Govt to slaughter small stock soon

Deputy director of the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) Kekgonne Baipoledi revealed this on Tuesday at a press conference, which was also addressed by the Francistown FMD project coordinator and North East district commissioner Rapetse Mathumo. Also at the briefing were epidemiologist Dr Bernard Mbeha from the DVS and NEDC agricultural coordinator Alfred Mashungwa.Baipoledi explained that the collection of small stock started on Monday and within 10 days the slaughtering will commence.

He said that consultations with farmers about the depopulation of small stock started last month and they have participated in the logistics of this project."The most affected areas in Zone 6 are Matsiloje, Matshelagabedi, Matlopi, and Patayamatebele. We started with vaccinating the sheep and goats, expecting the virus to die, but we failed to kill it as it was still present when we went for another testing," he said.