Isles on foot-and-mouth alert
(From The Orcadian dated March 1, 2001)

Orkney Islands Council have issued a restriction order limiting access to footpaths and bridleways across Orkney, in a move designed to limit the potential spread of foot-and-mouth disease.

Acting on powers given to all local authorities by the Scottish Executive at 3pm on Tuesday, the council issued the advisory notice restricting access to farmland by walkers, ramblers, horse riders, and other non-essential users.

Val Cameron, principal environmental health officer at OIC, emphasised that there was no infection in Orkney, and that this was merely a precautionary move. If infection is detected in Orkney, the council will issue a prohibition order, infringement of which will incur a fine of £5,000.

The council have also written to ferry companies and air authorities requesting that they take measures to prevent the disease entering the islands by boat or plane

A number of companies, including P&O and Orkney Line. have already taken action.

Mr Jim Monkman, manager at Orkney Line Shipping, said that steps had been taken to prevent the possible spread, shortly after news of the outbreak was released.

"We implemented that last week," he said. "We're disinfecting all trailers, all vehicles and passengers' feet, when they get on the ferry, and as they get off."

He added that this was taking place at Invergordon, Aberdeen and Kirkwall.

On Tuesday, a P&O spokesman confirmed that in Stromness a disinfectant soaked carpet had been put in place for all vehicles to drive over, in addition to a mat for all foot passengers to disinfect their feet with.

"Scrabster are not quite there yet due to the adverse weather conditions," he added.

Mr Tommy Tullock, station manager at Kirkwall Airport,said that they were awaiting instructions.

"Nobody has contacted us so far, but if someone was to come forward and suggest what to do, we will be happy to comply," he said.

Local farm suppliers are also "doing their bit".

Mr Brian Corse of Sunnybrae Feeds explained: "We're taking all precautions possible. We are doing no deliveries or collections to farms south. All trailers from central depots are being disinfected at the pier, and as of this week we hope to have them disinfected on the mainland."

Speaking on Monday, he said: "Today we have a large disinfectant soaked carpet in the yard to disinfect car wheels."

He added that they also had disinfectant in knapsacks for spraying cars and lorries, and to back up the disinfectant soaked mat when it became "snowlogged".

"Lorries carry knapsack sprays so that they can be sprayed at the end of a farm road before going in, and re-disinfected again once they leave, along with the driver's boots and rubber gloves.

"I feel that P&O and Streamline should be disinfecting every vehicle going on the boat. What's it costing? It's better to be over-the-top than to pay the price of it getting in here."

He also suggested taking precautions at Orkney's other port of entry, Kirkwall Airport.

"A simple mat at the airport - if it's ridiculous, so what? I think everyone should be taking it very seriously, we have no excuse here for letting it in, especially when it's such a virile strain. And it's another feather in Orkney's cap, if it doesn't get in - it all helps the clean image of our meat."

Mr Billy Tait of J. & W. Tait explained that they too were using similar measures to minimise the risk of spreading the disease. "We have a disinfectant pad at the gate," he said. "We have one sprayer here, with four coming. We're not going anywhere at the moment, but that's because of the weather."

However, he added: "Farmers are going to have to get deliveries of feed - we'll just spray our lorries if they go anywhere. The main point is to keep farm visits to a minimum and disinfect when we leave."

Meanwhile, the Orkney Cheese factory is looking at the possibility of disinfecting their lorries between farms. Mr Marcus Wood, vice-chairman of Orkney Cheese, said they were considering the need for their milk tankers to have their wheels disinfected between each farm collection to prevent any risk of spreading the disease. He also told The Orcadian that a consignment of butter from Orkney had been caught up in the export ban on all UK agricultural products, and the butter would now have to be frozen and kept in storage to await the lifting of the current export restrictions.

A number of local events have also been cancelled because of the crisis.

Orkney District Association of Young Farmers Clubs (ODAYFC) have agreed to suspend their activities, such as stock judging, other meetings and visits, including practices for the biannual competition, until further notice, because of the foot-and-mouth ban.

The young farmers say that the concert competition itself, which is normally a highlight of their calendar of activities, has now been postponed to a later date until well after the foot-and-mouth restrictions have been lifted. ODAYFC say that they are sorry for having to "disappoint" the public who support the concert competition so well, but they assure them that new dates will be announced as soon as possible. The competition was scheduled to take place in Orkney Arts Theatre in the middle of this month, with repeat performances the following week.

Orkney Riding Club and Pony Club have also cancelled all events until further notice, according to a local spokesman.

