Sheep and goat pox has so far killed 196 animals in Macedonia. Another 7,316 have been euthanised or culled - not because all of them were sick, but because that is what the containment measures require.

The ratio between those two numbers is the whole story. For every animal that died of the disease, there are almost 37 that the state killed to stop it.

Where the epicentre is

According to the Food and Veterinary Agency, the disease is currently confirmed at 63 outbreak sites across four regions. Depopulation has been carried out on 53 farms.

But the distribution is not even. The Eastern Region accounts for 50 of the 63 sites - 79.4 percent of them all. There, 7,216 susceptible animals were recorded, of which 160 tested positive for the disease, 156 died, and 4,815 were euthanised or culled under the measures.

The North-Eastern Region has seven sites, the Vardar Region five, and the Skopje Region - one.

What that means for the farmer

When the veterinary inspection confirms an outbreak site, the entire farm goes to depopulation. Not only the sick animals - the whole flock. For a family living off sheep, that is not a statistic in an agency report, it is the end of the business.

The numbers published by the agency say nothing about how many of those 53 farms have been compensated, within what deadline and at what price. That is the part usually missing from reports like this, and it is the only part a farmer reads.

Eastern Macedonia is the region already carrying 79 percent of all the outbreak sites. It is also the region that, pox or no pox, has the fewest people left to keep working there.