Livestock Dept asked to help treat ailing cattle

PESHAWAR: Farmers and cattle owners have asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Livestock Department to help treat cows and buffaloes suffering from foot and mouth disease in Kheshgi Union Council, Nowshera district.

Dozens of milking cows and buffaloes have contracted foot and mouth disease (Tabaq in Pashto) in recent months in Kheshgi Payan, Bala and other adjacent villages, said Shamsul Islam, a farmer, who runs a dairy farm in Kheshgi Payan.

He said the foot and mouth disease had hit more than two dozen dairy farms in Kheshgi Payan. He said many cattle had died due to the disease in the last two months.

Shamsul Islam added the disease had affected milk production and the cows were getting weaker.

Mohammad Iqbal, the owner of another dairy farm in Kheshgi Payan, said that he had informed the officials of the Livestock Department to send mobile teams to vaccinate cows and buffaloes against the viral and infectious diseases but to no avail.

He said, on the one hand, the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments claimed to promote livestock business but on the other, no practical step has taken to help the cattle owners.

“Several of my cows are suffering from foot and mouth disease that has adversely affected the milk production,” he said, adding that many cattle owners were facing financial loss due to the disease.

Another farmer Salim Khan said the local vets charged high fee for treating the animals, therefore, the Livestock Department should provide vaccines and other medicines to the local farmers at subsidized rates.

When contacted, an official at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Livestock Department said that promoting livestock business and helping the farmers was the priority of the government.

He added the Livestock Department carried out a special vaccination campaign in several parts of the province to prevent cattle from catching diseases. The official said that special teams would be sent to Nowshera to treat and vaccinate the animals.