Overview of NAHF conference

Dr Chris van Dijk, representing the dairy industry, attended the National Animal Health Forum (NAHF) meeting in Pretoria on 17 November 2016. The official website of the NAHF was launched at the meeting. Please follow the link to the website to read about all the important activities being undertaken at the NAHF at present. The link is www.nahf.co.za

Some of the important matters on the agenda were the roll-out and implementation of the veterinary strategic plan, as well as discussions on brucellosis and the strategy currently being adopted, namely vaccination, education and testing (VET).  Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) also reported that they had sufficient stock of Brucella S19 vaccine which would enable producers, as required by law, to vaccinate all their female animals between the ages of three to eight months.

Although we don’t have many dairy farmers in Limpopo, they need to be aware of foot-and-mouth disease as it was reported that border control and movement of animals over the borders are not optimal at present.

OBP also informed the meeting of the possibility of Rift Valley fever outbreaks, especially with the current raining season in the summer rainfall areas.

Rabies, a highly fatal zoonotic disease, was also discussed. Articles will very soon appear in The Dairy Mail, Red Meat/Rooivleis and Wolboer/Wool Farmer on the symptoms and what you need to do when you have a positive case on your farm. Any animal behaving abnormally (usually aggressively) while salivating a lot should be considered as a possible case of rabies. Your local vet or state vet should be contacted immediately and will take the case further.