Vast wildlife migration-disrupting fences are currently used to keep southern African cattle free from the foot and mouth disease (FMD) viruses harbored by wildlife, as international trade requires beef be free of FMD. A new proposed approach for processing beef so it cannot spread FMD would facilitate access to beef markets for small-scale farmers living with wildlife, as well as unlock the ecological and economic viability of the region’s vast transfrontier conservation areas by making disease control fencing unnecessary. If FMD management without fences proves feasible for beef trade, the implications for sustainable land use and livelihoods would be extraordinary.