Ensure disease safety for livestock

Veterinary staff of Hoa Loc commune spray disinfectant in the livestock area.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the province's total livestock and poultry herd is currently among the top in the country, with about 28 million heads. Of which, poultry accounts for about 27 million heads, the rest are pigs, buffaloes, cows and other livestock. Every year, the livestock production value accounts for over 32% of the province's agricultural production structure. To ensure the production value of livestock, the province always pays attention to and effectively implements disease prevention.

Since June 2025, ASF has broken out, spread and caused great damage to farmers. To prevent the epidemic, the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine has directed and guided the People's Committees of communes and wards to focus on synchronously and effectively implementing urgent solutions to prevent, control and suppress the disease. In Hoa Loc commune, since July 25, a number of pigs have been sick, stopped eating and died in some households. Immediately after receiving the report from the people, the People's Committee of the commune coordinated with the Hau Loc Regional Agricultural Service Center to take samples for testing and instruct people on how to prevent the disease. At the same time, when the test results were positive for ASF, the locality made a record and organized the destruction of 199 pigs from 13 households in 7 villages, with a total weight of more than 9.2 tons.

Vice Chairman of Hoa Loc Commune People's Committee Trinh Trung Dung said: "At this time, livestock are at high risk of contracting various diseases; in which, for chickens, it is avian influenza, and for pigs, it is ASF. In the face of the actual spread of ASF, the Commune People's Committee has deployed the establishment of 8 inter-commune and inter-village quarantine checkpoints; regularly sending officials to inspect and grasp the situation in residential areas to detect outbreaks early and contain and suppress the epidemic while it is still small, determined not to let the epidemic spread widely. At the same time, instructing people to disinfect livestock areas and carry out disease prevention and control steps."

Many communes and wards in the province are also focusing on promoting measures to prevent and control animal diseases, especially ASF, in which vaccination is a top priority. Since the beginning of 2025, the whole province has injected 73,200 doses of ASF vaccine (of which the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine supported communes and wards with epidemics and high risks with 25,700 doses, the remaining 47,500 doses were injected by households themselves). At the same time, strict measures have been taken to prevent and control diseases for livestock and poultry.

According to the assessment of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, it is now the time of changing seasons, the temperature difference between day and night is large; the transportation of animals and animal products has increased; the prevalence of pathogens is relatively high, in a wide range in the environment, so the risk of dangerous infectious animal diseases occurring in the province is very high. Along with that, the vaccination rate of some vaccines for livestock compared to the total herd has not ensured coverage.

The provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine recommends that breeders should proactively vaccinate their livestock fully and on time; implement biosafety measures; and keep their barns clean and airy. At the same time, use breeds of clear origin with full quarantine papers; before entering the herd, the breeds must be quarantined for at least 3 weeks.

Along with that, at present, livestock households need to periodically spray disinfectant around livestock areas and barns once a week, along with implementing the "5 no's" in disease prevention and control: do not hide the epidemic; do not sell sick livestock and poultry; do not transport sick livestock and poultry and products of sick livestock and poultry; do not eat sick, dead or unknown origin livestock and poultry; do not throw sick or dead livestock and poultry into the environment... to limit the risk of widespread disease transmission.

Article and photos: Le Thanh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/bao-dam-an-toan-dich-benh-cho-dan-vat-nuoi-257183.htm