Proactively protect livestock in winter

Farmers in Pac Nga commune store elephant grass as food for livestock in winter.

Every winter, the temperature in the highland communes drops sharply, especially in the areas of Muong La, Bac Yen, Phu Yen, Thuan Chau (old), at night it is only 5-8°C, in some places it drops below 5°C with frost. In this situation, the Department of Agriculture and Environment consulted with the Provincial People's Committee to issue documents directing communes and wards to proactively implement plans to prevent and combat the cold for livestock. Instructing localities to review the entire number of livestock, assess the level of risk in each ecological zone; instructing farmers to stockpile food, renovate barns to prevent and combat the cold for livestock.

Since the end of September, the authorities have directed localities to propagate and guide people to stockpile animal feed; apply measures to ferment elephant grass, corn kernels, and stockpile dry straw. Many households also supplement industrial bran, soybeans, and mineral salts to increase the resistance of livestock. At the same time, training sessions have been organized to guide people to focus on implementing techniques to cover barns, supplement nutritional food, and recognize early signs of cold in livestock...

Farmers in Xuan Nha commune use straw as food for livestock in winter.

Vaccinations to proactively prevent and control diseases for livestock in winter were deployed early, with mobile veterinary teams going to each village and household to vaccinate against foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, and African swine fever. By the end of November, the whole province had vaccinated 742,265 doses of anthrax vaccine; 261,140 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccine; 34,933 doses of lumpy skin disease vaccine... For communes in remote and disadvantaged areas, 100% free vaccines and disinfectants for livestock areas were provided.

To proactively protect livestock in winter, in Thao Nguyen, Co Do wards and Van Ho commune, households proactively stockpile animal feed, invest, repair, and make windbreaks with canvas and steel mesh. Many households also use straw and old sacks to cover gaps, reducing heat loss in livestock barns. In Phu Yen area, the model of "Community cold protection support points" is being piloted in 5 communes. Each point has a warehouse with 2 tons of bran, 500 kg of salt, 1,000 liters of disinfectant, ready for emergency distribution when temperatures drop sharply for more than 7 days. In addition, localities in the province regularly update weather information to guide people to bring livestock home from the fields; cover barns to keep them from the wind; prepare firewood to warm livestock during freezing weather; absolutely do not graze livestock when the temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius.

With the spirit of early initiative, we believe that localities across the province will effectively protect livestock during this winter.