Failure to vaccinate leads to cattle deaths

Chennai: Thousands of cows which recently died in the state due to foot and mouth disease were denied their regular annual vaccinations by farmers who feared loss of milk yield if their animals were vaccinated, a recent investigation by the Animal Husbandry Department revealed.

A few overzealous far­mers, unaware of the impact in breeding hyb­rid cattle have also genetically we­a­kened the livestock bro­od in Naga­pat­tinam, Ve­ll­ore and Tha­njavur districts by cross breeding mostly foreign spe­cies, ig­noring local ind­ig­e­no­us varieties of south In­dia, a senior official said.

It is also reported that a few carcasses of animals infected by foot and mouth disease were thrown into streams and this also increased the incidence of viral disease along the Cauvery delta districts, said a field official who added that the outbreak has been arrested.

“We are not denying the deaths in Nag­apa­ttinam, Myla­dut­hurai and Vell­ore areas, but at the same time, the situation is un­der total control in all oth­er districts. Awa­ren­ess camps for vaccinations are condu­cted at gr­ama panchayats and bio security me­as­ures are in place,” said a senior official.

Revenue and transport officials were info­rm­ed not to permit the movement of cattle till mortality is brought down.

“Milk production in Tamil Nadu which has been growing steadily for the past three years is all set to decline due to the sporadic outbreak of foot and mouth disease among livestock.

Some relief should be provided by government to farmers who have lost their cattle,” opined Ar­u­pathy Kalyanam, ge­n­eral secretary, Fed­eration of Farmers Asso­ciation, Cauvery delta districts.

It is high time that government changes its breeding policy and indigenous species shou­ld be considered for bre­eding animals, he said.

According to a highly placed official, about 25,000 cattle could have died so far due to the outbreak, this being less than one per cent of the state’s total cattle population of '1.37 crore.