Charlotte Varcoe
PREPARATIONS for the potential foot and mouth disease coming to Australia are underway after a stakeholders meeting held in Naracoorte recently.
According to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries the disease is described as a “serious and highly contagious” animal disease which affects all cloven-hoofed animals.
This includes cattle, sheep, goats, camelids, deer and pigs, but not horses.
In May 2022, an outbreak of the disease was reported in cattle in Indonesia and had spread to Bali, which has since changed the risk profile for passengers and goods arriving in Australia.
Symptoms of the disease include fevers, drooling and reluctance to move, but can also cause fluid filled blisters to form on the lips, tongue, palate, feet and teats of infected animals.
During the recent meeting, many stakeholders gathered to discuss procedures should foot and mouth disease hit Australian shores.
If the disease is reported anywhere in Australia, Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA) will announce a livestock standstill and prohibit the movement of any and all hoofed livestock.
Mount Gambier agents committee chairperson Brad Holdman said the Mount Gambier Saleyards already had an action plan for a national livestock standstill should the disease be reported in the nation.
“We are all concerned about foot and mouth disease from an industry point of view and should it come to Australia, it will affect international markets and have a major effect on our exporting business,” Mr Holdman said.
“The Mount Gambier Saleyards have an action plan for a national livestock standstill should it be detected in Australia and that direction will come from PIRSA which means no one would be allowed to move livestock for a period of time until we get the all clear or the disease is controlled.
“There would be control measures put in place and there are procedures in place should it ever happen.”
He said PIRSA has previously issued a direction of what would happen should foot an mouth disease be detected in Australia which would include a standstill.
“The effect of a standstill locally means the ability to market livestock or markets such as milk and other products would be affected,” Mr Holdman said.
“It would have a devastating effect on local farmers in particular because we are a major food producing area in South Australia and it would have a significant impact on moving livestock and products.”
He said the disease could move so quickly between Adelaide and Mount Gambier/Berrin or other areas and with livestock moving regularly the spread of the disease could become devastating quickly.
Mr Holdman also stated the Mount Gambier Saleyards remained “in harmony” with Victoria and was mindful if the neighbouring state would report a foot and mouth disease outbreak.
“Those bodies would work together to control the spread of the disease and both agricultural departments would have that in hand,” he said.
“The meeting in Naracoorte was a ‘what if it should happen’ meeting and I think it is fantastic that the State Government and our saleyards and people within the industry are still mindful of foot and mouth disease because it is present in the world and people need to be careful if they are travelling to countries where it is present.”
Minister for Primary Industries Clare Scriven said it was important to be prepared for the disease which was something the State Government and key stakeholders were doing as an overall plan for emergency animal diseases.
“As we know there have been no outbreaks of the foot-mouth disease in South Australia and we are keen to keep it that way but these exercises are a crucial part of guarding against any emergency animal disease including foot-mouth but also African swine fever,” Ms Scriven said.
“We have been running these workshops with local stakeholders to ensure they are as prepared as possible for any outbreak in the future here and we need to do everything we can to guard against all emergency animal diseases.
“We know foot-mouth disease would have an absolutely devastating impact on all of Australia in terms of livestock and that is why there has been so much work from a Federal Government perspective as well as a State Government perspective.”
She reiterated the meeting was not in response to any particular concern as there had been no reported outbreaks in South Australia.
“What this is about is increasing our preparedness for outbreaks of any emergency animal disease.”
According to Ms Scriven there has also been a “whole raft of work” which was being done including purchasing new equipment and mobile vans in terms of being able to assess and test animals, having more veterinarians and animal health officers available as resources and also coordination and communication with local stakeholders.
“It is incredibly important and pleasing work that we have been doing and a lot of it has been in conjunction with organisations such as Livestock South Australia and it is through this multi-pronged approach of partnerships that we will be able to continue our excellent record in terms of guarding against emergency animal disease outbreaks.”
