Giannis Papastergiou's animal farm is quiet now.Last year, he found signs of sheep and goat pox among his flock. Months later, every animal was gone."There are people who have one dog and would die for that animal. Now just imagine having that many animals," Papastergiou told Business Insider in April. Papastergiou is one of thousands of Greek farmers hit by an outbreak of sheep and goat pox that is threatening the milk supply chain behind one of the country's most valuable foods: feta.Wherever the highly-contagious disease appears, Greek authorities require farmers to slaughter entire herds — including healthy animals. A single infected sheep or goat could doom hundreds more.
A sheep farm that had not been infected during our visit in April.
Business Insider
To contain the disease, the government also barred sheep from grazing freely outside, forcing farmers to buy commercial feed."There are hundreds of thousands of euros' worth of feed stored here without any answer [from the government]," Papastergiou said.The Greek government promised farmers compensation for feed and culled animals, but those like Papastergiou have faced long delays in receiving those payments.
Papastergiou's feed is sitting unused at his farm.
