Black leg outbreak hits Zvishavane

Animal affected by black leg normally dies within 48 hours of showing symptoms of the disease

There has been an outbreak of black leg in Zvishavane District, a development that is likely to affect livestock production in the Midlands Province.

This comes barely a month after the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Shurugwi, which affected more than 50 cattle.

The outbreak has been reported in Mapanzuli, Ruzive and Mhondongori areas under Chief Mapanzure.

Zvishavane Veterinary Services officer Mr Uzia Hove confirmed the outbreak during an interview yesterday.

“There has been an outbreak of black leg in those areas and we started vaccinating calves from that area after villagers bought vaccines.

“For now I cannot confirm the total number of affected cattle,” he said.

He encouraged farmers to quickly report any animal showing symptoms of the disease to veterinary officials.

“I want to encourage farmers to quickly notify veterinary officers in the event that they notice symptoms of black leg because early detection helps in the prevention of a further outbreak,” he said.

The symptoms of the disease are lameness, depression, loss of appetite and a hot painful swelling on a limb which crackles when pressed.

Later, the skin over the swelling becomes cold, dry and leathery.

The affected animal normally dies within 48 hours of presenting symptoms of the disease.

One farmer from Mapanzuli Village, Mr Tobias Dewa, said he had lost 10 calves.

“The outbreak really costed us a lot. I lost 10 calves due to black leg outbreak.

“When we reported the matter to the Veterinary Department, they told us to buy vaccines as they do not have any in stock.

“It took me about a week to buy the required vaccines and by then, 10 calves were already dead. We are glad the situation is being monitored, otherwise we were going to lose more cattle,” he said.

Meanwhile, farmers from the same area have appealed for help with dipping chemicals from Government as they cannot afford to buy for themselves.

One farmer, Mrs Ngonidzashe Zhou, said the situation had become dire as their livestock was being affected by tick-borne diseases.

“We are in dire situation. We are losing our cows, goats, sheep and donkeys to tick-borne-related diseases. We are asking the Government to help us because we can’t afford to buy dipping chemicals which are costly and some are sold in foreign currency,” she said.

Last year, the Government urged farmers to consider purchasing supplementary dipping chemicals for their livestock after the country was hit by a shortage of dipping chemicals.