The next threat to Australia’s beef industry is closer than ever

First it was Foot and Mouth Disease but now lumpy skin disease is making Bali seem a little too close for the beef industry.

Bali could become a disease hotspot worry for Australia again as Lumpy Skin Disease edges towards the Indonesian island.

The threat of LSD to the Australian beef industry slipped into the background last year as Foot and Mouth Disease attracted government action and media attention.

Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease of cattle and buffalo that causes relatively low mortality; however, the disease can result in animal welfare issues and significant production losses.

If it was found in Australia, the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry said it would “impact our domestic and international trade as Australia would no longer be recognised as being free from LSD”.

South East Asia Beef report author and Indonesian-based veterinary surgeon Dr Ross Ainsworth said LSD had started to spread throughout southern Sumatra and Java “with numerous reports of clinical cases in the Malang area in the far east of Java island”.

“Malang is less than 200km from the island of Bali as the crow flies or, in this case, as the insect flies,” Dr Ainsworth said.

“Some local observers suggest that the rapid spread through Java is more likely to be due to illegal animal movements on trucks rather than through insect transmission.”

“This now means that the cattle in Bali will be under threat in the coming months of the monsoon season when the prevailing winds will be blowing almost directly from Java to Bali.”

Dr Ainsworth said no live cattle were permitted to enter Bali from any other location, including Java so, any LSD infection in Bali was more likely to be through insect transmission or physical transfer of infected material.

In early December, official government figures showed there almost 11,500 cases of LSD across six provinces, but Dr Ainsworth said this was “probably an extremely conservative estimate”.

“The focus now for me and, in my opinion, Australia is LSD as it is slowly moving eastwards,” he said.

“As far as I am aware, it is not in Bali yet but (it) will be soon.”