The national and provincial State Veterinary Services held a meeting with private veterinarians and members of industry on Wednesday 26 March, to update and discuss the DMA (disease management area) movement protocol.
This is the result of collaboration between Milk SA, Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS), the Milk Producers Organisation (MPO) and various other industry bodies with the National Department of Agriculture (NDA), since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in 2021, to have the control measures revised to suit our unique South African situation.
Due to the workload caused by further outbreaks of FMD in KwaZulu-Natal, the state veterinary services resources will be stretched beyond capacity to implement control measures. These measures include surveillance checks on herds, quarantine of affected farms, vaccinating affected herds, branding the vaccinated animals, issuing of red cross permits for animal movements, post infection day zero checks and health inspections on herds prior to sealing trucks that transport quarantined animals to abattoirs for slaughter. As a result, the Department of Agriculture is considering using private veterinarians to assist with the inspection and certification of herds, within the DMA, which are not under quarantine.
By having authorised private veterinarians performing the audits and issuing the certificates, it eliminates false declarations, since veterinarians have to be registered with the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC). The SAVC is a professional body that upholds veterinary standards and can impose severe penalties on any veterinarian that issues false certificates or acts unprofessionally.
According to the March 2025 protocol, authorised private veterinarians (authorised in terms of the Animal Diseases Act by the Director of Animal Health) can certify for some movements of animals from farms within the DMA.
Also under consideration, is tasking the private veterinarian with auditing the biosecurity measures on FMD-free commercial farms within the DMA, to determine whether they comply with the standards to be considered biosecure enough to continue trading under specific conditions. Farms that comply will have less strict movement controls on animals and animal products, that are normally imposed on farms within the DMA.
The state veterinarian will supply the authorised private veterinarians with the appropriate biosecurity audit questionnaire that the private veterinarian will need to use when auditing the farm. Beef, dairy, sheep, and pig farms will each have a slightly different list of audit requirements for the herd veterinarian to certify. However, farms that are FMD positive, or farms that vaccinate their animals against FMD, will be placed under quarantine and will be under strict state veterinary control measures for at least 12 months, and probably even longer. This makes the promise of compartmentalisation very attractive for commercial farmers.
State veterinary services are acutely aware of the devastating effects control measures can have on farmers. Milk SA applauds the efforts by the National Department of Agriculture to make the protocols more lenient and practical without increasing the risk of spreading FMD.
The revised movement protocol offers farmers a financial lifeline and reduces the economic impact of FMD within the DMA, as well as free up the state veterinary services to focus on eliminating FMD.
Source: Milk SA
