FARMING - Sponsored by NFU Mutual
Farming
Contributor Matt Legge
10 THINGS YOU OUGHT TO KNOW ABOUT
Well
worth the
trip to
Scotland
Avian Influenza
1
Avian influenza is a
disease of birds caused by
influenza viruses closely
related to human
influenza viruses.
Congratulations must go to Michael Poland and his team at
Wight Conservation for their success at Oban’s Highland Cattle
Society show and sale in February. Iasgair of Mottistone, a
Highland bull bred from Mr Poland’s Island based fold
(Highland cattle are known as a fold, rather than a herd),
travelled to Scotland to take on some of the best in his breed.
The journey proved worthwhile when Iasgair took top honours
in the senior bull championship, and then going on to achieve
6,000 guineas in the sale ring the next day.
To many people, Highland cattle on the Isle of Wight may seem
like fish out of water, but the use of these animals for
conservation is proving a great success. If you’d like to find
out more about the use of these cattle, visit the Wight
Conservation website at www.wightconservation.co.uk
On your bikes!
When the President of the
Islands Young Farmers Club
suggested that members
could take on the challenge
of a bike ride along the
Tennyson Trail, there were a
few worried looking faces
amongst members.
A couple of weeks later the
route was planned, sponsorship
forms were filled in and the
rust had been knocked off the
bikes.
Twelve members turned out to
take on the route from the
Freshwater golf course to the
NFU office in Carisbrooke.
32
After weeks of dry weather, the
first rain fall just happened to
arrive on the morning of the
12th February, the chosen date
for the bike ride!
Despite a puncture, a broken
chain, lost brake pads, rubbed
heals and a few aches and
pains, all twelve completed,
raising funds for the Royal
Agricultural Benevolent
Institution.
Anyone interested in joining the
Islands Young Farmers Club
should contact the secretary on
07866312576.
2
Transmission to humans
in close contact with
poultry or other birds
occurs rarely and only
with some strains of avian
influenza.
3
The potential for
transformation of avian
influenza into a form that
both causes severe
disease in humans and
spreads easily from person to
person is a great concern for
world health.
vaccine would need to be
produced for this new strain of
flu.
4
8
5
9
Humans are usually
infected through close
contact with live infected
birds. Birds shed
influenza virus in their
faeces so contact with faeces
(for example by visiting
enclosures or markets where
birds have been recently
kept) is also a possible
transmission route.
There have been a limited
number of well
documented cases in
which there is evidence
to suggest human-to-human
transmission but to date
there is no evidence that the
highly pathogenic avian
influenza virus has adapted
to spread easily in humans.
Avian influenza is not
transmitted through
cooked food and to date;
no evidence indicates that
anyone has become infected
following the consumption of
properly cooked poultry or
poultry products.
6
7
Your usual annual flu
vaccination will not
provide any protection
against avian flu. A new
In England in 1996 there
was a single case of a
female farmer who
acquired H7 influenza
(typically avian) and suffered
conjunctivitis after cleaning out
a poultry house. There have
been no human cases imported
into England
Outbreaks of avian
influenza, especially the
highly pathogenic form,
can be devastating for the
poultry industry and for
farmers. For example, an
outbreak of highly pathogenic
avian influenza in the USA in
1983–84, largely confined to the
state of Pennsylvania, resulted
in the destruction of more than
17 million birds
10
It is possible that
highly pathogenic
avian influenza could
be introduced into the
UK by either migration of wild
birds, importation of chickens
for consumption (now stopped)
or illegal importation of live
birds.
Island Life - www.islandlifemagazine.net