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Foot-and-mouth disease in cattle and buffalo: 5 myths checked

FMD rarely kills adult cattle or buffalo, but it costs weight, calves and sales. Five beliefs checked against WOAH and Thai DLD sources, with what to do.

Beginner9 min read

On this page
  1. Myth 1: "FMD is a dairy problem, not a buffalo or beef problem"
  2. Myth 2: "My animals were vaccinated once, so they are protected"
  3. Myth 3: "If I report a sick animal, I'll only get trouble"
  4. Myth 4: "A new animal from the market is safe if it looks healthy"
  5. Myth 5: "Disinfection is for big commercial farms"
  6. A note on what FMD is not
  7. Summary

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD, โรคปากและเท้าเปื่อย) has an odd reputation among farmers. Most people know the name, many have seen a drooling, limping animal, and a lot of those animals got better. The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) puts adult deaths at only 1 to 5 percent. So it is easy to conclude that FMD is a nuisance, not a danger.

That conclusion is where the trouble starts. The same WOAH page calls FMD "a severe, highly contagious viral disease" with a significant economic impact: it cuts production and disrupts the trade in animals and animal products. For a small beef or buffalo farm, the cost is mostly not dead animals. It is thin animals, calves you lose, sales you can't make, and movement controls that stop the whole area from trading.

This post takes five things people often say about FMD and checks each one against trusted sources. Each section starts with the belief, then gives the evidence, then says what you can do.

Myth 1: "FMD is a dairy problem, not a buffalo or beef problem"

It is true that many FMD news stories in Thailand are about dairy farms. Dairy herds are milked twice a day, so a drop in milk shows up fast, and dairy areas are crowded. But the virus doesn't care what the animal is used for.

The fact: WOAH lists the animals FMD affects as cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed ruminants. Buffalo are cloven-hoofed too. A study of Thailand's FMD control programme from 2008 to 2015, published in Veterinary Sciences, looked at the 140 outbreaks officially reported in eight northern provinces. Among them were outbreaks on six buffalo premises and 22 premises with both cattle and buffalo, alongside 101 on cattle premises. Thailand's free vaccination today covers cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats, not only dairy cows.

A herd of swamp buffalo walking through shallow water
Photo: Farmeral Technology

The low death rate also hides something important. WOAH notes that deaths are much higher in young animals: 20 percent or more in calves, lambs and piglets. In adults the usual picture is fever, blisters on the tongue, lips, teats and between the hooves, lameness, drooling, not wanting to eat or move, and weight loss. For a beef or buffalo farm that sells by weight, a few weeks of an animal not eating is real money.

Signs to look for

From the WOAH disease page:

  • fever, and an animal that is dull and off its feed;
  • blisters (vesicles) on the tongue, lips and mouth, on the teats, and between the hooves;
  • a lot of drooling;
  • limping, or not wanting to stand or walk;
  • weight loss, slower growth and a drop in milk, which can leave nursing young short of milk.

WOAH gives the incubation period as 2 to 14 days, so an animal can look normal for days after it caught the virus.

Close-up of a broken blister inside a cow's mouth caused by foot-and-mouth disease
Photo: USDA (public domain), Wikimedia Commons

Myth 2: "My animals were vaccinated once, so they are protected"

This one is understandable. Many vaccines in people last for years, so why not this one?

The fact: FMD vaccines give short protection, and only against the right virus type. WOAH explains that there are seven serotypes of the FMD virus (O, A, C, SAT1, SAT2, SAT3 and Asia1), and that each serotype needs its own vaccine. A training presentation published by WOAH's regional office describes today's FMD vaccines as giving "short lived protection", with a duration of immunity of about 4 to 6 months, and notes that animals usually develop some protection 7 to 8 days after the shot. The same presentation says a well-matched vaccine normally prevents the signs of disease but does not necessarily prevent infection.

That is why Thailand vaccinates in rounds, every year. The 2018 study says that under the 2008–2015 national strategic plan, routine FMD vaccination was free: three times a year for dairy cattle and twice a year for beef cattle and buffalo. In January 2020 a DLD deputy director-general gave the same schedule: twice a year for cattle in general and three times for dairy cows, free of charge. You can see the rounds in practice too: on 2 December 2019, the Department of Livestock Development (DLD, กรมปศุสัตว์) kicked off round 1 of its fiscal year 2020 (B.E. 2563) FMD vaccination campaign in Lopburi province. DLD's policy for that round covered vaccination against FMD and haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS, โรคคอบวม) and disinfection of high-risk areas, with every area starting its campaign during November and December 2019.

Two rounds a year: protection rises after each round, then drains, so the rounds keep coming back.

The results of keeping at it are visible. In its July 2026 report to the regional FMD campaign (SEACFMD), DLD said there was no reported case of FMD in Thailand in 2025 and 2026 (up to June), and listed fully government-supported free vaccines among its main activities. The same report names "maintaining high vaccination coverage" as a continuing challenge, so a quiet year is a reason to keep going, not to stop.

What to do: bring every animal for every round, including calves and animals you bought since the last round. Ask your district livestock office (ปศุสัตว์อำเภอ) when the next round is; the 2019 campaign news said farmers can request vaccination from their nearest provincial or district livestock office.

Myth 3: "If I report a sick animal, I'll only get trouble"

Some farmers worry that a report means officials at the gate, a ban on selling, and neighbours who blame them. So they wait, treat the animal themselves, and hope it passes.

