[pharnorth]

I was quoting from the www.gov site document Guidance Avian Flu last updated 7th February 2017. Any clarity you get from BPA in particular would be welcome. I haven't been deep diving into this previously but as the lifting of restrictions seems to be very limited thought it was time I did my own risk assessment. Having hardly seen a wild bird for months there are huge numbers passing through right now.

[doganjo]

We are not in, but close to areas deemed ''higher risk'. My concern is the movement and licence restrictions that start to apply to pigs once you get into a surveillance zone.  You can 'not move pigs on or off premises where poultry captive birds are kept without a licence'. Somehow I don't think my weaners would get a licence.

My current risk assessment is that my 2 outdoor kept Berkshire pigs are at greater risk from the now multiple migrating birds than the 5 poor Indian Runners I have cooped up.  But I am reluctant to either a) net the pond to give them more freedom and so increase risk of infection or b) keep them indefinitly with no more than a car tyre full of head dipping water.

So in the law of diminishing returns the odds are stacking up.

Yes, I think we are the same in terms of the higher risk area.


Are these "licences" different to a normal movement licence then?

Reading that it is ambiguous - is it not a licence for chickens they mean?

[doganjo]

I'm annoyed now - so many people haven't bothered with the hassle of keeping their birds in. 

Just got this from APHA for Scotland

"AVIAN INFLUENZA PREVENTION ZONE - UPDATE
9 February 2017
The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone covering Scotland will remain in force until the end of April. From 28 February keepers in Scotland will have the option of letting birds outside, subject to enhanced biosecurity to minimise the risk of infection from wild birds. More at http://news.gov.scot/news/avian-influenza-5
There is a continued risk of H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza. Information and advice on biosecurity can be found at
http://www.gov.scot/avianinfluenza and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu


Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) "

Biosecurity steps include:

making sure that your birds’ feed and water can’t be accessed by wild birds
avoiding transfer of contamination between premises by cleansing and disinfecting equipment, vehicles and footwear
reducing the movement of people, vehicles or equipment to and from areas where poultry or captive birds are kept
implementing effective vermin control around buildings where poultry or captive birds are kept
providing wash facilities or dips containing approved disinfectant (at the right concentration) at key points such as farm entrances and entrances to bird houses.

[twizzel]

Frustrated that I'm in the proposed high risk area... yet there hasn't been any reports of avian flu in Cornwall since this all began. I think I will have to cull my remaining 6 drakes from last year earlier than planned 

[ColinS]

Frustrated that I'm in the proposed high risk area... yet there hasn't been any reports of avian flu in Cornwall since this all began.

Trying to make sense of the map  - the nearest "high risk" area to us is in the Barnsley area - can't see why that is different to much of the rest of the area.

BTW - has anyone found a higher resolution version of the map to the one in the DEFRA pdf?

[pharnorth]

[member=26320]doganjo[/member] from the context I took the need for a licence to mean additional to the usual pig movement licence. That is, I understood that in surveillance zone the usual emal2 system is suspended / or you need additional authority to move. No doubt in that scenario you are told pretty quickly.[member=25072]twizzel[/member]. No that is the only map,I've seen not very clear but you can enlarge the local area if you click on it. I'm not aware of any cases in the higher risk area near us either. Maybe it is because of a lot of outdoor pig units and migrating birds around there.

[harmony]

[member=26320]doganjo[/member] from the context I took the need for a licence to mean additional to the usual pig movement licence. That is, I understood that in surveillance zone the usual emal2 system is suspended / or you need additional authority to move. No doubt in that scenario you are told pretty quickly.[member=25072]twizzel[/member]. No that is the only map,I've seen not very clear but you can enlarge the local area if you click on it. I'm not aware of any cases in the higher risk area near us either. Maybe it is because of a lot of outdoor pig units and migrating birds around there.

If you are currently in a protection or surveillance zone when you fill in the eaml2 form (to move pigs) a message flags up and tells you what to do. Apparently, you need a vets permission. What they couldn't tell me was who pays for the vet and just what the vet needs to do.


What they couldn't tell me also is whether once the new zones are applied at the end of Feb, potentially capturing several pig keepers into the net, will they also need to have a vets permission and if so again who will pay.


I have a number to ring animal health tomorrow.


Whether having poultry on the premises as well as pigs makes it worse than not having poultry I don't know yet either.

[harmony]

BTW - has anyone found a higher resolution version of the map to the one in the DEFRA pdf?

No but it would be good!

[twizzel]

Frustrated that I'm in the proposed high risk area... yet there hasn't been any reports of avian flu in Cornwall since this all began.

Trying to make sense of the map  - the nearest "high risk" area to us is in the Barnsley area - can't see why that is different to much of the rest of the area.

BTW - has anyone found a higher resolution version of the map to the one in the DEFRA pdf?

Put your postcode in on the website below and it will tell you whether you're in the high risk zone or not
http://www.gisdiseasemap.defra.gov.uk/intmaps/avian/map.jsp

[ColinS]

Put your postcode in on the website below and it will tell you whether you're in the high risk zone or not
http://www.gisdiseasemap.defra.gov.uk/intmaps/avian/map.jsp

Thanks - you can navigate around that map and see the zones - funny shapes and not obviously centred on anything suspect. Thought the Penistone one might be because of the reservoirs but some of the biggest are outside the zone. Answers on a postcard please 

[Backinwellies]

Still waiting for Wales to tell us what the heck we have to do here post 28th!

[in the hills]

Backinwellies where do we look for a Welsh update?

[pharnorth]

I can't get the wretched cut and paste thing to work on the guidance doc but.....

The list of restrictions on a protection or surveillance zone doesn't say you can't move the pigs without a licence (I.e Vet approval) it says you can't move pigs to or from premises which have poultry/ captive birds without a licence.

My reading of that is that having poultry is a bigger risk to my ability to move my pigs than not having poultry given a protection zone could happen anywhere anytime.

[Marches Farmer]

I seem to remember that when H5N1 was on the move it was suspected it had first surfaced in China, where it was common practice for chickens to be kept in cages above pigs, which were possibly the intermediate host for the virus to mutate and affect humans.

[Penninehillbilly]

I don't understand these zones, areas are coloured where we havn't heard of a problem.?