FARMERS who attended a regional bluetongue meeting were left in no doubt that vaccination does stop the disease from spreading.

A German vet who helped dramatically reduce the midge-borne disease in his home region said vaccination was the only answer.

“It is the only way to control the disease,” Dr Johanness Winkelmann told a meeting organised by the northern region of the National Sheep Association at Hexham on Tuesday night.

He was head of the Animal Health Service in the state of North Rhine Westphalia when the first case of BTV8 was found in August 2006.

By November that year, it had spread to 859 farms in Germany – 777 of them in Westphalia – and continued to rage until May this year when compulsory vaccination of sheep, cattle and goats was introduced.

Between June and August last year, some 23,000 farms were affected with thousands of deaths among sheep and cattle.

In September and October last year, about 22,000 sheep and more than 9,000 cattle died from the disease.

Milk production on affected dairy farms was typically down 30pc a day.

Dr Winkelmann said one dairy farm had no sign of the disease at the end of July 2006, but three weeks later 80pc of the herd was showing clinical signs.

In two years the disease cost the farm 77,300 euros in lost milk revenue, aborted calves, and increased veterinary bills.

The disease continued to wreak havoc until the compulsory vaccination programme was introduced following Dr Winkelmann’s work and advice.

It brought BTV8 under control in Westphalia with only three cases confirmed in July and August this year compared to 1,537 in the same months in 2007.

Elsewhere in Germany, only a handful of cases have been reported in the north and west – all in animals that had not been vaccinated.

German farmers have not had to pay a penny for their vaccine and Dr Winkelmann was surprised that English farmers have to buy their own.

He explained that in Germany farmers pay a compulsory insurance fee at the start of each year based on the number of animals they have.

That fund and Government cash has paid compensation for lost cattle and sheep.

The vaccination programme has been funded by the German government and European Union.

Vets perform the vaccination, and by mid-August more than 400,000 cattle and 300,000 sheep had been vaccinated.

Dr Winkelmann stressed there had been no side effects caused by the vaccine, which had proved to be the only way of stopping the disease.

He highlighted the fact that the disease peaked during September, October and November, after which it quietened down until May/June.

Malcolm Corbett thanked Dr Winkelmann for his presentation.

He said: “The clear message from your presentation is that vaccination is stopping the virus.

“I am convinced vaccination has stopped the disease raging through this country as it did on the Continent.

If it had raged through here, we would have been devastated.”

Hans Porksen, NSA northern region chairman, said: “If you do not want any risk, you vaccinate. If your neighbour does not, it is his decision and his hard luck if he loses his stock.”

In reply to a question he believed it was “outrageous” that some farmers were still importing stock from BTV8-infected areas, which had later been found to have the disease.

The meeting was told there were questions over the reliability of tests carried out before they were imported. The NSA would continue to speak out against such imports.