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In the wake of DEFRA's recently announced strategy for bluetongue vaccination, Liberal Democrat and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming Tim Farron MP has today written to Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for DEFRA, to call for extra protection for rare breeds of livestock.

The current vaccination plan would see rare breeds in Cumbria, such as Rough Fell sheep and Herdwick sheep, treated the same as other livestock, and have to wait at the back of the queue to receive vaccination. This is despite the fact that those rare breeds would run the risk of complete wipe out if the disease was to strike. Numbers have already been damaged following the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.

Mr Farron said: "Cumbria and Lancashire may be the Government's lowest priority area for vaccination, but vaccination for rare breeds should be a top priority, otherwise farmers may face devastating losses to rare breeds that may prove irreplaceable. Farmers of rare sheep and cattle endured the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak which pushed some breeds to the edge of extinction. It is clear that there are serious flaws in the preparation for delivery of the bluetongue vaccine, but one thing that Hilary Benn and DEFRA could do immediately is to guarantee that our rare breeds will be vaccinated first."

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