On his farm in Lantabat (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Jon Sainte-Marie, a 27-year-old dairy sheep breeder, is calling for solidarity to stop the health crisis of bluetongue (BFT). “We ask breeders who can not sell ewe lambs and especially adult rams to give them to farmers in need,” proclaims the young Basque, in line with the appeal launched on December 10 by the Basque agricultural union. ELB.
As in the majority of French departments affected, this disease which is transmitted to ruminants through almost invisible midge bites is wreaking havoc. And this, despite the administration of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
“A vaccine exists but when we needed it, in the spring, there was not enough,” laments Jon Sainte-Marie, who, like more than 800 other farms in the Basque Country, suffered heavy losses in because of the terrible virus which exploded in the fall. “Some of my animals had symptoms like swollen heads and burned mouths,” he describes. Others died overnight without me seeing anything. It’s a disaster.”
“No rams, no milk”
In the heart of this South-West territory, blue tongue disease, as it is also called, mainly affects rams. “In certain unvaccinated farms, 80% of rams died,” emphasizes Jon Sainte-Marie. However, if we do not have rams, we have no reproduction, therefore no lamb and no milk. The objective of this call for donations is to save production for the 2025-2026 season.
Jon Sainte-Marie thus counts on the brotherhood between breeders. “At this time of year, we are supposed to sell animals that we no longer use for the Spanish market,” he explains. We ask them to put them aside to save our livestock. » The breeder still remains hopeful despite a difficult start: “For the moment, we have more requests than donors. But we believe in solidarity. »