Restocking

restockIng

Restocking is a complex activity. Targeting, implementation and sustainability are key questions that arise again and again wherever restocking takes place. Too often, the push to replace livestock has resulted in hasty decisions being taken without due consideration to the types of animals that are required and the existing resources and knowledge of the people to whom they are to be given. FAO, in combination with other organizations, has published Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS).9 This tool, designed originally for natural disasters such as floods or droughts, provides helpful decision-support tools for the provision of livestock as part of the recovery process.

In general, and where possible, it is better to provide compensation for culled animals (and other items which may have been destroyed) rather than animals. This allows the livestockkeepers to choose the type and numbers of livestock they wish to buy, and, as importantly, control the timing. However, the disbursement of cash is open to mismanagement (i.e. corruption and theft). It is sometimes the case that the money is not paid to the primary caregiver and beneficiary of the livestock. For instance, poultry are usually the responsibility of women who may not control much of the family income. If compensation is paid to their husbands (which may be required by local custom), the women (and so also the children) may not have access to the compensation for restocking. Cash compensation is best paid when it can be given directly, with few or preferably no intervening levels of officials or others, from the source of the funds to the actual keeper/beneficiary of the livestock that have been culled.

Where direct payments, either in cash or, increasingly, bank transfers, are not possible, it may be preferred to give replacement livestock to the producers. However, the difficulties in this should not be underestimated. The keepers must be closely involved in selecting the type of animals and the source(s). They will want to be consulted about the timing of replacement. Some will want immediate replacements, others will want to delay. Incorporating these wishes in a government-run livestock purchasing programme can be difficult. Also, when governments buy livestock, they usually prefer to buy as many as possible at the same time from as few locations as possible. The sellers are aware of this and will use their control of supply to drive up prices and to use the opportunity to sell lower-quality animals.

Whether to supply stock or money to farmers who have had their livestock culled therefore depends on the local situation, but where possible it is almost always better to give the keepers money rather than livestock so that they have choice and flexibility.

Before any restocking, the premises must be free of the pathogen. This can be achieved through thorough cleansing and disinfection, often carried out twice. It may be required to keep susceptible sentinels for a given period (two or three incubation periods are recommended for the given pathogen) before restocking, to make sure there is no residual infection. Another approach is that the replacement animals should be vaccinated and immune prior to their introduction. This should be a definite, unconditional requirement when the farm has not been completely depopulated, which is often the case in developing countries where “modified stamping out”10 is applied.

9 Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards - http://www.livestock-emergency.net/ 10 Elimination only of clinically affected animals in the infected flock/herd/