Lumpy skin disease infects 31k cattle in Haryana, milk production falls

The outbreak of the lumpy skin disease (LSD) among the milch cattle has caused a steep fall in milk production leaving dairy farmers in Haryana high and dry.

The outbreak of the lumpy skin disease (LSD) among the milch cattle has caused a steep fall in milk production leaving dairy farmers high and dry.

As per reports from the state animal husbandry department, around 31,000 animals have been infected by the lumpy skin disease so far while 215 have died in Haryana. (HT File Photo)

As per reports from the state animal husbandry department, around 31,000 animals have been infected so far while 215 have died. Those producing milk are infected by the LSD virus affecting the yield and quality of milk.

Dairy farmers and milk vendors said there is around 30 per cent decline in milk production in the last month and this led to a rise in the prices of unpacked milk and milk products.

As per the reports, there are 250 milk processing plants and dairies in Karnal and the production of milk has now reduced to around 90,000 litres from 1.25 lakh litres earlier. This led to an increase of ₹2 to 5 per litre in the prices of unpacked milk.

“I used to collect 1.50 quintal milk, including 30 kg buffalo milk, every day but now I am able to collect only 45 kg cow milk, while the buffalo milk is not available at any price,” said a milk vendor, Kanhaiya Lal of Yamunanagar district, that has reported maximum over 10,000 cases of LSD so far.

As per the dairy farmers, the production of milk has declined and people are hesitating to buy cow milk as they think that the cows are infected.

“Our per day milk output has reduced to around 4 quintal from 4.5 quintal due to infection among some milch cows, even the input cost has increased as we have to spend on the vaccines of all animals,” said Ravi Kumar, a dairy farmer from Nali village of Karnal district.

“Due to the lack of buffalo milk, we are unable to meet the demand and the retail prices of unpacked milk have reached above ₹60 a per kg with ₹5 per kg being increased in the past 15 days,” said a dairy farmer Naseeb Singh from Karnal.

Even leading milk suppliers like Amul and Mother Dairy have also raised the retail price of packed milk up to ₹2 per litre, citing rising input costs from August 17.

“We used to buy buffalo milk at ₹55 per kg but now buffalo milk is not available and we have to shift to packed milk as there are reports that the animals are infected,” said Rajesh Sharma of Karnal.

Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal has issued directions to the officials concerned and deputy commissioners via video conferencing to ensure 100 percent vaccination of cattle within the next seven days across the state. The officials of the state animal husbandry department said 3 lakh doses of vaccines are available in the state, which will be used in 2 days by August 22 and 5 lakh more doses will be available in the coming week.