Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) are holding a foot-and-mouth information night to talk about the dangers of the disease and what precautions livestock owners can take.
The event will be held at Marcus Hill Hall at 7.30pm on Tuesday, August 23, and will feature guest speaker Dr Hannah Manning, district veterinary officer for Agriculture Victoria.
Dr Manning will cover the facts of foot-and-mouth disease, the risks and impact of an outbreak in Australia, and what can be done to minimise the risks.
Graeme Brown, vice president of VFF Bellarine Branch, urged anyone who owns any number of sheep, cattle, pigs or alpacas to attend.
“The aim behind the whole thing is to make people aware, firstly of what FMD is, and secondly, what the ramifications are going to be locally if an outbreak occurs,” Mr Brown said.
“If we get an outbreak there’s going to be all sorts of restrictions, culling of livestock, these sorts of things. And it’s better if property owners understand that so it doesn’t come as a real shock if it happens.”
Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious animal disease that affects all cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, sheep, goats, deer, pigs and camelids (alpacas, llamas and camels).
The disease is currently raging through Indonesia, including Bali, and while it has not yet been detected in Australia the Australian Government has granted biosecurity officers extra powers to ensure travellers from Indonesia and Bali do not bring foot-and-mouth to our shores.
Mr Brown said biosecurity was integral to protecting Australia’s meat and livestock export industry.
“The long-term ramifications of an outbreak here on our export of meat and livestock could be terrible,” he said.
“So we’ll be reinforcing biosecurity measures. It’s pretty simple stuff, but given the ramifications it’s pretty important.”
Anyone interested in attending can RSVP Graeme Brown on 0408 524 067 or Fiona Conroy on 0407 345 718.
