The bluetongue virus is also spreading among livestock from farmers in Haarlemmermeer and Amstelland. In total, about twenty companies in the region have already been infected. Farmers feel powerless and view the suffering of their livestock with sorrow: “Emotionally speaking, I would prefer to cry among the animals.”
Photo: Sheep with bluetongue – Gert-Jan van Tune from the Koningshoeve Farm in Spaarndam
A thick tongue, blisters on the nose and swollen claws: cows and sheep that become infected with the virus face suffering. In many cases, sheep in particular do not survive. The first ones came a few weeks ago outbreaks have already been discovered on the farms in ‘t Gooi. In other regions the infections.
In total, about twenty companies have already been infected in the regions, of which, according to the NVWA, six are in Haarlemmermeer village centers, six in Amstelveen, and the rest in Ouder-Amstel, Uithoorn and Aalsmeer.
For farmers this means high costs: expensive medicines, constant care and hardly any income due to reduced milk production. Yet they almost only talk about the animals. “The suffering is simply unbearable,” says Gert-Jan van Tune of the organic Farm Koningshoeve in Spaarndam.
Lethargic
Where the cows and sheep used to walk happily through the meadow, the animals now mainly lie on the ground. Many of them die or have a miscarriage. “You can see that they are extremely lethargic. They are drooling all day long. They cannot eat. They still try to drink, but sometimes they come out with the same speed.”
“When you stand among sick animals, emotionally you prefer to cry”
Farmer Bart Wesselingh
Bart Wesselingh from Veehouderij Wesselingh in Amstelveen recognizes this. “When you stand among sick animals, emotionally you prefer to cry. I see it a bit like the coronavirus. You have no control over it. The only thing you can do is be as good as possible for your animals. “
The bluetongue virus is a non-contagious viral disease that can make so-called ruminants ill. Sheep in particular become ill from the virus. Cows and goats can also get it, but usually do not die from it.
Midges
The fact that it is non-contagious mainly means that it cannot be transmitted from animal to animal, nor from animal to human. Animals become infected with the bluetongue virus because they are bitten by a type of fly called midges. If they carry the virus, they also give it to the animals in this way.
When the animals die, the farmers put them under a tarpaulin on the road. They are then picked up there. “Something like this is also intense for the environment to see,” says Gert-Jan. “People sometimes think that you are doing something wrong and that is why they are dead.”
“You’re ashamed when something like that happens,” Bart adds. “I’m afraid of being seen as someone who does harm.” He is referring to the nitrogen debate. “The farmer is portrayed as someone who sees an animal as a product, while there is a lot of emotion and feeling involved.”
‘Bluetongue Wappies’
Because there is a lot of criticism of farmers, Bart finds it ‘difficult not to think in doomsday scenarios’. “You sometimes hear that the midges are deliberately infected to reduce the livestock population,” he says. “Soon, instead of corona wappies, you will have the blue-tongued wappies. I’m trying to let that go, because I don’t want to think about humanity that way.”
Text continues below the photo.
Photo: Cow with blue tongue – Gert-Jan van Tune from the organic Farm Koningshoeve in Spaarndam
Already many of their animals are dead. “At first there were twenty healthy sheep and five hundred healthy cows. Sixteen of the sheep became ill and six of them died,” says Gert-Jan. Half of the cows are also infected with the virus. In Amstelveen it is no less: all 25 sheep are sick, eleven of them have died. In addition, half of the cows are sick.
Nevertheless, farmer Bart tries to remain positive. He has heard good news from Loosdrecht, one of the first places where the bluetongue virus struck: “According to the first reports, there is an improvement and no more animals are becoming ill there.”
The NVWA map below shows the number of herds per place of residence infected with bluetongue, with a focus on the Amstelland and Haarlemmermeer regions.
Photo: Number of bluetongue infections per company per place of residence – NVWA
2023-09-28 16:45:00
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