In 1998, a questionnaire was sent to 11,554 British sheep farmers to determ
ine how many believed that scrapie cases had occurred in their flock; 61-4
per cent of them responded anonymously. The results indicated that 14.9 per
cent of farmers with more than 30 breeding ewes thought that they had ever
experienced scrapie in their flock and 2.7 per cent thought that they had
had cases in the past 12 months. A comparison of these results with the num
ber of farmers reporting suspect scrapie cases to MAFF, in accordance with
the statutory requirement, suggests that only 13 per cent of farmers who su
spect that they may have cases of scrapie are currently reporting them. Scr
apie occurred in all regions of the country but there was an apparent regio
nal variation. Larger farms and those with purebred sheep appeared to be at
greater risk of having cases. Other differences between affected and unaff
ected farms included lambing practices and sheep purchasing policy. On the
majority of farms the first case occurred in a purchased animal. The survey
also revealed a need for the provision of further information about scrapi
e to farmers.