Bounceback from Bluetongue
Practical Support for Dartmoor Farmers
Following our first Bluetongue outbreak information meeting on 11th August 2026 which was attending by over 200 members of the farming community the decision was made by the HFP team to provide practical support for farmers on Dartmoor. Discussions with farmers and Industry experts, lead us to identifying ram fertility testing as a practical way to provide immediate support to livestock businesses.
The Plan
We organised two free testing days in October. They were held at Tavistock Livestock Market and Exeter Livestock Centre. Four Veterinary practices worked collaboratively to tests the ram.
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The events were made possible by the funding provided by the FiPL team at Dartmoor National Park and additional support from the Royal Countryside Fund.
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Industry Event
We organised expert speakers from across the industry to deliver talks at Tavistock Market and local organisations set up stalls throughout the market. Led by Kevin Harrison, the talks covered a wide range of topics from what the current Bluetongue situation looked like, vaccination best practice and animal nutrition.
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The talks gave farmers the chance to ask questions and get honest and straight forward answers there and then.
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Results and what's next?
The two full days of testing saw 346 rams being tested which supported 54 Dartmoor farms.​
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A questionnaire was filled in by participating farms which will provide a unique insight into impact Bluetongue has across the livestock business this summer. The questionnaire is still live and is open to all farmers across the UK to answer. ​
We will be sharing our findings from both the data collected from the testing and the questionnaire at our Beyond the Bounce: The Ram Testing Results event on the 1st December at Two Bridges hotel book you space below.
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Hear from Richard Walters Richard Walters BVSc MRCVS - Veterinary Surgeon and Farm Animal Clinical lead at Selworthy Vets
who was one of the team conducted testing on at both events.
