"The disease is everywhere": several agricultural shows canceled due to lumpy skin disease and bluetongue

Agricultural festivals have been somewhat disrupted this year, with events being cancelled or adapted with fewer animals in several departments, particularly in Isère and Côtes-d'Armor.

It's agricultural fair season right now. These large agricultural festivals are held all over France, where you can see cows, goats, and horses participating in agricultural competitions and, of course, eating...

But many shows have been disrupted this year due to two contagious diseases, lumpy skin disease and bluetongue , which are currently present in several departments. As a result, some events have been canceled or adapted with very few animals, such as in Isère or Côtes-d'Armor.

The Balcons de Belledonne show, scheduled for Saturday in Revel (Isère), has been postponed until 2026. This is more reasonable for Yves Dampne, its president. "I called together the breeders, the town's elected officials, the residents, and the volunteers, and we all made a decision together," he says. "But since the breeders didn't want to bring any animals to avoid bringing the disease back to their farms upon their return, the decision was made fairly quickly."

75 outbreaks of contagious lumpy skin disease have been identified within a few kilometers of each other in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. The cancellation, decided at the end of July, comes at a cost, "because we have to pay for insurance and the preparation of posters," explains Yves Dampne , "but we are very well supported by the community of communes, which gives us a subsidy of 4,000 euros each year. Now, they are going to leave us some of it."

On the other side of France, in Plumieux (Côtes-d'Armor), the fair is still going ahead next weekend, but without cattle. This is unfortunate, as the festival is back after a six-year absence, regrets Patrice Binet, its president. "We were very happy to relaunch it, but something is missing," he laments . "We're going to offer other activities, but it's disappointing. You have to know that people are very worried because the disease is everywhere, it's on all the farms."

The Great West of France is currently affected by bluetongue, another highly contagious disease. Lumpy skin disease and bluetongue are not contagious to humans, but they can be fatal to animals. The former mainly affects cattle, while the latter also affects sheep and goats.