Pulwama, July 18 : The Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology Kashmir (SKUAST-K) has advised farming community for taking necessary precautions to protect their livestock from viral infection of Foot and Mouth Disease.
Director Extension SKUAST-K, Dil Mohammad Makhdoomi, said that climatic conditions prevailing in valley for past couple of weeks seem favourable for sprouting of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in animals which include bovine (cattle), ovine (sheep) and caprine (goats) species.
Sharing information about FMD, the Director Extension urged farmers to take few precautions to protect their animals from this infection.
He informed that the virus is found in cattle, sheep and goats.
“The infected animal shows a high body temperature in the beginning,” he said, adding that other symptoms include discharge of foamy saliva through mouth, emergence of blisters on lips, tongue, nose, feet, udder and other places which turn into ulcers. He further narrated that milk yielding animals show a sudden decrease in milk production.
“The blisters on feet turn into ulcers due to walking and they cause severe pain to the infected animal,” he said, adding that it is not fatal in adult animals provided they get timely treatment.
He informed that FMD is fatal among young animals which die due to heart diseases.
He advised farmers for isolating such animals from the herd which show symptoms of FMD, preventing grouping of animals from different herds, maintaining sanitation of farms, vaccinating all animals above four months of age against FMD and avoiding drinking livestock water from a common source.
The Director extension also advised farmers for keeping such animals under observance at an isolated place which have been imported from outside the locality.
The Director Extension advised farmers for consulting their nearest veterinary dispensaries for treating symptomatic cases.
He urged farmers to isolate infected animals from healthy ones. “You should not allow other people to enter your farm,” he suggested, adding that farmers must ensure cleanliness of utensils used for feeding and drinking of livestock and use bleaching powder or lime for washing them.
The Director Extension suggested milking infected livestock separately and using antiseptic creams on the mammary glands.
The Director Extension urged farmers to ensure cleanliness of hoofs of the infected animals and using fly repellent creams or turpentine oil in case of presence of maggots on the infected spot.
He also urged feeding jaggery solution to such infected livestock which stop taking solid fodder
