THE Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, in association with the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, will hold an information session at Bothwell to help farmers better understand the use of specific footrot vaccines (SFVs). Footrot is an infectious disease that can affect sheep, cattle and goats. There is a range of strains throughout Australia but it is most prevalent in medium to high rainfall areas. The bacteria can survive indefinitely in pockets of infection inside the feet of infected animals, even under dry conditions.
The Bothwell talk and another at Campbell Town will explain how the use of SFVs fits in an overall program of footrot eradication and control. The speakers include Tasmanian specialist Dr Paul Nilon and Dr Om Dhungyel, a research fellow in the faculty of veterinary science at the University of Sydney. He worked on an Australian-funded project on footrot in sheep and goats in Nepal and developed a DNA footrot vaccine that was used to control and eradicate endemic footrot in that country. He has worked on similar projects in Bhutan, India, China and Malaysia and is now a leading researcher in this field in Australia.
The information session will be held at the Bothwell Town Hall on Wednesday, August 29, from 6.30- 9pm.
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