No foot & mouth disease at country’s largest feedlot

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

HEIDELBERG – The country’s largest feedlot, Karan Beef, remains free of the Foot and Mouth Disease virus (FMD) following extensive testing done in conjunction with state veterinarians at its farm outside Heidelberg in Gauteng. “As part of our proactive and preventative approach we tested a significant number of cattle and no trace of the virus was found,” said Karan Beef’s veterinarian Dr Dirk Verwoerd.

The testing follows the localised outbreak of FMD in the remote Ingwavuma area in northern Kwazulu-Natal in February. The animals tested at Karan Beef come from the Bloedrivier –Vryheid  area , some 150km from the officially declared FMD Control Zone. This is the closest to the FMD area that Karan Beef had purchased cattle during the past several weeks. “We have never sourced cattle from the area that now falls within the FMD Control Zone,” said Dr Verwoerd. “But we believe that as a responsible producer of beef we should be proactive. In fact, as custodians of quality we constantly test for a variety of agents to ensure our cattle are in fine health.”

The Foot & Mouth Disease [FMD] outbreak in northern Kwazulu-Natal in February changed the status of the entire country and is thus not a provincial issue but a National Animal Health Priority, said Dr Mpo Maja, Chief Director of the National Veterinary Services Department. “Effective control will only be possible with close cooperation between the State and private producers”. The disease can infect all cloven hoofed animals ie cattle, sheep, goats, pigs as well as wild antelope, wildebeest, buffalo etc but has no effect on humans so that all products from these production animals such as dairy and meat remain as safe, healthy and wholesome as ever. While all international trade from South Africa in cloven hoofed animals and their products have been suspended as a precautionary strategy according to international rules regarding the control of this and similar disease agents, producers of beef, mutton, pork and dairy products have taken hands with the National and Provincial Veterinary Departments in a cooperative effort to eradicate FMD as soon as possible from commercial and communal farming areas. 

For example all movements of cattle from Northern KZN to other provinces during the period in question have been traced and are inspected and bled to establish possible movements of the virus. Dr Verwoerd says feedlots play a vital role in this preventative program as a large number of cattle can be examined and /or bled in a very short period of time thus increasing the accuracy of the exercise.To date no FMD virus has been found outside the Northern KZN  FMD control area, where vaccination and other biosecurity measures such as movement control are  employed to prevent further spread of the virus. State Veterinary personnel keep following up every lead with close cooperation of private producers outside this area and apply appropriate control measures as a pre-emptive strategy while laboratory investigations at the Exotic Diseases Division of the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute establish the scientific validity of suspected cases.

FOR ANY FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Charles Leonard on 082-419-1900 or charles@magna-carta.co.za

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