Illnesses

It is not an isolated case in one livestock farm: hemorrhagic fever is spreading uncontrollably throughout the Pinares region, where almost all the keepers (in Hontoria, in Rabanera, Vilviestre, Quintanar, in La Gallega…) have been dealing with him for weeks. Pedro Luis Peñaranda, from Hontoria del Pinar, has six of his forty animals sick, and he is very worried. Every morning, first thing in the morning, he approaches the grass where his cows are grazing so that they can be identified one by one. Those he has that are sick are in a dungeon on the side, but he already knows (because he suffered from it last year) that this fever appears in animals without need for contagion among them, which is why he uses so much loyalty. in watching over his cattle. “If you see someone standing still or not eating, it’s bad. That’s because they’re already starting to get sick. You have to be very alert every day from first thing in the morning.”

The antibiotics given to his sick cows seem to be giving good results, but he is not getting it all: other ranchers have already died a few times, and he himself lost a cow and a bull. last year to the same disease (So, it affected twelve cows). « It affects their muscles very hard, they stop, they lose weight; Their tongue turns blue, swells up and they can’t eat. Economically it is a pain, says Pedro Luis: between vaccinations and a vet, the joke can cost about 200 euros per ‘patient’ every time an animal is spayed and examined. “What we give them are anti-inflammatories, but it’s not a vaccine. Some even get worse while others improve. Now they say there will be a vaccine soon, but who knows…”

Those who survive, says this keeper from Hontoria del Pinar, are not worth the same later. «They have lost a lot of meat and of course, the benefit is less. “We are always embarrassed, if not because of this, then because of the wolf.” Pedro Luis compares this disease (apparently caused by a mosquito from North Africa) with Covid. Some are affected, others less and others go through without realizing it. Well, with these fevers the same thing happens to cattle.

“We feel alone”. Both Pedro Luis and other guardians from Hontoria and the area feel helpless and abandoned. But besides that, concern is growing among the guardians in this area of ​​Burgos. “We have been like this for more than three weeks now and no one from the Board has come here. They do not provide solutions for anything, except for the publication of that vaccine, which must be seen if it works, how much it will cost… “They are all worried. « Of what we see, many of our cows are going to the slaughterhouse. And what about the expenses, is there no one to help us? We have been there for more than twenty days and no one has been willing to take an interest in our situation or offer us solutions or help us manage it,” said Míchel García, who has more than a hundred cows, of which half are infected and two are a disease

Other affected ranchers believe that this evil comes less from insects than from European politics. They don’t want conservatives like us there, we’re clear about that. And it is because they are not interested in having youth, in a generational change. But it’s not even that we’re here.

They do not see a quick and easy solution. The dozen Hontoria keepers, who have more than half a thousand heads, are in a condition not to survive. “We are tired and worried. And it’s all very unusual. Where months ago it hit hard, now there is nothing. And vice versa. We don’t know what to do, we are very lost. The focus has been here for over twenty days and is already moving to the lakes and Soria. It is a plague. We are asking the Board to worry a little about us and help us with expenses.

Vaccination and compensation. Last July it was reported that the Zendal biotechnology group has developed a vaccine against the epizootic hemorrhagic disease that affects cattle and that it will be free for farmers after a prescription from their veterinarian. In this sense, the agricultural union Asaja greatly appreciates this news and asks “that it be free, to try to the great economic and clinical damage caused by this virus in recent campaigns to reduce “It is an inactive vaccine, with temporary authorization and that meets the safety and efficacy conditions required by AEMPS (Spanish Medicines Agency).”

Since the end of 2022, the disease has spread widely throughout the country, they note from the agricultural center, causing clinical problems in cattle with fever, lesions in the oral mucosa, obstruction, inflammation of the tongues, diarrhoea, abortion, etc. And that is why he wants economic compensation for the affected farms “to compensate for the economic damage caused, and flexibility in payment, since payments for the damages are it was made a year ago yet to come. We also request from the competent administrations all the information about this disease so that farmers can make the right decisions to stop it and we remind all affected farmers, if suspected about this disease on their farm, that they must contact the relevant Department. Regional Ministry of Agriculture.