ARIYALUR: A spurt in cattle head reporting lumpy skin disease symptoms over the past few weeks has sent farmers in the district in a tizzy. While the animal husbandry department has over the past two weeks been camping at several places and vaccinating affected head of cattle, residents of a few villages point out that the official team is yet to make a visit to theirs and urged for their medical attention on their animals as well.
According to official sources, a total of 260 head of cattle have reported symptoms of lumpy skin disease, including skin nodules and depression, in the past three months. Of them 11 were confirmed with the viral infection. The recorded cases are on the higher side when compared to last year, officials said.
While animal husbandry department Regional Joint Director Dr M Hameed Ali said the total of 1.20 lakh vaccine doses allocated by the government are being utilised to inoculate cattle against the disease and in their treatment, residents of several villages like Ilangaicheri, Rayampuram and Unjini say officials are yet to inspect cattle in their villages. S Veeraiya, a farmer from Ilangaicheri said,
"Cattle in our area have been suffering for over a month. Lumpy skin disease is contagious. To prevent this, doctors should vaccinate cattle head before rainy season. They, however, did not do so. Over 50 head of cattle are affected by the disease here. We are taking care of the infected animals with herbal treatment." Owing to the viral infection, they aren’t consuming food properly, leaving them fatigued, he added.
Another farmer, S Pavunraj of Unjini, said his affected cattle head have not consumed food properly for over two weeks now. Mentioning that they are being given herbal treatment, he added that he has isolated the infected cattle head. G Kumar, a farmer from Keelapalur said, "The affected cattle head in our area were vaccinated. However, the nodules that broke out are still there.
Those who depend on cattle do not know what to do." While pointing out that it will take about two weeks for vaccinated cattle head to develop immunity against the disease, Dr Ali said that request for release of an additional 20,000 vaccine doses has been placed with the government. “Also, I will identify those places that have been missed out and take steps to treat the affected cattle,” he added.