The fact: waiting is what turns one sick farm into a sick district. In January 2020, when FMD broke out among dairy cattle in Muak Lek district, Saraburi, a DLD deputy director-general said that farmers not reporting, or reporting late, had delayed control and let the disease spread widely. In that preliminary count, 108 farmers had reported the disease, and 5,654 dairy cows in their herds had been sick, 897 of them still under treatment.

DLD asks farmers to report quickly. During the 2019 campaign it asked farmers who find sick or suspected FMD dairy cattle to tell DLD officials within 12 hours. The same campaign listed the reporting channels: the provincial or district livestock office, the DLD hotline 063-225-6888, or the "report an epidemic" menu in the DLD 4.0 app. DLD was still giving the same hotline and the DLD 4.0 app as 24-hour channels for reporting sick or dead animals in May 2025. DLD4.0 is DLD's own app, and lets users report incidents, ask for help and follow the status of their report.

Reporting also helps the whole country stay able to trade. In its 2026 report DLD stressed that active participation from livestock producers in vaccination, biosecurity, disease reporting and following the movement rules is essential, and listed "strengthening passive surveillance and early detection" as a priority. Passive surveillance means, in plain words, farmers and local staff noticing sick animals and telling someone.

If an animal drools, limps and won't eat, call your livestock office or use the DLD 4.0 app first, and keep the herd at home until someone has looked.

Myth 4: "A new animal from the market is safe if it looks healthy"

A well-fed young bull, bright eyes, no limp. What could go wrong?

The fact: an animal can carry FMD before it shows anything. Remember the 2 to 14 day incubation period. WOAH also notes that animals that have recovered can sometimes carry the virus and cause new outbreaks. In the Thai programme study, animal movement was linked to 36 of 140 outbreaks (25.71 percent) in the north, and DLD's 2026 report names informal and cross-border livestock movement as an ongoing risk of bringing FMD in.

Young beef cattle standing in a green pasture next to a fence
Photo: Farmeral Technology

Two habits help most:

  1. Keep newcomers apart first. DLD's 2019 advice was that cattle or buffalo brought onto a farm should be kept apart for at least 7 days and watched for signs before joining the herd, and that farms in an outbreak area should not bring in new animals while the outbreak lasts. Use a separate pen with its own feed and water trough, and handle these animals last in the day.
  2. Check the movement paper. Animal movement in Thailand is controlled under the Animal Epidemics Act B.E. 2558 (2015). A DLD presentation hosted by WOAH explains that for live animals the farmer applies with a form, the provincial or district livestock officer or an animal quarantine station issues a movement document, and DLD's e-Movement system shows its expiry: a domestic movement document is valid for 48 hours after it is issued. An animal that arrives without papers, or with old ones, is an animal whose history nobody can check.
The movement paper is checked, the newcomer waits seven days in her own pen with her own water, then joins the herd.

Myth 5: "Disinfection is for big commercial farms"

Footbaths and spray arches look like something for a large company farm with a gatehouse. On a farm with ten buffalo behind the house, it can feel silly.

The fact: the virus travels on more than animals. WOAH lists clothing, footwear, equipment, pens, buildings and transport vehicles as ways FMD spreads, along with contaminated feed, hay and water, and raw or undercooked meat. Infected animals also breathe the virus out. Among farm-level measures, WOAH recommends regular cleaning and disinfection of livestock pens, buildings, vehicles and equipment. DLD's own campaign included disinfection of high-risk areas, and its advice to dairy farmers listed simple steps that cost little:

  • keep outsiders off the farm, and anyone who must come in changes into boots used only on the farm;
  • keep vehicles such as livestock buyers' trucks, feed trucks and manure trucks out of the farm, and disinfect any that must come in;
  • clean and disinfect milk cans and other equipment before they come onto the farm;
  • choose forage from sources you can trust to be free of FMD.

Explaining why the Muak Lek outbreak spread, DLD noted that most farms had no standard system to keep disease out and did not use disinfectant spraying. A footbath at the gate and a set of farm-only boots are small habits, but they block the routes WOAH describes.

The truck stays outside the gate; the visitor changes into farm-only boots and walks through the footbath.

A note on what FMD is not

FMD is not a human health problem. WOAH says it is not readily transmissible to humans and not a public health risk. The reasons to take it seriously are your animals' weight and growth, your calves, and your ability to sell and move animals, not your family's health.

Summary

Myth Fact What to do
FMD is a dairy problem It infects cattle, buffalo and other cloven-hoofed animals; young animals die more often Watch buffalo and beef herds for drooling, blisters and limping
One shot protects for good Protection is short and matches only certain virus types; Thailand vaccinates in rounds every year Bring every animal to every round, including calves and new arrivals
Reporting brings trouble Late reporting let an outbreak spread; DLD asks for quick reports Call the livestock office, hotline 063-225-6888, or use the DLD 4.0 app
A healthy-looking newcomer is safe Animals can carry the virus before signs show; movement is linked to outbreaks Keep newcomers apart at least 7 days and check the movement document
Disinfection is for big farms The virus travels on boots, vehicles, equipment and feed Farm-only boots, keep trucks out, clean and disinfect equipment before it comes in

None of this is complicated. It is a short list of habits, repeated every season, that keeps one sick animal from becoming a closed market.

Sources

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