Animal Health extends measures against nodular dermatosis until November

The General Directorate of Agricultural and Livestock Production of the Junta de Castilla y León has extended until November 30, 2026, the precautionary measures against lumpy skin disease (LSD) in bovines, which have been in effect in the community since November 2025. The decision was formalized in a resolution signed on October 28 by the director general, Juan José García García, and published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León (BOCYL) No. 212, of November 3, 2026, pages 127-128. The extension maintains the measures “under the same terms and conditions” established in January and is conditional upon the current epidemiological situation remaining unchanged.

The resolution is based on the General Directorate’s competencies in animal health derived from Order AGR/36/2024, of January 15, Decree 266/1998, of December 17, which approves the General Animal Health Regulations, and Law 8/2003, of April 24, on animal health. The text justifies the temporary and preventive precautionary measures based on the need to “minimize the risk of spread” of the disease in Castilla y León.

Six consecutive extensions since November 2025

The regime began with the resolution of November 6, 2025, published on November 7 and in effect until November 30 of that year. Since then, the Junta has implemented successive modifications and extensions without interruption:

• Resolution of November 26, 2025: sets the validity from December 1, 2025, to January 2, 2026.
• Resolution of January 23, 2026 (BOCYL No. 18, of January 28): new modification, valid until March 31, 2026; this is the text currently being extended.
• Resolutions of March 26, May 27, June 24, July 31, and August 26, 2026: successive extensions that extended validity until October 30, 2026.

The regulation published this Tuesday is, therefore, the sixth extension of a mechanism that has remained active at all times over the past year.

A disease on the WOAH List A

LSD in bovines is a mandatory reportable viral disease included in List A of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). According to the official text itself, its appearance in the territory of Castilla y León would cause “serious health and economic consequences both for the livestock population and for commercial movements from the areas that could be affected.”

The new resolution introduces no changes to the content of the mechanism: it is limited to extending the validity of the Resolution of January 23, 2026, which contains the specific measures applicable to farms and the movement of animals.

Favorable situation in Spain, surveillance maintained

The department led by Juan José García García recognizes that the epidemiological evolution of the disease in Spain is “favorable.” The Commission’s Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/694 of April 29, 2026, which amends Annex II of Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/2248, lifted the last restriction zone linked to the outbreaks reported in the province of Huesca, which became considered vaccination zone II.

Despite this, the Junta considers it “appropriate to extend the validity of the precautionary measures currently in force, in order to maintain an adequate level of surveillance against this disease in the Community of Castilla y León.” The extension is therefore not a response to an outbreak, but rather to the desire not to relax control until the epidemiological improvement is consolidated.

Effects from October 31 and administrative appeal

The resolution takes effect from October 31, 2026, immediately upon the expiration of the previous extension, in accordance with Article 39.3 of Law 39/2015 of October 1, “as it is necessary to guarantee the continuity of the disease surveillance and control measures.” The text was signed in Valladolid on October 28, 2026.

Against the resolution, which does not end the administrative process, an administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed before the head of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Environment and Environmental Policy within one month from the day following its publication in the BOCYL, according to Articles 121 and following of Law 39/2015.

The continuity of the system directly affects the bovine sector of Castilla y León, the community with the largest cattle census in Spain: farmers maintain for one more month the conditions that regional regulations impose on animal movements and, with them, on the commercial operations of the farms and the meat industry. The decision also comes with an eye on the next deadline of November 30, when the Junta must rule on the extension again.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla y León, no. 212, of November 3, 2026, I. Community of Castilla y León, D. Other Provisions, pp. 127-128 (official reference: BOCYL-D-03112026-212-20).