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FMD record-keeping for South African farmers: a practical guide

A plain-English guide to keeping audit-ready foot-and-mouth records.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most serious threats to South African livestock farming — an outbreak can shut down movement and exports overnight. That's why farmers are expected to keep careful, traceable records of their FMD vaccinations. Good records protect your herd, keep you compliant, and mean you're never caught out when a state vet or a buyer asks for proof.

Why FMD records matter

Beyond keeping animals healthy, your records are what prove compliance. They're needed when you move or sell stock, when your herd is audited, and to show that vaccinations were done correctly and on time. Patchy records can hold up a sale or a movement permit at exactly the wrong moment.

What records you should keep

For each FMD vaccination, you generally want to capture:

• Which animals were vaccinated (by their ear-tag / identification numbers).
• The vaccine batch number — read off the bottle.
• The date of vaccination.
• The cold-chain (fridge) temperature the vaccine was kept at — FMD vaccine must stay cold (typically around 2–8 °C) to remain effective.
• The vaccine's expiry date.
• The authorised vet on record for the dose.

You'll also want your animal register, movements, and the dates each animal is next due — and records are generally expected to be kept for several years so they're available for audits.

The cold-chain bit that trips people up

FMD vaccine is only as good as its cold chain. If it gets too warm, it can stop working — and an animal you believe is protected may not be. That's why the fridge temperature at the time of use is part of the record, not an afterthought. Keeping a reliable log of it is one of the most overlooked parts of FMD compliance.

How to stay audit-ready

• Record vaccinations as you do them, not from memory afterwards.
• Capture the batch number, temperature, expiry and vet every time — these are the fields auditors look for.
• Keep an eye on which animals are due or overdue, so nothing slips.
• Make sure records are backed up and not just in a notebook that can be lost or damaged.

How KraalBook helps

KraalBook is built around exactly these requirements. When you record a vaccination, it prompts for the batch number, fridge temperature, expiry date and authorised vet — so your records are complete and audit-ready. Its FMD compliance view shows, at a glance, which cattle are up to date, due soon, or overdue (with a report broken down by camp), and it warns you before sending non-compliant animals to a sale. Everything is captured on the phone, even offline at the crush, and synced and backed up automatically. Learn more in the user guide.