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Herald Reporter
Farmers have been urged to religiously follow dipping intervals to prevent the outbreak of January/ Theileriosis diseases as a result of the rains that are currently being received in the country.
Theileriosis tends to be encountered mostly in January when traditionally rainfall activity is high, hence the name January disease.
Dipping also controls other vectors like tsetse fly and other biting flies.
During the wet season, animals are susceptible to many challenges, and if a farmer is not careful, they may be killed by various diseases including tick-borne diseases. January Disease is common between December and March and is spread through the bite of the brown ear tick.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera said the only way and sustainable way to contain and to do away with January disease is to dip for one and half years to two years.
He urged farmers to cooperate by bringing cattle to dip tanks adding that Government has made efforts to resuscitate dip tanks and securing chemicals to fight the disease.
“We need to dip religiously every week, intensive dipping and continuously raising awareness to the importance of dipping. Government has made some efforts but it is the responsibility of the cattle owner.
“As Government we make sure we have basic infrastructure for dipping and chemicals, now it is your duty as a farmer to ensure that your cattle go to the dip tanks. We have a law which arrests farmers who do not dip their cattle. We have about 4 000 dip tanks but less than 3 000 are functional. For us to contain January disease we need to dip religiously, “he said.
Dr Basera said they are planning to increase dip tanks to 5000 by 2025 and increase the national herd from the current 5, 5 million to 6 million this year.
During the rainy season, the Department of Veterinary Services encourages farmers to adopt the 5-4-4 dipping regime, where a farmer is expected to dip cattle after 5 days then after 4 days followed by another four-day interval.
Zimbabwe is moving ahead on several fronts to fight tick-borne diseases by building, rebuilding and renovating dip tanks, ensuring that the subsidised dipping chemicals are brought to the tanks, by handing out tick grease to farmers and now by manufacturing vaccines.
January disease has killed over 500 000 thousand cattle in the rainy season in the past few years. The four major tick borne diseases that affect cattle are heartwater, anaplasmosis or gall sickness, babesiosis or red water and theileriosis or January disease.
Statistics released by Midlands Veterinary Department indicated that over 130 cattle in the province have succumbed to January disease in the first week of January with Shurugwi being the most affected by the outbreak.
Recently Chief director in the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), Dr Josphat Nyika urged farmers to act responsibly and complement Government’s efforts towards eradicating tick-borne diseases.
“These diseases are strongly controlled by dipping. We gave farmers over 2 million kg of the Presidential Tick Grease programme over the last two years,” he said.
“We are doing a lot in reducing tick-borne diseases, including repairing dip tanks and construction (of some). We are also celebrating a milestone in producing a vaccine for January disease to prevent cattle deaths. We have adequate chemicals in stock,” he said.
Online Reporter