Highland farmers process food to protect cattle from cold and prevent disease

Increase the quality of green food

Entering winter, in the highland areas, the cold climate with fog has a great impact on people's cultivation and livestock. Therefore, to proactively respond and help livestock survive the cold, farmers have proactively created a source of green, nutritious food.

In many communes in Con Cuong district such as Mon Son, Luc Da, Yen Khe, Chi Khe… one of the main sources of income for local people is raising native black pigs, buffaloes and cows. In Thai Hoa village, Mon Son commune, the way people improve the health of buffaloes, cows, pigs and chickens is to supplement them with pre-processed food.

Mr. Vi Van Hai in Thai Hoa village regularly maintains a herd of over 10 pigs and a flock of over 200 chickens. He said that for many years, despite the harsh winter, his family's livestock has rarely been affected by disease or cold, thanks to proactively providing adequate and nutritious food sources.

Around Mr. Hai's house, he grows a lot of elephant grass, bananas, cassava and corn to ferment animal feed. He grinds banana stems and elephant grass into small pieces, then puts them in a barrel with added rice bran or ground corn starch to ferment for rainy and cold days when cattle and buffalo cannot graze outdoors. As for the chickens, in addition to fully vaccinating them against epidemics, he uses rice, corn and green vegetable by-products to make poultry feed according to their age. The laying hens are supplemented with bran, fish and snails caught in the fields.

“When livestock are well fed and have enough nutrients, their resistance will also increase. Combined with covering and not letting them roam outdoors in the cold and rainy weather, this will help keep livestock from dying and limit disease transmission,” said Mr. Vi Van Hai.

In Met village, Luc Da commune, the application of fermenting green food to store food for cattle has helped many large-scale livestock households limit damage to livestock during the cold winter. For example, Mr. Vi Van Son's household has a farm with over a dozen 3B cows.

“With the 3B cows’ appetite being 2-3 times greater than normal cows, I have to grow elephant grass and silage it, and store more straw to help the cows survive the cold,” said Mr. Son. Observations show that Mr. Son’s family composts elephant grass in two ways: in large nylon tanks with a capacity of tens of cubic meters and in plastic barrels.

Accordingly, when it rains or is cold, the food in the plastic bins will be used first, then the amount of compost in the nylon tanks. The amount of elephant grass is grown in a rolling manner and fermented in turn in the tanks and containers so that the livestock have food all year round.

In Canh Khin village, Yen Hoa commune, Tuong Duong district, in addition to proactively providing food sources, the government recommends that people limit free grazing for their livestock and poultry. People's farms are often in high mountainous areas, far from residential areas, so letting cattle and buffalo roam free in cold weather can easily lead to death from cold and disease.

Mr. Mong Van Vien - Vice Chairman of Yen Hoa Commune People's Committee said that for many years, the commune has implemented a model of fattening cattle to limit free-range grazing and to increase the quality of livestock, maintaining stable meat output of about 250 tons/year. Yen Hoa Commune has a total herd of about 3,500 buffaloes and cows, of which more than 2,000 are cows. To serve fattening cattle, Yen Hoa people have planted 25 hectares of elephant grass, combined with growing bananas, corn and cassava in the direction of environmentally friendly farms and ranches, raising livestock by region and moving livestock facilities out of concentrated residential areas.

Proactively prevent epidemics

In addition to creating a source of green food with high nutritional content for livestock and poultry, people in the highland areas under the guidance of specialized officials also implement disease prevention measures. Currently, African swine fever is still smoldering and developing complicatedly, thousands of pigs in the localities have been infected and had to be destroyed.

During the Lunar New Year, livestock and poultry diseases will directly affect the supply for the New Year and the income of thousands of farming households. Therefore, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine regularly directs agricultural service centers, in coordination with localities, to deploy vaccination and control the spread of diseases in livestock.

In Tuong Duong district, African swine fever has caused damage to many communes with a total of more than 1,500 pigs having to be destroyed. The peak was in September-November 2024, when African swine fever occurred in some remote communes such as Nga My, Yen Na, Yen Tinh, Nhon Mai... However, by early December 2024, many communes had declared the epidemic areas, with only a few scattered villages still needing to be quarantined.

According to Mr. Kha Van Thu - Vice Chairman of Nga My Commune People's Committee: Along with the instructions of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the District Agricultural Service Center, the commune promptly deployed to households measures to isolate, prevent sources of infection, destroy infected pigs according to regulations and increase vaccination, so now the African swine fever outbreaks in Nga My commune have passed 21 days and have been declared free of the epidemic.

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According to the synthesis of the Provincial People's Committee, the total number of buffaloes and cows in the province is currently estimated at more than 796 thousand, an increase of 0.82% compared to 2023. Of which, the buffalo herd is estimated at over 248 thousand, the cow herd is estimated at over 544 thousand. The total pig herd is estimated at over 1 million, an increase of 3.38%; the poultry herd is estimated at 36.5 million, an increase of 5.36%. The total output of fresh meat for slaughter is estimated at 285 thousand tons, an increase of 4.28% compared to 2023.

According to the forecast of the North Central Hydrometeorological Station, from November 2024 to January 2025, many cold air waves are likely to be active and cause severe cold spells, accompanied by frost and ice, which can greatly impact agricultural production and the health of livestock.

The leaders of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine said that implementing Official Dispatch No. 5243/SNN-CNTY dated November 26, 2024 of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, sectors and localities are focusing on measures to prevent and fight hunger and cold to minimize damage to livestock.

In which, people are instructed to focus on using available natural food sources (green grass, silage or dry straw, urea-infused straw...) and provide at a rate equal to 10% of the animal's body weight; supplement with refined foods such as corn flour, cassava flour, rice bran... (about 0.5-1 kg/head/day). Provide enough drinking water for cattle every day when kept in barns on cold days; can supplement cattle with warm water mixed with salt at a rate of about 5g/100 kg of body weight to increase resistance.

At the same time, carry out regular vaccinations according to the instructions of the specialized agency. Carry out disinfection of barns; regularly monitor the health status of livestock to have effective measures to handle when livestock show abnormal signs due to hunger, cold or epidemic. When detecting diseases in livestock, it is necessary to immediately notify the veterinary agency and local authorities for timely handling measures.