Amid the important foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) summit that took place this week, new outbreaks of the disease have been confirmed in South Africa. The latest outbreak is on a farm near Nigel in the East Rand.
By Alani Janeke, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
This farm has been listed as an active unit on the RMIS website as part of the RMIS operations centre that checks and updates information on possible incidents. Dewald Olivier, CEO of the Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS), said in an interview with Alani Janeke on Friday that possible cases are also being investigated at Pretoria, Ventersdorp, Vergeleë and Orkney in North West, among others.
Olivier also showed how interested parties can keep themselves informed of the status of matters on the RMIS website, which is updated as information about new cases becomes available, as well as the status of cases that have already been reported. Click here to see the map.
Karan Beef Slaughtering Cattle Again
Karan Beef, South Africa’s largest feedlot, has been slaughtering cattle again since Monday, although it is not yet able to do so at its usual production capacity. Olivier says the company can currently slaughter about 700 cattle per day. He expects that as Karan Beef’s production capacity increases in the coming weeks, changes in meat prices for farmers and on store shelves will be seen, although this may be a long process.
Further testing is also being done on the impact of vaccines on vaccinated animals and the effect this has on the use of fifth quarters. There is currently a major shortage of fifth quarters due to the outbreak, and this is having a serious impact on the availability of animal protein for consumers in low-income groups who regularly consume this meat.
