At last count there were seven commercial piggeries that have been confirmed with or suspected of infections with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). The manager of one of these has broken the silence to reveal the heartbreak, anxiety, frustration and even downright anger that an outbreak – and the state – has and is causing for her and her fellow staff.
By Lloyd Phillips, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
There is a rapidly looming animal welfare crisis in the commercial piggery that Catherine (not her real name) manages. She asked that she and her piggery not be named while the issues she highlights remain unresolved.
“The last time we marketed a pig off this farm was 19 December. On Christmas Day, we first saw lesions from FMD in some of our pigs. We immediately notified the local state vet, who arrived four days later to officially confirm the infection, and we’ve been quarantined ever since,” she told African Farming by phone on 18 February.
The future of the 40-year-old piggery that Catherine has managed for the past four years now hangs by an already frayed proverbial thread. Before the FMD virus somehow managed to circumvent the piggery’s existing biosecurity measures, its 360 breeding sows were divided across and productive in a cyclical three-week batch farrowing system. They were producing between 600 and 700 finisher pigs monthly for market, plus gilts retained to replace ageing sows culled out the system.
The quarantine required an immediate stop to any pigs being moved off the piggery property. No further income could be earned.
At the start of quarantine, there were also hundreds of sows already pregnant and others that were farrowing. So, hundreds more pigs were being born into the piggery’s closed system designed to accommodate a maximum of 3 500 animals.
“If there’s a blockage at the end, the system is going to burst because you’ve got an inflow but not an outflow. We’re already sitting with about 1 800 more pigs than what we would normally have,” said Catherine.
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Overcrowding an Animal Welfare Issue
“We’ve had to build temporary pens in the outdoor alleys between our grower houses. We’ve strung shade cloth up to shelter these pigs from the sun. What we’re now most worried about is that overcrowding is becoming an animal welfare issue. We have always prided ourselves on our animal welfare, but my 18 workers and I are increasingly struggling to keep up with the cleaning, feeding and drinking water.”
Catherine is already treating growing respiratory problems because of overcrowding. The piggery’s “very experienced” private veterinarian has warned that as stress levels increase among the overcrowded pigs, even more worrying animal welfare issues, like ear- and tail-biting and potentially even cannibalism, are likely to start.
“Our vet estimates we have two, maybe three, weeks left before we’re going to have to start mass culling groups of excess pigs. We’re going to have to dig a big pit on the farm, shoot the pigs one by one, dump them in the pit, burn them and then close the pit. We’ve already had to shoot 31 of our perfectly healthy and productive sows because there’s no space for them as the gilts grow into our system.”
Catherine understands why her piggery had to be quarantined by the state as soon as active FMD was confirmed and began spreading like wildfire through much of the herd. Active infections devastated nursing piglets, especially if their sow was also infected. Before this outbreak, “the worst ever” beyond-the-norm mortalities Catherine had encountered were 12 piglets in one day.
During the FMD outbreak, piglet deaths reached a peak of 50 in a single day. Of the 557 nursing piglets at that time, only 106 – a mere 19% – were ultimately weaned. The virus also claimed 13 weaner and five grower pigs. Most of the rest of the herd were infected and experienced symptoms, but survived and have recovered.
“Seeing your animals die in front of you [knowing] there’s little you can do is like standing there with your hands tied behind your back. You feel helpless. My piggery staff were also hit hard. They would say to me, ‘Ma’am, I can’t take it anymore. There’s another one that died. I can’t take it.’
“We started praying together every morning before going into the piggery. We needed all the emotional support we could get. I’ve cried so much that I don’t have any tears left. It was a horrific experience for all of us,” said Catherine.
Also read: Lack of FMD-designated abattoirs for pigs ‘most important factor’
Where are the Abattoirs?
Now, though, Catherine’s emotional distress has been replaced by immense frustration and even anger at times. She says that according to the state’s rules, a Day 0 is recorded when a state vet confirms that a livestock operation notes no new symptoms of FMD infection. If no new symptoms are also recorded for 28 consecutive days thereafter, there is probably no virus still in circulation.
