Bridget Sibanda, Chronicle reporter
FARMERS have been urged to increase dipping frequencies for their livestock as the incessant rains that are pounding the country are likely to increase the risk of tick-borne diseases, a veterinary expert has said.

Above normal average rains have been received across the country giving breeding spaces for livestock parasites.
Matabeleland North provincial veterinary officer Dr Polex Moyo said:

“Farmers should be really serious about dipping, as we have seen that 60% of all the deaths that have happened on goats, cattle and sheep are mainly due to tick-borne diseases.”

He said farmers who conduct dipping themselves need to make sure that they do it properly.

Dr Moyo urged farmers to shelter their goats so that they don’t contract the foot rot disease.

“Goats are susceptible to something known as the foot rot. If they stand in water goats and sheep are prone to foot rot,” he said.

The rotting is aggressive and inflammatory and to avoid the cases of foot rot on goats, farmers are advised to put roofs on the shelters of the goats in order to keep the shelters dry.

Apart from sheltering the goats, Dr Moyo said farmers should dip the feet of the goats using copper sulphate to protect them from the disease.

“There is something called a foot-bath. They make the goats stand in copper sulphate solution to prevent them from rotting,” he said, emphasising that people should take the issue of the tick-borne diseases seriously this season.