Kzn Agriculture On Drive To Dip Livestock For Foot And Mouth Disease

KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture MEC Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa, has encouraged farmers to bring their cattle, goats and pigs to be dipped against foot and mouth disease .

The MEC visited Johnstone Village outside Newcastle to check on progress being made in dipping cloven hoof animals in the Amajuba District after the disease was recently detected there as well.

So far, 40 000 cattle in the district have been dipped. The Umkhanyakude, Zululand and the King Cetshwayo districts are also experiencing an outbreak.

The department is focusing on the restriction of movement, surveillance and vaccination to eradicate the outbreak.

Its fortunate for the communities because we are vaccinating for everything. If there are measles, there are other diseases we also incorporate and we vaccinate every cow and we are encouraging people that have even goats and pigs to bring their animals here. And I also thank the community for the cooperation theyve shown to us and encouraging them to participate fully, says KaMadlopha-Mthethwa.