01/08/2026
⚠️ Bluetongue in livestock ⚠️
Unfortunately, Bluetongue has now made its way to our area. A few sheep just down the road have already been treated for it.
Naturally, this has made me very worried about Chopsy.
I've been keeping a very close eye on her. Yesterday she was absolutely fine, with no signs whatsoever.
Today, though, I'm not entirely convinced. She has a few spots around one side of her nostril, one watery eye, and a slightly runny nose.
I had a neighbouring farmer come and check her over. At the moment she has no sores in her mouth, no drooling, she's eating normally, and her temperature is within the normal range.
On top of that, she happily came for a walk with me this morning with no signs of lameness, ate every blackberry in sight, and even had a good go at headbutting me! 😂😂
Although something does seem slightly off compared to her usual self, there's unfortunately very little the vets can do at this stage. Because her symptoms are so mild, they wouldn't be able to offer much treatment right now. If she does go on to develop more obvious symptoms of Bluetongue, they'll treat her accordingly.
For now, I'll continue keeping a very close eye on her. The fact she's still happily eating, drinking, walking, headbutting, and shouting her head off at me tells me she's feeling well in herself, and that's the most important thing right now. ❤️
Please keep your fingers crossed for my girl. 🤞🐑
Information copied from Vale vets with a map.
The 2 maps show the official list of APHA cases (red triangles). We have seen cases on over 60 farms covering the majority of our practice area (blue circles). Only 1 of these shows on that APHA map, as we are still awaiting official results for the others, but we highly suspect the majority of them to be positive. This highlights how much disease there is in Devon at the moment. BTV-3 is spreading rapidly in the South West: Colleagues in other practices, particularly North and West Devon and Cornwall, have seen similar if not higher numbers.
🐑 Sheep have mainly been very lethargic and off colour, high temperatures, swollen muzzles, drooling and crusty nasal discharges, many with ulcers in the mouth and some lameness.
🐄Cattle have been off colour, often lying down more (due to sore feet), drooling, conjunctivitis, inflamed/crusty noses and some ulcers in mouths. Other signs in cattle include milk drop, abortion and fertility issues.
💉The best way to protect your stock is vaccination. We have seen those that had already vaccinated have been protected compared to those who hadn't. The red triangles are all confirmed BTV-3 cases - the strain in the vaccine being used at the moment.
📞 If you are in any doubt about whether your stock are affected or not give us a call to discuss your situation. APHA funding covers the lab fees for up to 3 animals and there are no restrictions on individual animals or holdings. Bluetongue is a notifiable disease and should be reported.
It may not yet be too late to vaccinate. Disease levels are likely to continue rising with midge activity, and the number of infected animals is set to increase through late Summer and in to the Autumn.
The battle bluetongue website is a great resources for more information on the disease https://ruminanthw.org.uk/bluetongue-virus-hub/
Follow the APHA interactive map of confirmed cases (type 'bluetongue interactive map' into Google)
