Bio Security at Little Valley Farm - PLEASE read before coming to our farm.
From one disaster straight into another. We have had two years of non-stop action. As I write this blog, we have just encountered our worst flood impact and are recovering from the March 2022 flood and the 2021 Flood and La Nina events. So now, with news from Indonesia this month, it's time to think and act on FMD - Foot and Mouth Disease and stop it from entering Australia and our farmland.
And if you haven't learnt anything from the 2019 fires and 2021 - 2022 floods, learn one thing ~ preparation. #everybitcounts
What is FMD - Foot and Mouth Disease?
Image Animal Health Australia
With Australian borders freely open international travel is now back on the cards. If you're travelling to Australia from Indonesia, including Bali, you must take the appropriate precautions to help prevent Foot-and-mouth disease from reaching our farming communities.
The steps you can take include:
• Thoroughly clean and disinfect your shoes and boots before returning to Australia, or even better, leave them behind in Indonesia.
• Inform Customs if you've been in contact with cattle, pigs, sheep or goats, if you've been to rural areas, and/or if you're carrying animal material or food.
• Do not bring into the country any food, or medicine, including any alternative medicines.
• If in contact with cattle, pigs, sheep or goats overseas, stay away from these species for at least 28 hours after contact – the virus can survive in your nasal passages
Things to do now for your farm:
Have your farm Bio-security plan in place.
Ensure all visitors are registered before entering your farm.
Limit the number of access points for visitors.
Shoe bath upon arrival and ensure all genuine hygiene practices are in place.
Ask the question if your farm visitors have been to Bali, Indonesia, since June 2022.
Ask all visitors to bring boots or indoor and outdoor shoes.
Jump on the Animal Health website for more things you need to do, as they have some great resources.
There are some great resources on the Animal Health Australia website, so make sure you take the time to protect your farm, your animals and the whole of Australia.
If FMD does enter Australia, thousands, if not millions, of livestock will be euthanized and then burnt. It also means that infected farms will not be able to have livestock on their lands for many years - this includes hobby farmers. Yes, FMD does affect alpacas and llamas.
Keep up to date via the Agriculture Gov Au Bio-security and Animal Health website.
Euan and I were working and living in the UK when FMD broke out, and it was devastating and a reminder of how things can go so bad so quickly. Article from BBC on the 2001 UK FMD.
What is means to us?
Death to all our alpacas in the area and the ban on farming for many years. Heartbreak and heartache watching our beloved livestock being put the death.
Frequently Asked Questions and our BIo-Security Polcy read here.