Meanwhile OLA (Orkney Livestock Association) are advising all horse riders, dog owners and walkers to keep away from farm land.

Following the Government's announcement of comprehensive ban on the movement of all livestock, which came in to force at 5.45pm last Friday, auction marts and slaughter houses throughout the country were brought to a virtual standstill.

The Order imposed a complete restriction on movements of all susceptible animals throughout Scotland for a period of seven days, until Friday, March 2.

Orkney Auction Mart was closed on Monday, the usual sale of fat and store cattle postponed indefinitely. Auctioneer, Mr Jim Linklater confirmed that they too were not doing farm visits, adding: "We'll just have to see what happens this week."

Commenting on the deadweight centre usually supplied by Orkney Mart he said: "Kepak are lucky - they had 260 cattle in their lairage on Friday night and plenty of sheep too. The abattoir will have to have slaughtered them by tonight. They can only hold them for 72 hours."

Around 70 to 80 Orkney cattle were sold at Aberdeen and Northern Marts on Friday according to Mr Michael Delday, Orkney-based procurement officer for ANM.

"Most were sold - it was a good trade. Only two or three were unsold." Any cattle not sold on the day, he said, had been moved to Thainstone Farm near the mart where they will be looked after.

He added those purchasing cattle were given time to remove their livestock from the mart: "They (the Ministry) extended the time until Saturday. Most cattle were away before 5 o'clock. There are no cattle at the mart."

Mr Delday confirmed that he, too, will be taking care. "I've been told to stay at home - I'm not allowed to go on farms of course."

Orkney Meat also seem to be well stocked. Manager Mr Edgar Balfour commented: "We're quite fortunate in that for Orkney Gold we mature our beef longer than most. We have a level of stock that abattoirs of our size usually don't have. We will have enough to deliver to our customers next week and will still have a residue of beef for the following week."

Lamb however he said, has a quicker turnover. "We won't have any lambs next week. It'll be beef only, but that's better than most."

Although he had received no reports of panic buying as such, he commented: "Some butchers are looking for increased orders, but we're resisting that. We will honour normal deliveries this week and next. We have had reports of customers ordering a bit more than usual this weekend. Not panic buying, but maybe an extra half pound of mince or something like that."

Looking forward, he expressed hopes that the movement ban might be relaxed to enable direct transport of some animals to the abattoir for slaughter.

"I've been on the phone to a few different officers - like our MSP. We don't want to jeopardise things this week, but hope if this Aberdeen case prove negative, as it appears it might, then we can look at relaxing it after a seven day period, if no cases are reported in Scotland."

All being well, his wish may come true. On Tuesday, Minister for Rural Development, Mr Ross Finnie, stated that Scotland would remain under movement restrictions until tomorrow, at least. Agriculture Ministers will then consider whether it is possible, and consistent with the rigorous approach to the control of the disease, to allow for some strictly-controlled movements off farms to abattoirs.

He said: "Foot-and-mouth is a damaging and highly-infectious disease which is feared by all sectors of farming. This outbreak has had a devastating impact on farming in the UK.

"At this time, there are no confirmed cases in Scotland,. But I remain greatly concerned - foot and mouth does not recognise national borders.

"We will maintain our tough controls on foot and mouth. We must do that until advice from the Chief Veterinary Officer tells us when, where and how we can relax them - the industry would expect us to do nothing less to help safeguard their livelihoods.

"It is vitally important that everyone - particularly the industry - is kept fully appraised of the evolving situation on foot and mouth. The general public also have a vital role to play - I underline once again my appeal; to avoid any unnecessary contact with livestock or livestock farms during this crisis."

* The National Farmers Union for Scotland have called for a ban on imported meat and meat products.

President Mr Jim Walker said: "Foot and mouth has been unknown in the UK for 20 years so it must have been brought into this country from somewhere else. Because the disease is so easily transmitted, imported meat could be a carrier. It is therefore imperative that all imports of banned until the original source of this outbreak can be identified."

He added that imports of live animals would be banned under the same movement restriction orders applied to UK livestock.

* The National Farmer's Union of Scotland has issued advice to farmers on how to protect their farm. This is available from all NFUS offices or from the Union's Helplines on 0131 472 4015, or 0131 472 4001.

An information/helpline has also been set up by officials at Pentland House, the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department headquarters, on 0131 244 6178 - giving the latest position in Scotland.

Advice is also available from the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food helpline on 0845 050 4141.

Quality Meat Scotland have also set up an online foot-and-mouth diseases information point on their website at www.sqbla.co.uk providing updates, guidelines and advice for farmers and meat businesses.

gillian.wylie@orcadian.co.uk