Bluetongue Virus Outbreak: Devastating Impact on Livestock Farmers and High Mortality in Sheep

Livestock farmer Barbara Pronk is affected, but resigned. “What can you do about it?” she asks out loud. For many, the warm late summer weather of recent times has been a pleasure, but for her animals it has been a complete disaster. In two weeks, the Pronk family lost about 20 of their 105 sheep.

The main culprits are the many midges (small biting mosquitoes), which infect the sheep en masse. The bluetongue virus is not passed on directly from sheep to sheep: infected midges pass it on to ruminants. And because of the heat, these insects are still very active.

The collection service of carcass processor Rendac is working overtime. “Look, they’re coming tomorrow morning.” Pronk points to a wheelbarrow containing two deceased animals. In a pen surrounded by steel fences, next to a pile of silage bales, there are a dozen sheep. They are all sick, one sheep is lying on its side without a drink. “It won’t make it through the night.”

In the same pen there are also a few sheep that are on the mend again. They stand stiff on their legs and stagger around. Only a small proportion recover: mortality among the sheep is high, according to farmers and veterinarian Marieke Volkering. She sees many companies where a quarter to a half of the sheep succumb to the virus.

Swelling and inflammation

In severe cases of the disease, sheep develop a blue tongue. Other symptoms: high fever; a lot of saliva and drooling; swellings in the head, tongue and lips; inflammation of the hooves and stiff and lame walking. Many animals can also no longer eat or drink due to the virus.

In the area around Weesp and Nederhorst den Berg, almost all livestock farms and hobby farmers with sheep have been affected. At Pronk, “only twenty” are dead, says the farmer’s wife. She is in close contact with other sheep farmers in the area. There are companies with three hundred sheep, says Pronk. Nearly a hundred dead animals were collected there.

From applesauce in the blender to tea made from willow branches: livestock farmers do everything they can to ease the suffering of the suffering sheep

The infection rate is high, especially in the area around the Vecht and the Loosdrechtse Plassen. Cows and goats also become infected, but the impact is especially great on sheep. The fact that a significant portion of the infected sheep die makes livestock farmer Pronk sigh: “You can hardly do anything.”

The animals on the farm of Ageeth Engele and her husband, a few minutes’ bike ride away, have also been badly affected. Under a black tarpaulin on the road lie four dead sheep, ready to be picked up. It’s a matter of waiting and waiting, says Engele. Eighteen of the hundred sheep have now succumbed.

Engele and her husband were on holiday for a few days this month – for the first time in a while. With a group of other livestock farmers in a coach. “Almost everyone took turns being informed about bluetongue on their farm,” says the farmer.

‘Devastating’

At the beginning of this week, almost six hundred sheep farms were affected, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) reported on Tuesday. The NVWA cannot yet say how many animals have become infected.

The bluetongue outbreak was first identified in the vicinity of the Loosdrechtse Plassen. “Everyone is affected,” says veterinarian Marieke Volkering, with high mortality, up to half of all sheep. “It seems to be especially worse in young rams, where mortality is higher than in ewes.”

The NVWA states that the inability to eat and drink is particularly fatal for the sheep. Veterinarian Volkering has recently seen direct, fatal complications from the virus. “The disease itself is so devastating to the animals.”

Because there is no real cure, sheep farmers try everything to ease the suffering and make their animals better, Volkering sees: from feed and applesauce in the blender to tea made from willow branches. “It is just very distressing, for the animals and for the people who are trying so hard.”

The damage to livestock farmers is extensive. Both Pronk and Engele keep cows in addition to sheep, and are therefore not entirely dependent on the sheep. Yet it is also a big blow financially. At Pronk, the damage caused by the death of animals already amounts to 4,000 euros, she says. The bluetongue epidemic will probably also have major consequences for next spring. In the autumn the ewes are mated by the ram. The virus affects an excessive number of rams and sick sheep cannot be mated. It remains to be seen whether the bluetongue virus has consequences for the fertility and pregnancy of cured female sheep. “We don’t know what the lambs will look like,” says Engele worriedly.

Also read this article: The bluetongue virus is back: four sheep farms infected

A version of this article also appeared in the October 4, 2023 newspaper.
2023-10-03 17:40:16
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