18/08/2026
Like every livestock keeper and vet in the country we are very worried about the rapidly rising case number of BTV-3 in the UK. This season there are currently 456 confirmed cases of BTV-3 and another 2262 under investigation. There are no cases of BTV-8 and thankfully at the time of writing no confirmed cases in this area, however this picture can change very quickly.
Please remember that this is a notifiable disease and is spread by midges and therefore virtually impossible to prevent it entering your premises through prevailing winds. Do go to the following government site to keep updated on the location of cases, but be aware there can be a serious delay in spotting a case to getting the conformation of a positive result from the laboratory.
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/4867f4e1f680415898482df7aabb703d/page/Page
The best protection is of course vaccination with a BTV-3 strain vaccine. However, the vaccines are not being made quick enough for demand and there is a serious backlog. Wood Farm currently has a considerable amount of vaccine on back order and this is being allocated on a first come, first serve basis to our clients only as soon as it arrives with us. Please ensure your names are added to our waiting list with the number of doses that you require so that your livestock do not miss out on this essential vaccination. Call or email our reception team as soon as possible if you have not done so already.
For clients interested there is a webinar tomorrow evening on how bluetongue virus is affecting dairy cattle in the UK with up to date information on the situation
https://ahdb.org.uk/events/bluetongue-virus-update-19-august