On Thursday, the Provincial Ministry of Agriculture and the Rural Development (Dard) said in a statement that the “the public and the entire agricultural community were aware” that two new things were confirmed in Viljeetkroon, with a third case still possible, pending laboratory results.
“One of the two confirmed cases is on a commercial farm, while the second case is in a common grazing area along the border with northwest,” said the Dard.
Movement restrictions with a radius of 10 km from infected areas had been implemented and the farms in this area were informed and placed under Quarantine. The Dard said it priority gave vaccination on the infected farms and in common areas.
A spokesperson for the Dard told Farmer’s Weekly that the vaccinations had already started.
“We vaccinate all infected and exposed sensitive animals,” said Moliehi Moeng, director of strategic communication and information services at the Dard. “Vaccination of the two confirmed cases will be closed [on 14 August]. “
Moeng could not provide any further information about the source of these latest cases. “It’s a new infection and we have to follow all leads,” she said.
The Dard urged all farmers, auctioneers and speculators to keep protocols that were gazetted on 13 June 2025 and measures in the Animal Diseases Act (no. 35 of 1984).
These include movement restrictions of all the animals that have been combined, registration to make traceability, Quarantining of new animals possible for 28 days prior to integration with existing herds and biosafility measures such as disinfection of vehicles and equipment.
“Report any suspected matters [animals showing excessive salivation, mouth lesions, or difficulty walking] Immediately to the local veterinary officer, “said the Dard.
In his most recent situation report, released on July 31, the National Department of Agriculture said that there were still 236 active outbreaks throughout the country from a total of 255 registered so far this year. Provinces that still had active cases were KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Northwest and the Free State.
Outbreaks in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape had been resolved, while the Noord -Kaap and West -Kaap had not reported.
The first two outbreaks in Vrijstaat were linked to Feedlots in Gauteng.
Farmer’s Weekly has followed rumors through SMS on new cases with a feedlot in Mpumalanga. Official sources have not confirmed or denied them so far.
In response to the two new outbreaks in the province, Dr. Jack Armor, Operations Manager at Free State Agriculture, the news ‘disappointing’. He insisted on all farmers to contribute to containing the distribution and managing their deductible.
“Farmer’s must guarantee their own bio -safety,” he added.
Sabrina Dean
www.farmersweekly.co.za
