[PipKelpy]

Got an email mailshot a few weeks ago from Farmers Guardian (i think) about this nasty cretin doing the rounds again, apparently some in Herefordshire are being battered in the early lambing flocks.

At time of reading, my thoughts were "thank God I'm not early lambing now."

 However, googling today (nosying about in other words) led me to the FarmingForum and apparently it's rife all down south and a few comments have said about not getting it up north (Scotland).

I'm in North Shropshire and when it did the rounds the first time all those years ago, I had 2 cases, late December/early January. The following year, one of the affected ewes had another deformed lamb almost identical to the deformed lamb she had the previous year. We did ask the vet about a PM, but were told waste of time as Schmallenberg was lurking again.

Then it went quiet and now it's doing the rounds again.

My question is were any of you affected last time regarding your locations and are you starting to panic this time round? I'm not lambing this year, carrying 22 lumps (more than wanted) but I've put my foot down as mum was adamant "you must lamb!!" but reading its about, glad I'm not, but does make me wonder about next year seeing that there is no vaccine.

[twizzel]

There is a lot of it around this year so far, my ewes are 5 weeks off and I’m approaching lambing somewhat apprehensive. But it is worth noting that APHA are offering free testing for schmallenberg through your vet, so if you have any suspected cases, it’s worth getting them sampled.