Disease prevention in livestock is key: Ludhiana vet varsity experts

Veterinary experts have expressed concern over the lax attitude of livestock farmers on newly-born calves suffering from diseases

Veterinary experts from Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) have expressed concern over the lax attitude of livestock farmers on newly-born calves suffering from diseases.

Representative image/HT

Parkash Singh Brar, director of extension education, GADVASU, said that calving season is on and most farmers don’t take proper care of newly-born calves, especially transitional animals. Therefore, two webinars on these topics were conducted for the benefit of dairy farmers this week.

Vishal Mahajan, veterinary pathologist from Animal Disease Research Centre, spoke on important infectious diseases and vaccination schedule.

Diseases like Hemorrhagic Septicemia (HS) can be fatal and affect both buffalo and cows, he said. He also highlighted the differences between the symptoms of HS and nitrate poisoning.

Foot-and Mouth disease (FMD) is also a highly contagious virus disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, Mahajan added.

Other diseases like Johne’s disease and Brucellosis were also discussed. He emphasised on the need for biosecurity at farm sand timely vaccination. Animals should be healthy at the time of vaccination and there should atleast be a 21-day gap between two vaccinations, Mahajan said. He also cautioned farmers regarding hygiene protocols, particularly about used syringes.

RS Grewal, senior nutritionist, Department of Animal Nutrition, discussed the importance of transitional period of animals, which is around three weeks before and after the calving, and nutrient requirements associated with it.

He told farmers that the requirement of energy, protein, fat and calcium increases four,two,five and four times respectively during this critical period. Animals produce more milk, but due to lack of nutrients, they lose weight which is detrimental in its conception in the following lactations, he said.

He discussed modified feeding strategies by incorporating calcium propionate propylene glycol in the ration.

Grewal also emphasised on the importance of certain feed supplements, particularly niacin, biotin and choline chloride which increase the metabolism of the animal and help maintain production and health of the newly lactating animal.

Parkash Singh Brar, director of extension education, said: “An effective and efficient disease prevention and control strategy is of paramount importance to improve the quality and quantity of livestock production. Although livestock vaccination is considered an emerging innovation of socio-economic importance in dairy industry; the rate of adoption and diffusion of vaccination technology is very low at field levels.”