Scrapie Testing at Beer Mill Farm

UPDATE In late April 2003 we had the shearling lambs born in 2002 tested for scrapie. All passed with flying colours and were given the top grading for resistance to Scrapie. All adult sheep in the flock are now ARR ARR rated for scrapie resistance.

On 24th April 2002 we had the whole flock tested by Ministry vets for Scrapie resistance.

For those who do not know, DEFRA (the old Ministry of Agriculture) want to test the entire national sheep flock to establish the extent of resistance present to a sheep disease called Scrapie.

At the moment it is a voluntary scheme but it is almost certain to be made compulsory. We thought long and hard about it and in the end decided to jump before we were pushed.

The test involves taking a blood sample from each animal and then inserting a Bolus (a small ceramic cylinder) down the sheep's throat. This stays in the sheep's rumen and contains a micro chip which can be read electronically thoughout the life of the sheep. The blood is then sent away to be tested for susceptability to the disease. The bolus provides a way of positively identifing the animal.

Naturally our main concern was the stress to the sheep but obviously if the results were very poor there would always be a question mark over the suitability of the sheep in our flock for further breeding. The testing was carried out by two young ladies from DEFRA who were absolutely outstanding in their handling of the animals. Very calm and did not try to rush things.

On May 16th the letter arrived. Brian collected the mail from the post box by the lane and as the letter which he knew contained the results was addressed to Hilary cycled back holding them as though they were vital exam results!

Opening the letter we found that of the 32 animals tested, 31 had the very highest possible results and 1 had the next best result. what a relief!!! For those who know about these things 31 were ARR ARR and 1 was AAR ARQ. Since the test results we have sold the one AAR ARQ ewe and all our tested sheep are AAR ARR.