The so-called Schmallenberg virus has made its appearance on hundreds of farms, affecting sheep, cattle and goats. But so far consumers have not given way to panic boycotts of beef, milk and lamb
by NORMAN DUNN
There’s nothing so unnerving for livestock farmers as the sudden appearance of a new animal disease. This is what’s happening this year in Europe, where poultry farmers are already on red alert after reports of new avian influenza outbreaks in Portugal and Italy, perhaps carried by migratory wild birds as they wing in from the south for summering in northern Europe.