England and Wales is expected to become a bluetongue protection zone within the next few weeks.

Such a move auctioneers said could damage autumn trade between Scotland and northern England, DEFRA has announced the protection zone would be extended shortly to cover Northumberland and Cumbria, the only two regions of England currently outside the area.

David Pritchard, Harrison and Hetherington livestock auctioneers operations director, said extension of the zones could devastate trade.

“About 30% of stock purchased in at our Carlisle market goes into Scotland, while the same amount of stock is brought from Scotland to be shown at the Carlisle markets,” he said.

“Some people have moved livestock to provide for specialist sales, but extending the zone in the autumn when a lot of stock gets moved is bound to have an effect on markets.

“We know it will cause a disruption and we can envisage it being a devastating situation.”

Posted: 08|21|08 at 8:57 am. Filed under: UK News.