Surrounded by diseases, farmers are cautious in repopulation

Cautious in repopulation

Mr. Luong Ngoc Thieu has been a broiler farmer in Phu Dien Trong village, Hoa Dong commune, Tay Hoa district (Phu Yen) since 2018. Up to now, he has four rows of farming barns designed in the semi-free and ventilated form. Each row of barns is about 300 m² in area, raising 1,000 heads/litter.

Mr. Thieu said that in the last Tet crop, his family exported three rows of barns, mainly cockerels, at a price of 60,000–65,000 VND/kg (up 9,000–10,000 VND/kg compared to the normal litter). After deducting costs, he earned a profit of tens of millions of dong per litter.

However, instead of immediately embarking on repopulation, Mr. Thieu left the barns empty for a while to focus on disinfecting and cleaning barns and collecting all garbage and livestock waste to destroy.

"This year, with a warning about the avian influenza epidemic, the family raised cautiously, not massively. Before repopulating, the family had to clean up the barns. This is an extremely important stage to destroy pathogens in the environment and prevent the spread of diseases so that the repopulation is favorable," shared Mr. Thieu.

Besides, choosing breeds of clear origin and adequate vaccination for the chicken flock in the farming process are also very focused.

According to Mr. Thieu, he chose to buy chicken breeds from reputable companies, so they have been vaccinated with essential vaccines from the beginning. In the process of raising, he also had the chicken flock vaccinated with full vaccines, such as cholera and gumboro, especially avian influenza, thereby ensuring the flock's safety during the farming process.

Currently, cow farming households also started for new farming litter after the sale on the Tet holiday. For example, Mr. Ngo Van Trong's family in Vinh Ba village, Hoa Dong commune, sold six beef cattle at a price of 32-35 million VND/head before Tet. After deducting costs, he earned a profit of more than 10 million VND/head. He is now taking care of as well as repopulating 15 reproductive heads combined with fattening.

With more than 25 years of experience in cow farming, Mr. Ngo Van Trong said the cow has higher resistance than pigs. But when the weather is erratic, the cow is also very susceptible to disease infection. Therefore, for effective farming, he strictly controlled everything from barn cleaning, breeds, and feed to vaccination with three phases/year.

"Cows often suffer from dangerous diseases such as Pasteurellosis, foot-and-mouth, and lumpy skin. Therefore, I always have the cow herd vaccinated to protect the herd. Since then, I feel secure in farming and do not worry about epidemics," said Mr. Trong.

For pig farming households, they now also focus on cleaning the barn to prepare for repopulation. According to farmers, before Tet, the wholesale price of pork was very good, ranging from 65,000 to 72,000 VND/kg, so farmers earned a good profit. Therefore, after selling all the pigs during Tet, many families soon deposited to buy pig breeds.

Note the weather

According to the Phu Yen Sub-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, the whole province has a total of about 162,500 buffalos, 148,400 pigs, and a poultry herd of more than 4.6 million heads (of which the chicken flock has about 3.8 million heads). On the occasion of Tet, a large number of cattle and poultry were sold to meet the consumers' needs, so the total herds of cattle and poultry have plummeted. Currently, farmers have begun to restore the herd to supply the market.

However, the weather is entering the changing season; erratic rain and sun will affect the health of the livestock herd, reducing resistance and causing infection.

In addition, the weather in the rain and sun is also a favorable condition for pathogenic microorganisms to arise and develop, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks, especially in old outbreaks such as Pasteurellosis disease in buffalo, acute illness in cows, foot-and-mouth disease, and lumpy skin disease.

Some diseases in livestock caused by weather include hot colds, colds, diarrhea, ruminal tympany, African swine fever, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, typhoid fever, Pasteurellosis, highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 and H5N6.

Facing the above situation, in order to perform well the prevention and control of diseases, Mr. Nguyen Van Lam, Director of Phu Yen Sub-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, recommended that farmers now need to proactively implement solutions to protect the livestock herd, such as shielding the barn, avoiding rain and wind, and keeping the livestock herd warm when the environmental temperature is low.

Daily strengthening livestock resistance through vitamins, electrolytes, and minerals. Ensuring nutrition and adequate drinking water for livestock in the changing season. In particular, farmers must focus on adequate vaccination for livestock, perform hygiene and disinfection of the farming environment, and take biosafety measures.

"In order to support livestock farmers to repopulate effectively, we have advised the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to submit to the Provincial People's Committee to allocate 5,000 liters of disinfectant chemicals to implement the disinfection of the farming environment in the first phase of 2025, starting from January 15 to March 10, 2025," said Mr. Lam. According to him, the Sub-Department has issued written guidance on the management and use of disinfectant chemicals for animal disease prevention and control. As well as a document deploying the vaccination for cattle and poultry in the first period of 2025, from March 1 to April 30, 2025.

In addition, the Sub-Department strengthened the inspection and supervision of the animal disease situation to capture information and promptly handle new outbreaks and old outbreaks to avoid spreading widely. Thereby helping the households raise effectively and safely.