Preventing hunger and cold for livestock: Urgent task

(Baonghean) -The cold air has returned and right now, the work of preventing hunger, cold and disease for livestock and poultry needs to be carefully implemented by functional agencies, local authorities and people.

Mr. Lo Van Hoa's family, Quang Phuc village, Tam Dinh commune (Tuong Duong) lights a fire to warm the buffalo. Photo: PB

In 2013, thanks to good disease prevention and control work, strictly implementing the regular vaccination schedule for livestock and poultry, there were no epidemics in Nam Tan commune, creating conditions for people to confidently invest in fattening cows, bringing in quite high economic efficiency. On average, each household raised 2-5 cows, earning 10-20 million VND/year. To proactively respond to the cold season, the commune has implemented many prevention and control measures to ensure the safety of livestock in the area. This winter, the commune has dedicated nearly 20 hectares of winter crop production to growing grass and planting thick corn, to proactively provide food to prevent hunger and cold for buffalo and cow herds. The commune has directed the radio station and hamlets to continuously propagate on the commune's loudspeaker system to guide people to strengthen measures to prevent hunger and cold for buffaloes and cows, repair barns, ensure the barn floor is dry, clean and airy, not wet or leaky, and spray disinfectants to prevent disease from entering the barn. People are advised not to let buffaloes and cows roam freely on days when the temperature drops below 150C, and to reserve enough hay and straw to ensure enough food for livestock.

In Nghi Loc, every year, before winter, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tan's family in Hamlet 8, Nghi Lam Commune always proactively prepares conditions and measures to ensure that the herd of cows is not affected by the cold weather. Along with taking advantage of agricultural waste and by-products, Mr. Tan grows 2 more sao of corn with high density as a source of supplementary food for the herd of cows. At the same time, his family also proactively builds a barn with a solid roof to protect against sun and rain, and the walls are fenced to keep out the wind. Mr. Tan said: "The herd of cows is a large asset for us farmers, so the family always proactively stores food from the beginning of the cold season. My family often collects agricultural by-products such as corn stalks, straw, bananas, and cassava to process into reserve food, so my family's livestock always develops stably."

Currently, the total herd of buffalo and cows in Nghi Loc district is 34,000, 58,000 pigs and tens of thousands of poultry. Right from the beginning of this year's cold season, the district's Department of Agriculture has sent officials to communes, even to each household to urge and inspect the work of preventing hunger and cold for buffalo and cows. In addition, officials have directly instructed and encouraged households to regularly check barns, use packaging, tarpaulins and other materials for cover; and reserve fuel to warm livestock when the temperature drops.

In Quang Phuc village, Tam Dinh commune (Tuong Duong), in the late afternoon, the buffalo and cow pens of all the people have been covered quite carefully. Mr. Lo Van Hoa is lighting a fire to warm the buffalo, confiding: "In 2010, my family had 2 cows that froze to death in the forest, now I'm very scared, when the weather turns cold, I have to go into the forest to bring the buffaloes back to the pen immediately". According to Mr. Hoa, we have to use large firewood to keep warm all night, because at night the temperature drops very cold. However, there are still many households who are subjective, even though it's cold, they still take the buffaloes out to the fields to graze. Ms. La Thi Lien, Head of Hamlet 4 (under Quang Phuc village) said: The village has over 300 cows, currently we have coordinated with commune officials to propagate and call on people to bring buffaloes and cows back to the village to keep in the pen to prevent the cold. Up to this point, only over 70% of households have brought buffaloes and cows back to the pen, the remaining households that raise large-scale farms in the forest have not been able to herd them back.

Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Agriculture Department of Tuong Duong district said: The whole district of Tuong Duong has 31,000 buffaloes and cows, currently the number of buffaloes and cows in barns is only over 60%. Due to the habit of people letting them roam freely in the forest, it is very difficult to herd them back due to lack of barns. On December 10, 2013, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district issued Official Dispatch No. 739-UBND to deploy measures to prevent and fight hunger and cold for buffaloes and cows. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development directed the Veterinary Station, advising the Steering Committee for prevention and control of livestock and poultry diseases in the district to inspect the implementation of hunger, cold and disease prevention and control work of units, promptly report to the Chairman of the District People's Committee to strictly handle collectives and individuals who do not properly implement the contents of this Official Dispatch. The Veterinary Station assigns staff to coordinate with the authorities of communes and towns to guide agricultural and veterinary staff of communes and towns on measures to prevent and combat cold and epidemics for livestock and poultry, and to prepare enough vaccines and supplies to be ready to respond when an epidemic occurs. Assigns instructions to agricultural staff, veterinary staff, 30a staff, village management boards and members of the steering committee for prevention and combat of hunger, cold and epidemics for livestock and poultry of communes and towns to closely follow the area, to inform and propagate to households about prevention and combat of hunger and cold for livestock and the development of epidemics that can break out on a large scale.

Currently, the total herd of buffalo and cows in the province is about 674,300 (including 291,000 buffaloes and 382,000 cows), the total herd of pigs is about 1.1 million. In 21 districts, cities and towns in the province, there are 6 mountainous districts such as Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Con Cuong that need to pay special attention to protecting buffalo and cows in cold weather. To proactively prevent hunger and cold for buffalo and cows, right after the end of the summer-autumn crop, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued official dispatches directing localities and people to effectively implement measures to prevent hunger, cold and diseases for cattle and poultry in the winter-spring crop. The Department also advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue an official dispatch on the implementation of urgent measures to prevent hunger, cold and diseases for cattle and poultry. Mr. Luu Cong Hoa, Head of the Animal Husbandry Department (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) said: "Learning from previous years, in 2013 the department proactively and resolutely implemented this work. In addition to issuing directive and urging documents, the department also established 3 working groups to inspect, direct and urge this work in localities. Currently, 2 groups have conducted inspections and will report to the department soon."

According to Mr. Hoa, it is very necessary to guide farmers to strengthen and cover their barns, ensure cold prevention and adequate hygiene conditions. In particular, it is necessary to propagate and mobilize farmers not to let their buffaloes and cows roam freely on the mountains, especially on days when the temperature is below 120C, supplement concentrated feed, minerals, vitamins, and give them warm water to improve their health. In addition, low temperatures and humidity cause the animals' bodies to spend a lot of energy to fight the cold, reduce their resistance, and create conditions for many dangerous diseases to break out. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen measures to monitor the condition of livestock to detect and handle promptly when there are signs of exhaustion due to hunger, cold, and epidemics. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the work of strictly controlling animals and animal products circulating in the area, especially imported livestock and poultry for breeding, in order to detect early, promptly surround, and effectively control, absolutely not allowing the epidemic to spread. In barns, livestock areas, grazing grounds, slaughterhouses, processing facilities and markets for livestock and poultry, all must be disinfected... to clean the environment and reduce the spread of pathogens...

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