The health of the national herd begins on the farm

Animal diseases are an unavoidable aspect of any livestock farming enterprise and require due attention. Yet it is often overlooked, leading to major economic losses.

- Mario van den Heever

According to Dr Chris van Dijk, chairperson of the National Animal Health Forum (NAHF), the health status of the national herd is currently in much better shape than in previous years. However, the health status of individual herds has a direct influence on the national health status of livestock.

Some regions of the country have a high health status due to the vigilance with which producers manage their herds, while in other parts the status is considerably lower as some producers fail to pay the necessary attention to their herds’ health status.

The incidence of an animal disease involves more than just the clinical cases in a herd. For every clinically ill animal, there is a group of infected animals showing no visible symptoms. Producers must therefore ensure that their herds build immunity against the most common diseases in that specific environment, so as to prevent production losses and mortality.

Health management on the farm

When assessing the health of their animals, producers must take into account mortalities on the farm as well as the general state of the animals’ immune systems. Administering the right vaccine at the right time can make a huge improvement to an animal’s immune system.

According to Dr Van Dijk, a hit-and miss approach is sometimes taken with vaccines and only 15 to 20% of all livestock are vaccinated against some of the most common livestock diseases. The remaining unvaccinated 80% is partly to blame for certain animal diseases running rampant in South Africa. Herd immunity at farm as well as national level is crucial.