Drop in January disease cases

Rutendo Nveve, Sunday News Reporter
MATABELELAND South has recorded a significant decline in theileriosis (January disease) related cattle deaths following the implementation of a number of intervention measures against the disease that had caused cattle carnage in some parts of the province.

Insiza District was the most affected in the province with hundreds of cattle succumbing to the disease at its peak in January. In an interview with Sunday News, Matabeleland South provincial veterinary officer Dr Enart Mdlongwa revealed that cases were plummeting due to the robust measures put in place by Government as well as the disease’s epidemiological order.

“When people started instituting the 5-5-4 dipping regime, the cases drastically went down and the disease is following its normal epidemiology where in January it kills a lot of animals and going further into the month the disease goes down. We are also giving about four kilogrammes of tick grease per farmer which they are going to be applying around the ear because the tick that transmits this disease is called the brown ear tick. So we apply the tick grease on the ear, under the tail, and at the periphery of the tail,” said Dr Mdlongwa.

The 5-5-4 dipping regime is a strategic dipping practice where animals are dipped every five days and then at four-day intervals to ensure that there is effective tick control. The basis of the 5-5-4 dipping regime is to cut the life cycle of the ticks before they are engorged.

Dr Mdlongwa said Government has also supplied Drastic Deadline pour-on which will be distributed to the hotspots this week. Drastic Deadline pour-on is an effective tick control treatment for cattle, sheep, game, and ostriches. It is a scientifically formulated tickicide that works instantly in eliminating ticks and other external parasites.

“Just today (Thursday) we received a big consignment of deadline pour-on from the Government which we will be moving to the hotspots. We have also arranged communities to fight the disease collectively. We have activated our traditional leaders to ensure that their communities send livestock for dipping during the dipping sessions. We are seeing large amounts of cattle that we probably didn’t know in this area being brought for dipping,” said Dr Mdlongwa.

Meanwhile, the Government has put the non-dipping of animals as a level five offence, which attracts a US$200 fine.

“We are encouraging everybody to send every animal for dipping. I know people want to categorise the animals to say these are cows, these are heifers so I will take them for dipping after about five to six months. That should immediately stop. Every animal is susceptible to the disease,” said Dr Mdlongwa.

In January this publication reported on the huge cattle carnage  in Fort Rixon, Matabeleland South where a 65-year-old widow lost more than 50 cattle, while another farmer Mr Tadious Mhlanga lost 22 cattle, as the dreaded January disease ravaged the area, leaving small-scale farmers wallowing in abject poverty. -@nyeve14