivity to competition”. He is in discussions about the vaccines with ten vaccine manufacturers in Europe. “All the steps taken so far in this process are going well, but we are not there yet.”
“This is very good news,” says Nico Verduin. He is chairman of the Regional Board of the LTO West region and himself a sheep farmer in Andijk. “There is a lot of damage and anger left by bluetongue among entrepreneurs and hobby owners. They have to pay for the damage themselves, while the entrepreneur cannot do anything about it.”
Discussions have been held about government compensation for the most affected sheep farmers. But that came to nothing. “The government has rejected that.” Outgoing Agriculture Minister Adema believes that sheep farming can survive the damage caused by the bluetongue virus without compensation. He thought the share of animals that died from cattle disease in November was “still too little” to compensate for this.
Heap
That does not alter the fact that Verduin is not happy with the news about the vaccine, although he is also cautious. “It’s great that this announcement has been made. We have to wait and see how it will be worked out. For example, we don’t know anything about the costs and quality yet. But this announcement gives a little hope and hope brings life. The sooner, the better.”