Cattle sector ramps up vaccination efforts
6 June 2025
2 minute learn
South Africa is increase vaccine shares and increasing inoculations to battle a worsening foot-and-mouth illness outbreak, Reuters reported, citing the agriculture ministry, because the nation faces threats to beef provides.
Foot-and-mouth illness is a extremely contagious, viral an infection of cloven-hoofed animals that will additionally have an effect on different species. Flare-ups have been reported over the previous a number of months in 5 of South Africa’s 9 provinces, with KwaZulu- Natal being the worst affected.
This week, Karan Beef, which operates the nation’s largest feedlot and one of many world’s greatest, reported an outbreak at its facility in Heidelberg, about 50 kilometres southeast of Johannesburg. The quarantine imposed on the feedlot, which slaughters about 2,000 cattle day by day, might affect beef provides.
The federal government has ordered over 900,000 doses of foot-and-mouth illness vaccines with the primary batch anticipated to reach subsequent week, the agriculture ministry stated in an announcement late on Thursday.
“These plans usually are not solely about responding to outbreaks, but additionally about constructing everlasting infrastructure to handle future dangers,” it stated.
There are rising calls by some cattle producers to declare a “state of catastrophe” and shield the business from monetary losses. Invoking catastrophe legislation provides the federal government extra powers to intervene in a disaster.
The foot-and-mouth illness outbreaks have resulted in South African beef and associated merchandise being banned in markets reminiscent of China, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
South Africa’s livestock sector can also be recovering from its worst avian flu outbreak, which destroyed a 3rd of the nationwide hen flock in 2023.
On Thursday, the federal government introduced the primary ever mass vaccination of poultry to forestall a repeat outbreak of high-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a fowl flu that spreads quickly in an contaminated flock, inflicting a excessive loss of life fee.
