This article examines the preparation and implementation in France of a vaccination campaign (2008) to protect livestock against bluetongue disease (BT) and questions the long‐term stability of structural relationships in the animal health sector. Using three approaches from the sociology of risks – exogenous or endogenous nature of crisis, responsibility of expertise – we show that post‐bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) reforms, by claiming a clearly separated role for each party (risk assessment, risk management, farmers' responsibility), have left the issue of relationships between actors by the wayside. We argue with the bluetongue case that such radical partitioning is unworkable. Discussing the decline of the French ‘health tripod’ (State, farmers, veterinarians), we emphasise that it has been idealised as a model that each party has a major interest to maintain. Our sources are based on 35 interviews, analysis of professional press and ministry of agriculture's internal notes.