Catherine says on 26 January she emailed the local state veterinarian to confirm that on this date there were no new symptoms of FMD in her piggery.
“The state vet didn’t reply. I kept sending daily disease reports to her. She only arrived on 16 February to personally confirm no new symptoms, and wanted to make her visit as Day 0.”
As at 18 February – 24 days after Catherine’s own Day 0 – she still reported no new infections in her pigs.
Dr Thandi Chiappero, a veterinarian and head of consumer assurance with the South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO), told African Farming that the state veterinarian is required to inspect a piggery twice, 14 days apart. If both inspections show no new symptoms of FMD infection, the date of the first inspection is recorded as Day 0.
Chiappero added that, fortunately, Catherine’s Day 0 of 26 January has subsequently been accepted by the state.
According to Catherine, the next major problem is that – also according to the state’s rules and regulations – even for as long as six infection-free months after Day 0, she is required to have her pigs slaughtered at an abattoir that has received the state’s approval to process animals from piggeries that were previously infected with FMD.
Yet, and as previously reported by African Farming, at the time of writing there is only one such abattoir in South Africa that has this approval. What’s more, it may only slaughter animals from the piggery that is on the same property as this abattoir. All other piggeries previously infected with FMD, but now free of the disease, still have nowhere to send their pigs.
Also read: FMD and African swine fever impacting South Africa’s projected pork supplies
Mass Culling May Become Necessary
Catherine said: “We cannot understand why the government seems to be making it impossible for us as pig producers. They’re not giving us an avenue to slaughter. We need an abattoir. We need it very soon.
“Business and time are not on our side. We can’t sit around and wait for abattoirs for months and months on end. The guys are going to go bankrupt.”
African Farming submitted questions to the national Department of Agriculture and to the Red Meat Abattoir Association on 11 February to seek clarity on why no such other abattoirs are yet available and on when this situation is expected to change. At the time of writing on 20 February no answers to these questions had been received.
Catherine said the idea of possibly having to start the mass culling of clinically healthy, market-ready pigs looms like a dark and dire cloud over her thoughts and emotions.
“We producers are wired to raise and care for the animals and to look after their health. We’re not wired, or even equipped, to have to kill them unnecessarily, especially in large numbers.
“At the end of the day this is a state-controlled disease. The onus is on the state to have a contingency plan when a farm has an outbreak. It’s why I’ve told some people in government, ‘Then you must come and shoot these animals on the farm because this is a state-controlled disease’.”
Timeline of Key Events and Impacts on Catherine’s Piggery
Pre-foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak: 19 December 2025 – Last time pigs are marketed off the farm
25 December 2025 – FMD outbreak confirmed and piggery quarantined
Peak of infection
• 50 piglets die in a single day
• of 557 piglets in affected batches, only 106 survive
• 13 weaner and five grower pigs also die
• numerous other pigs contract FMD and experience the symptoms, but eventually recover
26 January 2026 – First day that Catherine records no symptoms of new infections (Day 0)
Quarantine remains in place – Already pregnant sows and gilts keep farrowing
• Piglets and older pigs keep growing
• Piggery capacity of 3 500 animals starts being exceeded
• Piggery forced to cull 31 breeding sows to make space
16 February 2026 – State veterinarian reportedly visits piggery for first time since Catherine submitted her own Day 0 report
18 February 2026 – Piggery nearing 1 800 pigs in excess of normal pre-FMD population
• Piggery staff have to erect temporary pens outdoors to house excess pigs
• Still no abattoir authorised to slaughter clinically healthy animals from the piggery
• Piggery’s private veterinarian warns that overcrowding is going to become a major animal welfare issue in two to three weeks
• Piggery may have to start mass culling unless an abattoir is authorised soon
• Estimated financial impacts so far are more than R2 million
Also read and watch:
WATCH | Millions of FMD vaccine doses on the way
WATCH | Here’s how the FMD vaccines will be rolled out
WATCH | Cost of FMD vaccines – ‘Now is not the time to make a profit,’ says Steenhuisen
KZN deploying 45 teams to vaccinate 2.45 million cattle in massive FMD campaign
