News livestock farming
FMD continues to spread in Slovakia
In Slovakia, another farm has been infected with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). This was confirmed by the country's veterinary authorities and the farm's owner, the Danish FirstFarms.
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Choose the subscription that suits youThe new contamination is particularly worrying news because the company, with almost 3.500 cattle, is part of a chain of cattle and pig farms in Slovakia. FirstFarms has three more satellite farms with even more cattle in the vicinity of the infected farm in Plavecký Štvrtok (about 30 kilometres northwest of Bratislava), in Malacky, Stupava and Suchohrad.
However, people in Slovakia seem to be less concerned about these farms than about a pig farm of the same Danish group in Gabčíkovo. There are 2.300 breeding sows on that farm, whose piglets are transported throughout Slovakia. In addition, the farm in Gabčíkovo is close to the previous outbreaks in both Hungary and Slovakia. The company also has three satellite locations in Slovakia. In addition, FirstFarms has pig farms in Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The FMD outbreak that is currently raging in Slovakia and Hungary is atypical according to experts, in that not all animals on the infected farms were affected, but that a considerable number also simply tested negative for the virus. This does not alter the fact that all animals on the farms in question are being culled. The veterinary authorities in Slovakia, in consultation with the EU, have also decided to maintain a larger surveillance zone, partly because of the atypical symptoms.