Every effort must be made to ensure a vaccine is available later this year to help combat the spread of deadly Schmallenberg virus (SBV), the NFU has said.
The call comes as many farms with early lambing flocks across the country have experienced higher than normal losses with still births and deformities.
The disease has been confirmed on more than 1,000 UK farms and comes at the same time as lamb prices have hit their lowest level for three years and livestock producers are facing rising production costs due to the extreme weather in 2012.