NAGAPATTINAM: Crop damage extending to thousands of hectares and the difficulties in grazing owing to the incessant rains have left bovine rearers in Thalaignayiru block and its surrounding villages in the district with little options but to seek for assistance from the government in feeding their cattle.
"The pasturelands around us are often flooded, making it tough to let cattle for grazing. We could not salvage much of the stubble from the paddy fields after Kuruvai cultivation. Now, Thaladi crops are getting inundated every week, ruling out their edibility for humans and animal in the future. Our cattle are becoming lean as we are forced to ration the feed," said S Vaithiyanathan, a farmer who rears seven of the native bovine breed in Umbalacheri.
Umbalacheri is one of the native breeds of Tamil Nadu and is the most popular breed in the delta region. Umbalacheri bovine belt in Thalaignayiru block comprises the villages of Umbalacheri, Oradiyambalam, Vaatakaudi, Thalaignayiru, Vandal, Avarikadu, Sembiamanakudi, Aaayanur and Korkai. The locals are dependent on their cattle, which they raise for dairy, drought, and sport. Over 4,000 of them, including the native breed, are raised in the region.
Umbalacheri village alone has about 2,500 bovines.
Farmers usually feed the cattle with green fodder, dry fodder and concentrated feed. Dry fodder such as hay and straw are leftovers from reaped crops during harvest in fields. Green fodder constitutes the leguminous, grass, cereal and tree-based crops specifically grown for cattle feed. There is a current lack of interest in cultivating green fodder, making farmers to mostly use the dry variety.
"Each cattle head needs about two to three sacks of hay every day. A bundle of haystack costs about `350 at the moment, citing demand. We are forced to spend more money on it to keep our cattle fed. The bundles which are given at subsidised rates at times are also not sufficient," said R Vinoth Kumar, a cattle farmer who rears seven in Oradiyambalam.
With around 1500 hectares of paddy cultivation lost so far in the block and the possibility of more rains this month have raised concerns over fodder availability among bovine farmers.
"The lack of grazing, and green fodder is also not helping with the natural nutrition that our cattle need. We request this to be considered a calamity and provide the necessary green fodder bought from elsewhere as they did while providing cyclone Gaja relief," said V Dheenadhayalan, the president of Umbalacheri traditional cattle rearers association.
When contacted, a senior official from the Animal Husbandry department told TNIE, "The ongoing calamity is not as severe as cyclone Gaja. There is decent fodder management at the moment. If the scenario becomes tougher, we would surely propose for green fodder."