Hattingh Bornman, executive mayor of the Kouga Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, says 1 212 cattle in Humansdorp have been vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease to date. Vaccination of all cattle within a 10km radius of the area where an outbreak was reported will begin over the weekend.
By Michelle van der Spuy, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
The Kouga Local Municipality has now had its second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). The first was confirmed on 1 May 2024.
Mayor Hatting Bornman posted on Facebook that a further six animals in the greater Humansdorp area have tested positive for the disease. The two properties where the cases were identified have been placed under quarantine, and the livestock have been vaccinated. Fencing is also currently being erected and repaired around the properties to prevent animals from straying onto neighbouring land.
“We are doing our utmost to ensure this disease doesn’t spread any further,” Bornman says.
“I want to thank the MPO [Milk Producers’ Organisation], local farmers, local businesses, private and state vets, and Minister John Steenhuisen for taking hands with us to make sure we have enough vaccines and the disease doesn’t spread any further.”
The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture has also welcomed the steps taken to curb the spread of the disease in the province.
Nonceba Kontsiwe, Eastern Cape MEC for agriculture, says that thanks to the R55 million allocated by the provincial government to combat FMD, more than 1 million doses – including vaccines from Dollvet in Türkiye and Biogénesis Bagó in Argentina – could be ordered from Onderstepoort Biological Products.
“It is encouraging that this intervention will help the local agricultural sector recover from the setbacks caused by FMD,” Kontsiwe says.
One million doses of vaccine from Argentina has already arrived in the country, of which the national Department of Agriculture has so far allocated 150 000 doses to the Eastern Cape.
A further 2 600 doses received from the Agricultural Research Council in mid-February were used to vaccinate animals on communal land in the Kouga district to protect dairy farms in the area and prevent potential job losses.
Also read and watch:
FMD in KZN – Vaccinations start as farmers remain confused and suspicious
FMD | Some milk and slaughter measures amended
FMD | ‘I have no more tears left to cry’ – pig producer‘Don’t be reckless!’ – Movement controls remain after FMD vaccination
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