18 Oct 2024
“I’m really concerned that we don’t have farmers reporting [bluetongue]. I mean, it's a notifiable disease so there’s no doubt that people should be the authorities; I worry that we are not – and that worries me from an animal welfare point of view if farmers aren't even talking to their own vets about it.”
Fiona Lovatt
Job Title
Fiona Lovatt, BVSc, DSHP, PhD, DipECSRHM, FHEA, FRCVS
One of the main items on the agenda at BCVA Congress 2024 in Newport was the bluetongue outbreak that many vets and farmers have faced up to over the past couple of months.
To discuss the situation and what we may be able to learn from it, Vet Times’ chief reporter Allister Webb spoke to sheep health specialist Fiona Lovatt, who is a member of the Ruminant Health and Welfare bluetongue working group.
Fiona Lovatt is a clinical associate professor at the University of Nottingham and runs the sheep veterinary consultancy business Flock Health.
She is a past president of the Sheep Veterinary Society and both a European and RCVS-recognised specialist in sheep health and production.
