Prolonged heat in Nghe An causes serious shortage of animal feed
(Baonghean) - The prolonged heat in recent times has not only affected people's lives, but also caused many areas of corn, grass... in some localities in Nghe An to dry out. That has led to a serious shortage of fresh food for grazing livestock, especially for farms and beef cattle farms.
Severe shortage of animal feed
Nghe An currently has about 800,000 cattle. The problem of cattle feed is alarming when the heat continues.
The prolonged heat and severe drought in Anh Son district have affected livestock production. Many areas in the district have experienced dry fields and burnt grass, leading to insufficient natural food for livestock. Although livestock farmers have applied the solution of fermenting stored food for buffaloes and cows, there is still a risk of shortage if the hot weather continues.
The family of Ms. Tran Thi Ngan in Hamlet 5, Dinh Son Commune (Anh Son) has been raising fattened cows for nearly ten years. Each batch, her family raises 10-12 cows, after 3-4 months the fattened cows can be sold. After deducting expenses, the profit is approximately 100 million VND/year.
The main food for the herd is 5 sao of grass grown by the family and fresh corn. Currently, the family is very worried because for nearly 2 months, the dry weather has caused the family's grass to gradually dry up, warning that there will not be enough food for the buffalo and cows to eat. The family will have to sell the herd of cows to preserve capital.
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| Many areas in Anh Son district have experienced dry fields and burnt grass, leading to insufficient natural food for livestock. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
For the family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Toan in village 1/5, Cam Son commune (Anh Son), for more than a month now there has been no fresh food for the family's herd of 3 cows, so to sustain the herd, she feeds them corn bran and rice every day.
However, this solution is only applicable to households raising small numbers of animals. If raising large numbers, it is difficult to apply for a long time, because the cost of buying corn bran, rice bran, etc. is high.
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| Many areas warn of a lack of grass for buffalo herds. Photo: Tran Chau |
For households raising livestock on farms, they have the solution of storing silage with corn stalks, but with such a long drought, it is also worrying. Mr. Nguyen Cong Trung in Lat town (Tan Ky) invested in raising 60 buffaloes and beef cattle of foreign breeds, but is currently in a very miserable situation because the source of feed for the livestock is no longer available and it is too expensive to buy.
The family planted 3.5 hectares of elephant grass. The heat wave of the past month has dried up the entire area of grass, and they dare not cut it. After the recent rain, the grass has turned green again, but they still dare not cut much because they are afraid that the weather will continue to be hot, and it will die. Replanting will be very costly in terms of land preparation, seeds, etc.
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| Many areas of elephant grass used for animal feed have dried up during the prolonged heat wave. Photo: Xuan Hoang |
However, because Mr. Trung had previously invested in buying fresh corn, chopped it into small pieces for silage with a volume of 100m3, so now there is a source of supplementary food for the herd. However, because the amount of food needed each day is up to 3 tons, Mr. Trung balances each day cutting about 1 ton of fresh grass, along with 2 tons of silage, so the herd is still growing well. If the hot weather continues for about 15 more days, the reserve food will be used up, and with the dry grassland, the only way left is to sell the herd.
What is the solution?
Normally, from May to July every year, the locality enters the dry season, prolonged hot weather often leads to a lack of food and water for livestock, but livestock farmers are still subjective, not proactively planting grass to store food, digging ponds to store water for livestock, so when drought occurs, they cannot respond in time.
Not only on farms and ranches, many other small-scale livestock households with smaller herds in mountainous districts are also restless due to the scarcity of food, and it is not easy to buy supplementary food for buffaloes and cows.
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| Feeding cows extra corn bran and rice every day is the solution of many farmers to cope with the drought situation. Photo: Thai Hien |
Tan Ky district currently has 15 farms and ranches raising foreign-bred fattened cattle, not to mention hundreds of mixed farms raising cattle. At this time, the price of live cattle is on the rise, so farmers are excited. But according to the data of the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tan Ky has 1,500 hectares of summer corn, of which 1,300 hectares are burnt and 300 hectares of 1,000 hectares of grass are withered, due to the heat.
The leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: The best solution now is for farmers to process silage for cattle and buffaloes in addition to buying additional compound feed.
Meanwhile, according to the forecast of the Central Hydrometeorological Center, the weather will continue to be hot in July, so the risk of shortage of drinking water and roughage for livestock will still occur.
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