THE Island’s farming community has been left ‘devastated’ after the deaths of dozens of cattle from a high-yielding dairy herd.
Contaminated feed is being examined as a potential cause of the sickness that led to multiple bovine fatalities at Woodlands Farm in St Helier.
Cattle in the farm’s high-yielding ‘group A’ herd began to show signs of sickness at the end of last week, with officers from several government departments, as well as members of the farming community, vets and staff from Jersey Dairy among those at the farm across the weekend in a bid to help.
Eamon Fenlon, managing director of Jersey Dairy, said the group A herd numbered 120 cattle, of which the ‘large majority’ had died, with the remainder being treated by vets.
He said: ‘People are devastated – they are walking away from the farm crying.
These cattle are the equivalent of thoroughbred racehorses, and for someone in the industry it’s like they have lost a member of their family.’
Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf expressed his regret at the ‘awful news’ and confirmed that an investigation was under way.
Philip Le Maistre, chairman of the Milk Marketing Board, described the situation as ‘horrendous’.
He said: ‘Anyone who looks after animals will know that if they become sick it’s an awful time.’
Mr Le Maistre said that samples from the batch of feed believed to be responsible had been sent to a UK laboratory for analysis, while at the same time extra stocks of medicine had been sent in the opposite direction for use by vets.
Islanders have been reassured by Jersey Dairy that no milk has been collected from Woodlands Farm since the start of the incident.
Mr Fenlon said that the farm’s group B herd of about 100 cattle appeared unaffected by the incident, but that as a precaution no collections had been made.
There was also no evidence of any other farms being affected, he said.
Deputy Renouf said: ‘This is simply awful news, especially for those on the farm who must be utterly devastated at the loss of so many of their dairy herd.
‘Local vets have been on site, along with other farmers, and my thanks go to all those who’ve responded. I’m also thankful to the teams from across Infrastructure and Environment who have been working to collect the dead cattle and transport them to the animal carcass incinerator.’
Deputy Renouf said colleagues from the States Veterinary team, Operations and Transport, Regulation, and Public Health had been liaising closely through the weekend, with advice also being sought from the States Vet in Guernsey.
‘It’s not yet known for sure what has happened here, and isolating the cause quickly will be incredibly important,’ he said. ‘Samples from feed and the animals themselves have been taken for analysis.’
The Environment Minister added he was reassured to learn that no milk from the affected cattle had entered the food chain.
Woodlands Farm is run by the Le Boutillier family, who have been milking Jersey cows and growing Jersey Royals at the farm for five generations.
