Foot-and-Mouth Disease is still a huge problem- .
It is now late April 2026, and despite months of effort, the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in South Africa has not yet been brought under control. While the situation has not exploded into a nationwide catastrophe, the impact on farmers is already severe — and many fear it will get worse.
New cases continue to appear across several provinces, with the Free State, North West, and Eastern Cape still showing the highest numbers. The disease is spreading more slowly than some had feared, but the total number of infected properties keeps rising. This slow burn is particularly painful for livestock farmers, many of whom have lost entire herds or face long movement restrictions that prevent them from selling animals.For non-farmers it is difficult to understand what it really means to lose your cattle. These animals are often a farmer’s entire livelihood — their savings, their bank account, and their future all walking on four legs. When a herd is infected or placed under quarantine, months or even years of work can disappear overnight.
On the positive side, vaccine imports have accelerated. South Africa now has several million doses on hand or arriving shortly from Turkey and Argentina. Provincial distribution has improved, and more cattle are being vaccinated each week.However, the big challenge remains speed and scale. Experts say the national herd of roughly 14 million cattle needs to be vaccinated twice a year in tight eight-week windows to build proper herd immunity. At the moment, the system is still struggling to deliver vaccines fast enough and in the right places. Some farmers report that doses arrive too late or in quantities too small to cover their entire herd.
The finalisation of the Article 10 draft scheme for routine foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination is being delayed by several factors, including more than 400 comments received by 17 April and ongoing court cases.A key workshop on the Article 9 and Article 10 schemes is scheduled for 6 May to finalise the documents and establish a structured national framework for vaccination, traceability, and cooperation between government and industry.The industry coordination council stresses that this process should be completed urgently, as it should have been finalised months ago.
Further delays are caused by operational issues such as 6–8% of imported vaccine being lost due to leaking or broken bottles, and insufficient feedback on how the vaccine is being administered.The industry is in discussions with the department to address these practical problems, including improved packaging.In short, although the vaccination programme is gaining momentum, the necessary legal and administrative framework is being seriously delayed by public comments, court cases, and operational challenges.
The government’s long-term plan is to move toward a structured national vaccination programme supported by better traceability and biosecurity. A new routine vaccination scheme under Article 10 of the Animal Diseases Act has been published, which aims to give farmers more responsibility while keeping the process regulated.The goal is eventually to regain “FMD-free with vaccination” status and, in the longer term, work toward “FMD-free without vaccination.” But achieving meaningful herd immunity will take time — possibly until the end of 2026 or even into 2027 — depending on how quickly the remaining logistical and administrative bottlenecks can be cleared.
Farmers in the Vergenoeg area (between Balmoral and Bronkhorstspruit) are concerned after their cattle were re-vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease only four weeks after the first dose, instead of the recommended six months.The cattle received one vaccine in February and a different one in March. A recent industry report also confirmed a cold chain breach with one batch of FMD vaccine.Although the affected batch was still deemed usable, organised agriculture has raised serious questions about vaccine handling and the overall management of the vaccination programme.Farmers worry that these issues could damage confidence in the drive to control the disease and regain market access. The Department of Agriculture has not yet provided clear explanations for the shortened interval or the full extent of the cold chain problem.
We are not yet seeing a huge breakthrough in containing the outbreak. Vaccination is gaining momentum, but it is still not happening fast enough or on a large enough scale to stop the virus completely. Farmers continue to bear the heaviest burden — through lost animals, restricted movements, and mounting financial pressure.The coming months will be critical. If the vaccination campaign can be scaled up significantly and farmers receive clear, practical support, there is hope of turning the corner. If not, the slow spread could turn into a much larger and more costly crisis for the entire livestock industry.
We have written several viewpoints on foot-and-mouth disease and our team has visited farmers all over the country to get first-hand information from the ground level. What you read in the media from the comfort of offices is not always the full story but they give the most important information. With all the information we have gathered, we still believe it will take years, not months, to bring foot-and-mouth disease under control in South Africa.
Let's hope we wrong - as we do not want our farmers and their cattle to suffer like this.
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