Animal virus fear as midges edge closer

FARMERS in Scotland are on high alert after a virus carried by midges that attacks livestock was found in animals just south of the Border.

Surveillance by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found the Schmallenberg virus at farms in North Yorkshire and Northumberland.

Farmers in the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway are being urged to consult vets and consider postponing breeding with rams or bulls until later in the year when lower temperatures reduce the movements of midges, lowering the risk of the virus being transmitted.

The survey fuelled fears that Schmallenberg, which causes deformities and stillbirths in sheep and cattle, is spreading north from England to 
Scotland.