Only one week after KwaZulu-Natal’s Young Farmer of the Year expressed hope that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) would stay at least 100km away from his and other dairy farms in the Creighton district, an outbreak has been confirmed approximately 50km away.

By Lloyd Phillips, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad

Farmers in KwaZulu-Natal’s comparatively small Creighton Valley are scrambling to try to protect their approximately 35 000 dairy cattle from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which has broken out only about 50km away. Although the warning system of the Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS) has confirmed the outbreak in the Umzimkhulu Local Municipality, more details have not yet been provided by state animal health authorities.

Dale Hutton, who runs a herd of 2 000 dairy cattle in the Creighton Valley, told African Farming only a week ago that he and his fellow dairy farmers in the district were hoping and praying that FMD would stay at least 100km away.

Also read: ‘Beware of the FMD fatigue trap’ – top young dairy farmer

KwaZulu-Natal’s Young Farmer of the Year of 2025 said at the time: “If foot-and-mouth gets within 100km of us here, then we’ll start doing all sorts of proactive immune-boosting protocols. And we’ll really start squealing about getting the vaccine.”

Greg Carter-Brown is also a dairy farmer in the Creighton district and is the chairperson of the local Ingwe Farmers’ Association. He confirms that in response to this FMD outbreak among communal cattle in Umzimkhulu, Creighton’s dairy farmers are implementing various individual and collective plans to mitigate the threat.

African Farming has previously reported that unlike beef cattle, which often contract and recover from FMD without experiencing any significantly debilitating symptoms, infected dairy cattle frequently experience such extreme pain, especially of their udders, that the only option is to euthanise them.

Milk from dairy farms infected with FMD, or from farms that are not infected but are still within a quarantine zone for this disease, must be handled, transported and processed, including undergoing double pasteurisation, according to strict regulations and at significant added costs to both the dairy farms and their milk processors.

Also read: KZN dairy crisis: FMD could trigger national milk shortage, experts warn

Dairy-Cow-Milk-Machine_Charl-Van-Rooyen — The symptoms of foot-and-mouth can be so extreme in dairy cattle that the only humane option remaining is to euthanise the infected animals. Photo: Charl van Rooyen

‘You can’t fight a fire from behind’

“The dairy farmers and veterinarians who went through FMD in the Eastern Cape have shared many helpful lessons with the rest of us. Now that there’s the outbreak in Umzimkhulu, our dairy farmers here are implementing their plans for different types of immune-boosting medications, vitamins and minerals, and for maintaining udder and hoof health,” says Carter-Brown.

“We farmers and our private security companies are also holding meetings with our local police and road traffic inspectorate to legally set up vehicle checks and strategic points into our valley. No vehicles transporting livestock will be allowed into or out of our valley if they don’t have the legally required permits.”

Like Hutton, Carter-Brown is calling for the state to prioritise authorising private sector companies to start manufacturing and marketing long-acting DIVA-type vaccines against South Africa’s strains of FMD. He says the state’s animal health policies and resources are invariably lagging behind FMD outbreaks.

“You can’t fight a fire from behind. You must get in front of it. It will be in the private animal health companies’ commercial interests to ensure that there is always enough stock of best-quality vaccine.

“Then we dairy farmers can make proactive vaccinations against FMD a part of our regular vaccination programme. We’re never going to be able to stop FMD. It’s here to stay. But we need to be able to proactively manage the risk as best we can.”