“Farmers are getting lower prices because they cannot move their livestock. As a result, they have fewer animals available to sell,” he said. Auctions are still taking place in many areas, but they were suspended for several months earlier this year, which also affected livestock prices.
“The stud auctions were also closed. And no one could buy our bulls for the next season or new genetic material, so many of those auctions were postponed for months.”
Deputy Director for Animal Health and Disease Control in the Free State Dr. Jurgens Barnard said there are 728 confirmed cases in the province.
This means that the disease is still spreading and new cases are being reported to them every week. “Districts that continue to be of greatest concern include the northern and eastern parts of the Free State, but we are now seeing more cases coming into the western and southern parts.
“Farms are being quarantined to try to reduce the movement of infected livestock, and we are trying to get vaccines in place as quickly as possible.
“We all know that vaccination is not the only remedy to prevent the spread of the disease. It is a completely holistic approach where we work together with the government. Some farmers are still moving their livestock and do not have biosecurity measures on their premises; we work on farms every day, and there are many farms that do not have basic biosecurity, and they are infected farms.
“If we don’t start with the basic measures of simply having to hose down vehicles or having clean equipment on farms, we’re not going to win this just by vaccinating.”
Barnard said under-reporting remains one of the biggest problems, with some farmers failing to report suspected cases. “This leads to the infection spreading much faster in an area, making it much more difficult for us to keep the infection under control.
“When a case is reported and the farm is quarantined, there is a significant reduction in the spread of the disease.”
He said of the 728 farms placed under quarantine, 317 have since been cleared and 411 remain under restrictions.
OFM News/Siyakholwa Mbatyazwa sm
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