A good rainy season should be perceived as starting at the anticipated time.

It should be well-distributed throughout the season, and ultimately rehydrates the soil, refills water sources and revegetates the rangeland.  However, recent rainfall activities have been conspicuously erratic. 

Their effects are a huge concern to farmers.

Although rainfall brings relief to farmers, it is also associated with several adverse conditions that affect the farm environment, livestock and crops. 

The conditions include lightning strikes, floods, mud traps as well as pests and disease outbreaks.  These conditions pose a significant threat to livestock health, nutrition and general well-being, consequently compromising their productive performance and survival. 

Therefore, farmers need to be wary of rainfall-induced threats, and find means of mitigating the consequences. The occurrence of pests has been a common threat in Namibia. 

For example, the outbreak of armyworms in recent years in the northern regions.

In addition, the outbreak of locusts in the southern regions had devastating impacts on productivity and livelihoods. 

Crop farmers lost their yields to worms, and livestock farmers in the south lost
grazable materials (grass) to locusts.

Common diseases

Moreover, livestock diseases during rainfall are highly prevalent.  The common ones that farmers should look out for include footrot, sweating sickness, gall sickness and lumpy skin disease.  Footrot is a bacterial infection of the hoof, characterised by lameness and a smelly wound on the hoof.  The predisposing factors include dampness or wet soils. 

Footrot can be prevented by keeping animals out of damp kraals or surfaces. 

The treatments include cleaning and disinfecting the wound, use of footbaths (e.g. copper sulphate solution) at kraals, and injection with common antibiotics (e.g. Disulfox, Terramycin, etc.) when necessary.

Furthermore, with the prevailing moist environment, the tick population is on the rise.

 Thus, the prevalence of tick-borne diseases, such as sweating sickness and gall sickness, should be expected. 

Sweating sickness mainly affects young calves. 

The symptoms include hyperthermia (high body temperature), anorexia (loss of appetite), sweating, hair loss, sensitivity and pain.  Gall sickness (Anaplasmosis) is characterised by fever and anaemia (loss of blood). 

It is important to note that these diseases are deadly if not treated in time. 

Moreover, they can be prevented by controlling tick infestations by applying common anti-parasitic remedies on animals such as Deadline, Eliminate and Delta-pour along the backline of the animal.

Others include dipping remedies that should be mixed with water, and submerged or sprayed on the animals. 

In addition, humans are at risk of tick bites, as some ticks carry the Congo Fever virus. 

Congo Fever is a deadly viral disease that can be transmitted to humans through a bite by a tick carrying the virus. 

There have been cases of Congo Fever infections reported in the country in recent years. 

Precautions 

Every person on the farm or handling animals should always take precautionary measures, and seek immediate assistance from health professionals for tick bites.

Another disease that has gained prevalence during the rainy season in the country is Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD). 

Outbreaks have already occurred in parts of the Otjozondjupa and Omaheke regions. 

LSD is a viral disease affecting cattle, transmitted by biting insects such as flies, ticks and mosquitoes. 

The predisposing factor is a wet environment that influences the proliferation of insect populations. 

Animals are vulnerable, as they are found loafing around water holes or ponds. 

Such areas are the breeding grounds for insects such as mosquitoes and flies. 

LSD is preventable with an annual vaccine that is readily available at veterinary medicine shops.  It is advisable to incorporate LSD vaccination into the farm’s health programme. 

Conventionally, the best time to vaccinate would be before or at the onset of the rainy season (September-November), given the different conditions in diverse farming areas. 

An outbreak of this disease negatively affects the farming economy, as quarantine measures are applied, for example, restricting cattle movement and marketing.

Farmers should keep their farming environments clean and safe for themselves and their animals.

Farmers should furthermore always observe and report abnormal livestock conditions or behaviours to the nearest veterinary office or livestock health experts.

Lastly, farmers should note that each rainfall season is unique in terms of commencement, distribution, intensity and associated risks.

 Thus, they need to adopt appropriate management strategies to circumvent
possible adverse conditions.

*Erastus Ngaruka is Agribank’s technical advisor on livestock and rangeland.