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Flooding impacts on Southland

With swollen rivers still rising in some areas, DairyNZ reports that more than 100 dairy farms in Southland and South Otago are being severely impacted by the extensive flooding in the region. While the scale of damage is unknown at this time, these farms are either under water or cut off, with access roads flood ed, DairyNZ’s South Island manager, Tony Finch said. “ We’re in phone contact with many of the farmers. It’s a dire situation for many right now. Their key focus is to get their people and their animals to safe ty. “ Farmers and their teams are moving their cows to higher ground where they can, and we know of some who have been able to relocate their herd to their neighbour’s farm out of the danger zone.”

Dairy farms in the South land-South Otago, Oreti, Aparima and Clutha river catchments ar e the most severely impacted by the flooding, and many areas are now also without power.

Dairy companies were unable to get tankers in to collect milk as access to the farms is cut off. As a result, many farmers will need to dispose of the uncollected milk.

“Added to this, the flooding has impacted effluent management systems on many of the farms, so farmers now also face the chal Left –Severe flooding is set to have a serious impact on farming in parts of Southland. PHOTO NZME

lenge of how to dispose of this in the best way ,” Finch said. Farmers in the affected regions are working together to accommodate animals on any dry land ther e is. “We’re also talking with farmers where the milk tankers can r each them, and many are sharing their milking sheds with neighbours who ’re flooded,” Finch said.

As well as farmers helping each other, Finch said impacted farmers could also contact DairyNZ for help and advice . “Adverse events like flooding create a lot of stress. I urge any farmers or farm team members who need support to give us a call, or contact the Rural Sup port Trust. Any farmers needing advice on managing effluent should get in touch with their local councils.” D airyNZ said it will continue to monitor the situation to assess the information and support farmers as required.

Rushed vaccines could make African Swine fever worse

An epidemic of African swine fever (ASF), which has devastated pig farming in Asia, is currently spreading into Europe and could soon become a threat to the global pig population, could get worse if a vaccine is rushed, researchers have said.

In spite of the imminent need, vaccination efforts for ASF have proven unfruitful thus far.

In a perspective, Dolores Gavier-Widén and colleagues argued that in the rush to develop and deploy an effective ASF vaccine, quick solutions may instead make matters worse.

“The race to develop an ASF vaccine may overshadow comprehensive efficacy and safety testing, thus potentially investing in the wrong vaccine development strategy and in unnecessary use of animals for experiments,” the authors wrote.

ASF is a highly contagious and deadly viral disease affecting both domestic and wild pigs.

In 2018, an outbreak in Asia was responsible for the death or destruction of nearly 5 million pigs within a single year – or roughly 40 per cent of the Chinese pig herd – significantly impacting global food markets.

Although there has been some success in using high-containment facilities to control infected swine, the natural movements of infected wild boar populations make efforts to contain the spread of the virus challenging.

Similarly, the development of a successful vaccine for the African swine fever virus (ASFV) has proven difficult.

According to Gavier-Widén et al, the most promising ASF vaccine results have come in the form of live attenuated vaccines (LAVs), which are naturally occurring genetically modified strains of the virus that trigger immunity with reduced virulence.

This form of vaccine could be used in bait for wild boar and administered to farmed animals.

However, previous LAV failures have instead caused ASF-like disease, and even spread the virulent form of the virus further, highlighting essential safety concerns that must be evaluated during vaccine testing and addressed before any solution is deployed.

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