November 2025
Hello and welcome to the November newsletter – we are really into the cooler weather, plenty of rain too! Many of our clients have had problems with acorns this autumn – it has been a perfect storm for oak trees – heat, dryness, then wet, wind – with what must be a record breaking number of acorns dropped in a short period of time. Some animals seem to develop a real addiction to eating them, with fatal consequences. Many of our clients have had to close off certain fields or use electric fencing to cordon off around trees. There has been a bit of a delay to the clinical signs though with some animals showing symptoms a week or so later. Hope you have not had any problems.
As well as acorns, have a think about liver fluke – have you got it, do you need to treat? Also pneumonia/housing/weaning etc. Any help you want, please just phone.
We are holding our charity night on 8th November, 7pm, in Llanharan Welfare Hall. Local artist, Tom Jenkins, will be singing for us along with his friend James Davies, followed by raffle and auction. Tickets are £10 and it is possible to just come on the night. The more the merrier, all proceeds going to Sir Gareth Edwards Cancer Charity.
Changes are being made to TB regulations January 2026. Sarah follows with an article all about it. Don’t forget to book your tests in – the more notice you give, the more likely we are able to accommodate your requests. Also, because of the way Christmas falls this year, for the fortnight over Christmas and New Year, we are only able to TB testing on one day in this last fortnight in December.
BLUE TONGUE. From 10th November 2025, the whole of Wales will become a Restriction Zone (RZ). The temporary control zone (TCZ) in place in Monmouthshire will be revoked, individual premises across Wales will no longer be subject to Bluetongue specific movement or control restrictions. There will be no further culling or restrictions, there will be free movement of livestock between England and Wales with no need for vaccination or other mitigation measures (licenses). Movement of animals from Wales to Scotland will be subject to Scottish Government rules. Vaccination remains the most important means of protecting livestock, particularly before the next active transmission period – Spring 2026. At least it will be easier to vaccinate during housing. Surveillance measures are ongoing – you may have an APHA representative taking bloods at your TB test from 14 animals.
What’s the Latest on Bovine TB?
You may have seen in the farming press that Inconclusive Reactors (IRs) will be treated differently from 1st January 2026. Any standard-interpretation IRs that pass their 60-day retest will be restricted to your holding for life, meaning that they can only be sold for slaughter or to an Approved Finishing Unit (AFU) via orange TB markets. The reasoning is that standard IRs are 12 times more likely than clear-testing cattle to become reactors in future, so moving these cattle around risks spreading TB to other herds. From an individual farm point-of-view, they’re also a risk to the rest of your herd so we’d recommend that you manage these animals out as soon as it’s practical – please don’t put them back in calf!
Update on Vaccines
Thanks to an informative day at the AberTB Conference in September, I am happy to share that things are moving along with TB vaccinations in the complicated world of bovine TB control, although not without some hiccups!
BCG vaccine to prevent TB has been around and used effectively in humans for over 70 years. In theory, this vaccine could be used in cattle too, however trials in the 1950s showed that vaccination produced slower progress with clearing TB-infected herds than a test-and-remove strategy. We also know that vaccinating cattle would interfere with our standard skin testing, so it’s not allowed by UK Law currently. There has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes though, to safety-test a cattle-specific BCG vaccine and develop a new skin test which can accurately tell the difference between infected and vaccinated animals (DIVA test).
The good news is that the cattle BCG vaccine has now passed its safety trials and is likely to be approved for use within the next year or so (pending Marketing Authorisation from the VMD & WOAH).
The bad news is that there have been some delays with developing the new DIVA skin test. More trials are needed, to ensure that there are no false-positive results when it is eventually released. It looks like the soonest it will be launched is 2029. In the meantime, there has been a lot of discussion about whether other tests could be used sooner e.g. blood testing. Prof Sir Charles Godfray has suggested in his review of TB control in England that if the vaccine gets its licence, we should be using it in recurrent and persistent breakdown herds even if development of the new skin test is lagging behind. Certainly food for thought!
Meanwhile, vaccination has been approved and used for badgers for the past 15 years. Vaccination programmes are becoming more active, and there have been some excellent examples of farmer and vet collaborative projects e.g. VESBA in Sussex. The main challenge is the cost - £8 per vaccine plus all the time and labour input. There are also rapid TB tests available for badgers, which can be used in “Trap-Vaccinate-Remove” systems where infected badgers are humanely dispatched, and uninfected badgers are vaccinated and released (though this is an extra cost again). As with other areas of TB control, limited resources and funding available will slow our progress.
There’s some cause for optimism with vaccines, however we can’t rely on this being a “silver bullet” and definitely need to up our game with other aspects of our TB management. For example, using TB skin test results to identify higher-risk cattle and managing these out of herds, and improving herd biosecurity. The battle and the debate continues!
Bluetongue Update
At the time of press, we’ve just had the news that an all-Wales Restriction Zone will be in place from 10th November, thanks to numerous confirmed cases in Powys and Monmouthshire. This brings Wales into line with England’s measures and means livestock can move more freely over the border. As always – check the latest licensing requirements before you move, as this advice could change.
I’ve helped out with some of the sampling in the Monmouthshire control zone recently, so have had an inside flavour of what to expect if you’re inspected… Standard surveillance visits usually involve blood sampling 14 animals, plus inspection of all cattle/sheep/goats/camelids on the holding (from a distance, unless any possible signs of Bluetongue are noticed). Keeping your records up-to-date and close-to-hand is really important. Don’t forget to write down any Bluetongue vaccine you’ve used in your medicines book! Bonus points for including a printout of the online form you submit after dosing. On/off movements, and records of any deaths (ID/date/cause) will also need to be checked. Some evidence of herd/flock fertility and production is helpful if you’ve got it – e.g. scanning results, calving/lambing records, weights, sale or abattoir reports. Everything will be explained to you if and when an inspection is needed, this is just an example to help you be prepared!
This month’s author is Sarah
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