Much of KwaZulu-Natal’s livestock value chain has been significantly impacted by restrictions on the movement and sale of animals due to widespread foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the province. Livestock auctioneers and agents have been tasked with formulating proposals to help resolve this ongoing impasse.
By Lloyd Phillips, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
Most livestock owners and their markets in the foot-and-mouth disease management area (DMA) in KwaZulu-Natal – which has expanded to about 4 million hectares since March 2025 – have been subject to strict restrictions on animal movement and, consequently, sales.
African Farming has previously reported that, for many small-scale livestock owners within the DMA, the ability to occasionally sell an animal is a vital source of income for essential household needs, including food, school fees and school uniforms. Various knowledgeable sources have confirmed that, out of desperation, some livestock owners have illegally moved animals to sell them outside the DMA. This is suspected to be a contributing factor in several initial FMD outbreaks beyond the DMA, which subsequently spread to become South Africa’s current FMD epidemic.
Despite the roll-out of the national FMD vaccination campaign and the lifting of DMA restrictions in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal’s DMA is expected to remain in place until sufficient numbers of cattle are vaccinated and outbreaks within the zone have declined to levels deemed acceptable by state animal health authorities.
Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, recently met with representatives of livestock auctioneers and agents who operate in the province. According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (KZN DARD), discussions focused on proposals from the private livestock value chain to lift the DMA in the province so that livestock movement, auctions and related income streams can resume.
Also read: Botswana’s FMD starting to run away from authorities
‘DMA Stays Until Enough Cattle Are Vaccinated’
“Their main concern is that they are unable to move animals to sell,” kaMadlopha-Mthethwa says. “I informed them that we must ensure that we do not allow the movement of animals because the regulations are still in place, and we cannot allow unvaccinated cattle from other provinces into KwaZulu-Natal.
“We agreed that we need to sit down with the national minister of agriculture and pave the way forward. We then agreed to draft a document outlining provincial recommendations [for KwaZulu-Natal] for submission to the minister so that we will be able to sell our animals as soon as we reach [sufficient] immunity in the provincial herd [of approximately 2,5 million cattle].”
Karen Melouney, a director of AAM Livestock Agents and Auctioneers (AAM), a well-established business in KwaZulu-Natal since 2004, attended the meeting with kaMadlopha-Mthethwa.
Melouney says auctions outside KwaZulu-Natal’s DMA are beginning to resume. Livestock owners – commercial and small-scale – cannot, however, sell through these auctions without the necessary permits and authorisation. This provides a legal route for earning income while helping to reduce the risk of FMD spreading.
“The priority is to lift KwaZulu-Natal’s DMA as a matter of urgency,” she says. “Everyone, even many in government, agree that the DMA’s boundaries have become irrelevant. Desperate livestock owners have long been moving animals out of it illegally. Closing auctions in the DMA and other areas may have been intended to limit the spread of FMD, but they actually exacerbated it.”
Melouney says some livestock traders from outside the DMA have also taken advantage of desperate livestock owners, buying cattle at below-market prices and then illegally moving the animals out of the DMA, potentially contributing to the spread of the disease.
“Livestock owners want to just get on with normal business. Most of them have already had FMD in their herds, and the animals have recovered. They want the saleyards reopened so that they can again start earning fair prices for their animals. The added advantage is that these animals will have traceability.”
Also watch: Weekly RMIS FMD update: Vaccine supply and strategic planning
Reports of Plummeting Reconception Rates
“If the state insists on all cattle being vaccinated before the DMA can be lifted, then it needs to significantly speed up the acquisition, distribution and administering of vaccines,” Melouney says. “For beef cattle, so far we’re hearing that mostly communal cattle in certain areas are being vaccinated. There are commercial beef farms and communal cattle in other areas that haven’t been vaccinated yet. There needs to be consistent, speedy and widespread vaccination across the entire DMA.”
Melouney says AAM and other members of the South African Federation for Livestock Auctioneers (SAFLA) in KwaZulu-Natal are grateful for kaMadlopha-Mthethwa’s engagement with them. They are currently compiling proposals requested by the MEC.
“Whether the MEC agrees with our proposals remains to be seen. Where sales outside the DMA have reopened, there has been a massive influx of small-scale and communal livestock owners bringing their animals for sale at fair prices.
“What also concerns us are the impact of FMD infection on the immediate and longer-term fertility of breeding stock. We are getting reports that many herds that have recovered from infection are experiencing plummeting reconception rates. If this is accurate, then future weaner crop production numbers are also going to plummet.”
Also read:
FMD | Next batch of ARC’s locally produced vaccines signals rise in production
RMIS platform launches new features to help manage livestock during FMD outbreak
How one young farmer managed foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) on his livestock farm
