Cattle culled following discovery of brucellosis.

Byline: Andrew Forgrave

DOZENS of cattle are being slaughtered after vets confirmed Britain's first case of bovine brucellosis since 1993.

At least 36 cattle from five farms were ordered to be culled after the disease was confirmed on a beef and sheep farm in Forfar, Scotland.

Another three animals will be slaughtered on farm near Middlesbrough. These were imported from a holding in Northern Ireland, which has also been affected by the disease.

Bovine brucillosis can cause chronic fever in humans, although rural minstry Defra stresses there is no risk from pasteurised milk, pasteurised animal products, or cooked meat.

Two animals from the Forfar farm have aborted due to Brucella abortus. They were part of a consignment of 36 animals, imported from Roscommon in the Republic of Ireland in June 2002.

The rest of the consignment was traced back to five farms in Scotland and the herds have been placed under movement curbs.

Veterinary advice is that all the imported animals should be culled.

In a separate incident, three animals on a farm near Middlesbrough are due to be culled because they were imported from a farm which has since gone down with brucellosis.

The animals were part of a consignment of five animals - this time imported from Northern Ireland - brought into the north of England last September. One of the animals has since died, another went to a holding in Scotland, but again the veterinary advice is that they should all be slaughtered.

Chief veterinary officer Jim Scudamore said the developments were a stark reminder for farmers to carefully plan the purchase of livestock when restocking herds - and to ensure all bovine abortions and premature calvings are reported to Divisional Veterinary Managers.

He said: ``There are many factors to be taken into consideration when buying in stock, but controlling the risk of introducing disease must be a top priority for farmers.''

NEW multi-million pound markets could be created if Welsh farmers exploit exotic new crops and animal species, experts claimed yesterday.

Initial findings of a WDA-sponsored study found 54 plant and animal species could have potential commercial uses within the pharmaceutical, textile, automotive and food sectors.

Plants with potential ranged from poppies, thyme, linola oil, St John's Wort and bog-myrtle. Animal species ranged from bees, deer and goats, through to water buffalo, wild boar and snails.

The study was carried out by the Central Science Laboratory, in association with the University of Wales, Bangor, and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor, Gwynedd.

The findings were yesterday reported at a seminar in Mold but the report will not be published until April.