A WORCESTERSHIRE farmer faces thousands of pounds of losses after bluetongue disease was detected in 20 cows imported on to his farm from the Netherlands.

The cows have been culled and Defra has confirmed there will be no compensation for the farmer, who has not been named.

The virus was detected during routine testing by animal health officials from Defra on a consignment of 34 cows. Twenty of them tested positive. The cows have been slaughtered and restrictions have been placed on the farm so that animals cannot move on or off the premises for the time being.

The animals were imported to Worcestershire from a protection zone in the Netherlands on Sunday, December 9, and tested on December 17. The results came back positive for bluetongue on Wednesday, December 19, and Defra took immediate action to ensure the disease would not spread.

A spokeswoman for Defra stressed it was not an outbreak and that once the animals were slaughtered that effectively killed the disease as it requires blood to circulate through the animal's system in order to survive.

"The farmer did the right thing but sadly for him there is no compensation for animals that have bluetongue."

The National Farmers Union has called for a total ban on imports of livestock from the bluetongue areas of northern Europe, but the Defra spokeswoman discounted this as a measure that could be taken to protect British livestock.

"The UK cannot ban live imports. It is annoying for farmers here but we cannot oppose the EU rules." She said that the British testing system was robust and that is why it had been picked up on the farm in Worcestershire.

"Our checks are more stringent than other member states. The responsibility is on the importer to do everything correctly. If there is any fault in this case, and we do not know if there is, it was on the Netherlands side rather than this side."

Officials are now checking the paperwork relating to the infected animals and investigating how they got into the country while carrying the disease.