Read the latest information on
Foot-and-mouth disease
July 2021 marks five years since the transition from national regulation of Johne’s disease (JD) in cattle to producer management of the disease. JD was previously regulated in all states and territories in Australia, meaning that beef herds that had a case of JD were put into quarantine and would need to undergo a disease management plan to eradicate the disease before being able to sell cattle freely again.
With many sheep producing regions across Australia receiving rainfall through January to March, Animal Health Australia (AHA) is reminding producers to be vigilant about virulent footrot. Virulent footrot spreads and expresses in the warm and moist conditions which are prevalent in many regions right now.
All livestock producers will be familiar with managing parasites. Monitoring, preventing spread and treatment are routine practices on many farms. Rightly so, too, as parasite burdens slow the growth of animals, negatively impact their health and welfare, and reduce productivity.
Many important crop pests and diseases such as rusts, viruses, slugs, snails, mites and aphids survive in the green bridge and affect emerging crops.
You can minimise the biosecurity risks when introducing new planting material by implementing a few simple procedures to your routine.
If you sometimes feel like you are drowning in paperwork, be reassured that keeping records is a genuinely useful biosecurity practice. If you ever find yourself caught up in a pest or disease incursion, the records you keep will be invaluable both to you and other producers in your industry.
Serpentine leafminer (Liriomyza huidobrensis) is a new pest to arrive in Australia, first reported in NSW in Greater Sydney in October 2020, and then also in the Fassifern Valley Queensland. Research shows this pest is that it is resistant to the chemical treatments used to control other leafminers. Therefore, an integrated pest management (IPM) regime is important to control the pest.
