TAU SA is shocked after the announcement that livestock auctions in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West have been suspended until further notification by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. This announcement follows after the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the Molemole district of Limpopo.
“This is a big blow to the livestock and game farmers in the country, who are already being forced to their knees by the drought,” says Mr. Henk van de Graaf, the regional chairman of TAU SA Norht. “The sale of herds was the only remaining solution for farmers who no longer have food for their animals and now this way of escape is also removed.”
TAU SA realizes that serious action must now be taken to prevent the highly contagious disease but they do not believe that suspending auctions will solve the problem. Rather, the government must ensure that the measures originally put in place must be strictly adhered to an
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