Two Local Land Services district veterinarians recently took part in an intensive four-day course run by the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) held in Kenya, Africa.
Mark Doyle and Lara Mitchell, based in the south east and Riverina regions of NSW, joined about 15 veterinary professionals from around the world, including Romania, Italy, Iceland and the Netherlands, to learn firsthand from farmers and field experts how to recognise, diagnose and manage FMD.
FMD is a serious and highly contagious disease that affects all cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats, which causes lesions, fever, drooling and lameness and, in some cases, death.
It is commonly spread through the movement of infected livestock.
Mr Doyle described the training as invaluable.
“Nothing compares to seeing the disease firsthand; there’s no way you can prepare as effectively from pictures, videos, webinars or textbooks,” he said.
“The opportunity to visit the farms and talk with the Kenyan farmers about how they handled their livestock was invaluable.”
Australia is currently FMD free, however, its ability to establish in countries like Indonesia means there is an ongoing risk, which would have devastating impacts on the agricultural industry.
The training course is held in an endemic country to give vets typically from FMD-free countries a unique opportunity to apply on-farm biosecurity protocols and follow clinical and epidemiological procedures.
Participants gain valuable insights from speaking directly with farmers in areas where there are active outbreaks and test their knowledge through practical biosecurity exercises, sampling, packaging and lesion aging in a situational context.
Ms Mitchell said she learned a lot from the experience.
“It was interesting seeing how agriculture and biosecurity is managed in other countries, particularly those that are landlocked,” she said.
“It highlighted for me that Australia is doing a great job at maintaining biosecurity and helping our agricultural industry to remain free of things like FMD and lumpy skin disease.”
LLS district veterinarians play a key role in emergency animal disease management across NSW, working closely with landholders to identify and prevent the spread of disease to protect the agricultural industry.
Sixteen have completed EuFMD training since 2014.
