Goat farm to be cleared after all

Monday 08 February 2010

A goat farm which won a reprieve from the government-ordered cull on Friday is to be cleared on Monday after more tests showed Q fever is present in some animals.

Judges halted Friday's planned slaughter of all pregnant goats after two different test results. But new tests do show Q fever is on the farm, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.

In total, some 40,000 animals are to be killed nationwide in an effort to get the spread of the disease under control. Vets began killing infected and pregnant goats towards the end of December.

The bacteria which leads to Q fever is released when infected sheep and goats have miscarriages and spreads easily.

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