The number of cattle slaughtered at Karan Beef’s premises near Heidelberg has increased to 1 000 per day this week, said Dr Dirk Verwoerd, chief veterinarian at Karan Beef’s feedlots.
By Alani Janeke, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
The number of cattle slaughtered at Karan Beef’s Heidelberg site has increased from 700 per day last week to 1 000 per day this week. This is because more cattle can be safely slaughtered at the site as 42 days have passed since vaccination against or infection with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). The outbreak at the site was confirmed on 30 May.
Karan Beef vaccinated 30 000 of the animals on this site and received permission from authorities on 21 July to resume slaughtering cattle.
“Category 42 cattle is the category where the entire carcass except the legs and head can be used. We previously followed the 14-day protocol for six days. According to this, the meat must be deboned and the bones and the fifth quarter, which includes the head and legs, may not be used. This caused a loss of R5 000 per carcass. We decided this type of loss was unreasonable and we should rather wait a few days before we start slaughtering again,” said Verwoerd.
By mid-June, outbreaks were also confirmed at Karan Beef’s Nigel and Pietermaritzburg feedlots and these premises were placed under quarantine. All animals at these feedlots have been vaccinated. The premises are still within the 42-day period and cattle may not be slaughtered there until the end of August.
Verwoerd said the higher slaughter number will result in more meat on the consumer market and they hope this will contribute to a stabilisation of meat prices at butcheries and on store shelves.
Also read: FMD at Karan Beef: Five things farmers need to know
Problems With Vaccines
Verwoerd, like many other stakeholders, considers the lack of vaccine for the disease in South Africa as one of the major problems of the past five years.
He said the vaccines that were imported from Botswana this year are not a very good vaccine. “It’s not very potent, to put it that way. It also doesn’t suit our field conditions well. Of course, that’s all part of the ongoing outbreaks and huge losses.”
Enormous Economic Implications
According to Verwoerd, Karan Beef is suffering enormous losses due to the outbreak and there is no indication yet of when the company will return to its full slaughter capacity of 2 500 cattle per day. He said an approximate sum was made during an outbreak of the disease at another company’s feedlot a few years ago. If you feed 100 000 cattle per month without income, it costs R50 million.
“In our current situation, we feed about 230 000 cattle at 10 places that have been placed under quarantine. We have had no losses of animals in the past two months, but there are enormous economic implications.”
