Statement from Neil Wilson, Executive Director of The Institute for Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland, in response to the Scottish Government’s latest update on the bluetongue virus (BTV) situation in the UK:
We are pleased to see that Scottish Government has announced that restrictions for livestock movement in relation to bluetongue virus (BTV) will be eased from 21st September.
We have pushed Scottish Government hard to agree a pragmatic date for this for the industry and our mart customers who rely on cross border trade, particularly in the south of the country but all over Scotland. Having a firm date to work towards will encourage more trade and ease the burden on markets and our customers.
Cattle and sheep health are vital to our industry and mart trade, and we are encouraging mart customers, who haven’t already, to vaccinate, especially over the next few weeks when stock is being handled. Not only are we seeing evidence that vaccinated livestock can command better prices – £200-300/head more at Carlisle for dairy cattle recently and buyers offering to pay a premium for vaccinated sheep – but as an industry, none of us wants to see BTV restrictions imposed again next June. The cost of vaccination is likely to be greatly outweighed by the reward of uninterrupted trade next summer.