“I don’t know how I’d take it.” Dairy farmers fear their hard work over generations will be lost if the foot and mouth livestock disease ravaging Indonesia arrives in Australia. | bpreiss
One case of foot and mouth could result in widespread destruction of livestock to contain the outbreak.Advertisement
“It would take years to get back to our productivity level,” he said. “I don’t know how I’d take it.” in 2001, which resulted in the destruction of 6 million pigs, sheep and cows. “The outbreak in the UK put a jolt through the industry.”But dairy farms face particular challenges in mitigating disease outbreaks. On Billing’s farm, the virus could quickly spread among the herd, which moves together as the cows go into the dairy for milking twice daily.
He said farmers who sold stud bulls were increasingly talking about freezing embryos in case they have to slaughter their animals to contain a disease outbreak.
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