The first livestock farm hit by foot-and-mouth disease began its return to production today, with 28 sentinel lambs placed on a priest’s farm in Pachna. On the same day, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Christos Senekis presented the House Agriculture Committee with a roadmap for restarting every affected farm, area by area.
Limassol and Larnaca reopening runs to January 2027
The reopening period for farms in Limassol and Larnaca begins today and ends at the end of January 2027. A number of outstanding issues must be settled first, including the destruction of animal feed, cleaning, and the movement of Cypriot breed animals. After the disease was confirmed, it was decided that these animals would not be culled.
For Nicosia, the timing will be set depending on laboratory results that are still pending for some farms.
How the Pachna test works
The Pachna farm is the first unit to enter the restocking process after a foot-and-mouth outbreak. Sentinel animals are placed on a farm to check whether the disease is still present.
New samples are expected to be taken from the animals in about 21 to 30 days to confirm whether they are free of the disease. If the results are negative, restocking can continue and production can gradually resume. If the disease is detected, the animals will be culled in line with the established protocols.
Restart timetable by area
These are the expected restart dates the minister gave for each area:
- Kiti (1 farm): first half of November
- Oroklini (10 farms): 24 November
- Livadia (22 farms): late November to early December
- Athienou (9 farms): first half of December, because animal feed will be destroyed and cleaning carried out at 3 farms
- Dromolaxia (37 farms): second half of December
- Pentakomo (1 farm): end of December
- Avgorou (1 farm): end of January 2027
Areas still without a date
Several areas do not yet have a restart date:
- Troulloi (1 farm): the restart depends on the farms in Oroklini
- Alethriko (1 farm): culling is still pending, so the restart will be set according to the culling date
- Aradippou (4 farms): no timing has been set
- Geri (26 farms), Dali (2), Paliometocho (6), Kokkinotrimithia (2) and Mammari (2): the restart will be set according to pending results from farms in these areas
Last effort to save rare fat-tailed sheep
In Dromolaxia, the area with the most affected farms, the fat-tailed sheep of one farm have still to be moved. This is a rare Cypriot breed. Mr Senekis said a final effort is being made.
