THAME LIVESTOCK market remains closed this week because the movement of farm animals is still restricted in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, despite the news that farmers in some parts of the country will be allowed to move animals from farm to farm under license from 3.30pm today, Tuesday.
The government’s chief vet is easing movement restrictions in ‘low risk areas’, despite a seventh case of foot-and-mouth being confirmed on Monday at a farm in Englefield Green, Surrey, which is within the existing Egham protection zone set up after previous cases.
Livestock markets still cannot be held, and more stringent movement restrictions are still in place in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Essex, Kent, East and West Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, and Greater London, where animals can only be moved for slaughter.
Meanwhile, a second case of bluetongue disease has been found at the Suffolk rare breeds farm where the first ever UK case of the virus was discovered at the weekend.
A surveillance zone covering parts of East Anglia and the East Midlands has been put in place to monitor bluetongue.
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