Knowledge will be the key to fighting Schmallenberg

By Farmers Guardian livestock editor Katie Lomas.

With news of the ‘novel’ Schmallenberg virus being detected in the UK this week livestock farmers may well be asking themselves ‘what next?’

Perhaps the most worrying thing about this disease though is the apparent lack of knowledge about how it spreads and exactly how we test for it.

Experts have already freely admitted they know little about the disease; there is no blood test for it and very little evidence they can use to estimate how far and wide its consequences will spread.

Even more disturbing is the idea the disease could have been circulating in England since last year, if the reports of transmission via midges are confirmed.

With many sheep farmers about to enter their busiest time of the year with the onset of lambing the added worry of the disease is definitely something most could do without.

This seemingly ‘silent’ disease may well have been brought into the country via live imports, which once again opens up a new line of debate on that issue.

Experts have warned the industry to expect more cases to come to light over the coming weeks so livestock farmers must now face an agonising wait to see if their stock are affected.

One thing is for sure though, the sooner our experts get to the bottom of this, the better.

By Farmers Guardian livestock editor Katie Lomas.

Wiseman and Muller, a bolt from the blue

Nobody expected German yogurt manufacturer and Robert Wiseman to announce a merger this week.

By Howard Walsh

Who wishes they had bought shares in Robert Wiseman Dairies last week ?  More to the point who would have expected it anyway.

The bolt from the blue — German yoghurt maker Muller making a bid for Wiseman — was not the one many people in the dairy industry would have thought of putting their money on.

And it doesn’t  actually reduce the number of big processors as some people maintain would be good for producers and would maybe reduce the pressure on processors to ‘buy’ market share.

As Minister Jim Paice said at this week’s Semex conference, the constant price squabbles along the supply chain have to stop. But we’ll have to wait for that one.

Clearly First Milk is now in a better place – not that it hasn’t been since Mustoe and Allum came to the helm – with a potential £28m to spend from the sale of its 10 per cent stake in Wiseman.

Farmers Guardian business editor, Howard Walsh