Five-day FMD freeze jeopardised about 4 300 cattle sales

Namibia's foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) shutdown may have interrupted the marketing of about 4 300 cattle during the initial five-day nationwide shutdown, calculations based on the livestock industry's September forecast show.

The estimate covers 23 to 27 September, when nationwide restrictions disrupted the movement, marketing and slaughter of cloven-hoofed animals following confirmation of FMD in the Karasburg veterinary district in the ǁKharas region.

The Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia (LLPBN) had forecast that 25 810 cattle would be marketed during September before the outbreak disrupted livestock movements.

Spread evenly across the 30-day month, the forecast represents an average of about 860 cattle marketed per day, or approximately 4 302 over five days.

The calculation does not mean that 4 302 individual cattle were permanently lost to the market or were necessarily scheduled for marketing during those specific days, but indicates the volume of cattle marketing that would ordinarily have taken place based on the LLPB's monthly forecast. Some of the delayed sales and slaughter could still take place as restrictions are relaxed.

The impact extended beyond cattle, with restrictions also affecting sheep, goats and pigs and disrupting auctioneers, transporters, abattoirs and other businesses dependent on livestock movements.

Of the 25 810 cattle forecast to be marketed during September, the LLPB expected 11 864 to leave Namibia as live exports.

Spread evenly across September, this represents about 395 cattle per day, suggesting that approximately 1 977 cattle within the expected live-export marketing stream fell within the initial five-day restriction period.

In August, Namibia marketed 29 389 cattle, of which 14 541 were exported live. South Africa received 14 499 of those animals, with weaners accounting for 96.96% of the cattle exported to that market.

Export abattoirs slaughtered another 12 544 cattle last month, while B- and C-class abattoirs handled 2 304.

The figures illustrate the scale of the live-export and slaughter markets that were disrupted by the subsequent restrictions.

The disruption was immediately visible in the auction industry, where about 1 100 cattle were expected at a Blaauwberg Auctioneers sale at Otjiwarongo when livestock auctions were halted following the veterinary directive.

Agra and Karoo-Ochse also cancelled scheduled livestock auctions, while livestock activities at the Windhoek Agricultural and Livestock Show involving more than 1 000 animals were affected.

Clinical signs

The restrictions followed confirmation on 23 September that 10 of 11 cattle samples collected from an affected commercial farm in the Karasburg district tested positive for FMD. Authorities detected clinical signs a day earlier.

The outbreak occurred within Namibia's internationally recognised FMD-free zone where vaccination is not practised, leading to the imposition of nationwide controls affecting the movement of cloven-hoofed animals and their raw products, livestock marketing and trade, imports and exports, and slaughter.

The consequences extended beyond domestic livestock marketing.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) suspended the internationally recognised status of Namibia's FMD-free zone where vaccination is not practised, effective from 22 September following notification of the outbreak.

The recognised disease-free status is important for Namibia's access to international livestock and meat markets.

Great Britain subsequently suspended commercial imports of fresh bovine, sheep and goat meat from the affected Namibian territory from 25 September, together with certain other susceptible-animal products.

Government partially relaxed the nationwide controls on 27 September after surveillance indicated that positive cases detected during the investigation remained concentrated in the Karasburg district.

Between 22 and 25 September, veterinary authorities collected 199 samples in ǁKharas, Khomas, Omaheke, Otjozondjupa and Oshana regions. Seventeen samples tested positive, all from Karasburg.

The subsequent veterinary notice allowed some livestock activities to resume under specified conditions and lifted certain movement restrictions, including those north of the veterinary cordon fence, but did not immediately restore normal livestock marketing and international export activity.