Farmers Have to be More Pro-Active in Fight Against Brucellosis

Problems with brucellosis have been growing in South Africa, with a lack of disease reporting meaning that farmers neighbouring an outbreak cannot take appropriate precautionary measures, Glenneis Kriel reported this week for TheBeefSite.

Farmers face quarantine and their animals being destroyed if brucellosis is found, leading to a reluctance to report outbreaks, especially in the beef sector.

Dr Sewellyn Davey, a State Veterinarian and coordinator of Bovine Brucellosis in South Africa, said that the movement of animals is one of the biggest causes of the spreading of the disease: “Farmers seem to be unaware of the risk and they buy cattle from unknown sources or unknown status.

“Animals should be tested for the disease before they are moved onto a new farm and they should be kept separately from other animals until it is certain they are not affected. Failure to do this has resulted in the disease spreading to regions where it has never been a problem before.”

Government and industry have been trying to raise awareness of the brucellosis problem, aiming to increase vaccination rates - click here to read more.

In other disease news, the UK’s NADIS Parasite Forecast warned that there are high risks of chronic liver fluke burdens in cattle and sheep in some areas, due to the mild winter weather.

Chronic liver fluke infection peaks in the late winter and early spring. The recent mild weather has enabled a greater number of fluke to survive the winter, leading to high numbers of parasites on pasture.

In cattle, heavy adult liver fluke burdens may now be identified by rapid weight loss and diarrhoea, which can increase finishing times by several weeks and impact significantly on cost of production - read more.