The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo Senior Farming Reporter
AT least 30 cattle have died in Matabeleland North since last month due to the outbreak of blackleg at a time officials said farmers must step up efforts to vaccinate their livestock to avert further losses. In an interview on Friday, Matabeleland North provincial veterinary officer Dr Polex Moyo confirmed the outbreak and urged farmers to vaccinate their cattle as the disease was not under Government’s mandated livestock vaccination programmes.
“I can confirm that there are sporadic reports of blackleg in most districts in the province and we are urging farmers to vaccinate their cattle or enlist the assistance of the Department of Veterinary Services’ extension officers to conduct the vaccination,” Dr Moyo said. The outbreak surfaced in September and is still being detected in Bubi, Hwange and Binga districts.
According to reports obtained from the Department of Veterinary Services, 22 cases were reported in Bubi last month with 16 more being recorded two weeks ago, with 13 cattle reported to have died of the disease.
In Hwange 10 cases were reported last month, Umguza (six), Lupane (two), with 20 cattle dying of the disease in Binga and one in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union Matabeleland North provincial chairman Mr Winston Babbage said farmers should expedite their vaccination programmes to guard against loss of their livestock.
“We had a meeting with the Director of the Veterinary Services (Dr Josphat Nyika) recently and he admitted that the department was incapacitated in terms of human resources and admitted that it also needed to regroup and retain its staff thus the onus is on farmers to administer vaccines on themselves.
“Farmers should also note that vaccination of blackleg isn’t done by Government. As a union we will only mobilise funding to embark on an extensive vaccination programme in the event of a massive outbreak,” Mr Babbage said. Blackleg is a highly fatal disease of young cattle caused by the spore forming, rod shaped, and gas producing bacteria Clostridium chauvoei. The spores of the organism can live in the soil for many years.
The bacteria enters the calf by ingestion and then gains entrance to the body through small punctures in the mucous membrane of the digestive tract. Cattle that are on a high plane of nutrition, rapidly gaining weight and between six months and two years of age are most susceptible to the disease. The disease is not transmitted directly from sick animals to healthy animals by mere contact.
The first sign observed is usually lameness, loss of appetite, rapid breathing and the animal is usually depressed and has a high fever. Characteristic swellings develop in the hip, shoulder, chest, back, neck or elsewhere. First the swelling is small, hot and painful.
As the disease progresses, the swelling enlarges and becomes spongy and gaseous. If you press the swelling, gas can be felt under the skin. The animal usually dies in 12 to 48 hours. In most cases the animal is found dead without being previously observed sick. The speed with which blackleg kills usually makes individual treatment useless.
Blackleg is almost entirely preventable by vaccination.
The most commonly used clostridial vaccination in cattle is the seven-way type which protects against Clostridium chauveoi (blackleg), Clostridium septicum and Clostridium sordelli (malignant edema), Clostridium novyi (black disease), and three types of Clostridium perfringens (enterotoxemia).
