Quang Tri town develops livestock farming in a sustainable direction

Quang Tri town has 4 wards and 1 commune with 1,521 livestock farms that declare livestock according to regulations. In recent times, the town has regularly strengthened livestock management, especially the declaration and review of the total herd to carry out periodic vaccination and supplementary vaccination, ensuring the livestock industry develops in a sustainable and disease-free direction.

Raising cows in Tan My village, Hai Le commune, Quang Tri town - Photo: NTH

With the characteristics of an urban area developing in trade, services and tourism , livestock farming in Quang Tri town is strictly declared and controlled. The total livestock herd in the town currently has 500 buffaloes; 800 cows; 1,500 pigs; 245 deer, goats; nearly 60,000 poultry..., the output of fresh meat for slaughter is estimated at 1,720 tons/year. The number of honey bees in the area is about 1,000 colonies, the annual honey output is from 40 - 60 tons/year.

Livestock is mainly raised by small-scale households, taking advantage of agricultural by-products. To develop livestock and poultry farming to ensure food supply, Quang Tri town has supported 2 intensive beef cattle farms, with a scale of 10 cows/site from the support capital according to Resolution 162 of the Provincial People's Council; 1 caged rabbit farm with a scale of 500 cows/batch and 2 free-range chicken farms following VietGAP standards with a scale of 500 cows/facility from the capital of the town's agricultural restructuring project.

In order to implement the regulation that livestock farming is not allowed in inner-city and residential areas, in the town, there are 8 livestock farms and 1 bird nest farm in the prohibited area that are forced to stop raising livestock and move out of the prohibited area. From 2022 to now, the locality has propagated and mobilized 7/8 households to stop raising livestock in the prohibited area, and 1 household in Ward 3 is expected to stop raising livestock in the prohibited area in the third quarter of 2024.

For the bird nest farm in Ward 2, a commitment has been made to maintain the status quo, not to expand, and not to use loudspeakers in areas where breeding is not allowed. There is a small-scale poultry farm in Tan Phuoc village, Hai Le commune with about 20,000-30,000 birds/batch, ensuring a minimum distance of 200 m from residential areas.

In order to effectively control epidemics and develop sustainable livestock farming, Quang Tri town has proactively issued plans and documents directing units to effectively implement epidemic prevention and control work in the area. In 2023, the town will allocate 98 million VND to support the implementation of epidemic prevention and control work for livestock and poultry.

The results of the vaccination were: avian influenza vaccination averaged 48,550/47,600 doses, reaching 102% of the plan; rabies vaccination for dogs 800/1,000 doses, reaching 80%; erysipelas vaccination for buffaloes and cows 880/850 doses, reaching 104%; foot-and-mouth disease vaccination for buffaloes and cows 850/850 doses, reaching 100%; double vaccination for pigs and swine fever averaged 775/1,200 doses, reaching 64.6%; lumpy skin disease vaccination for buffaloes and cows 850/850 doses, reaching 100% of the plan.

Disease prevention and control work in the area is carried out regularly and continuously, ensuring basic requirements such as chemicals, lime, funding for vaccine purchases, vaccination, and disinfection, carried out at least twice a year according to the province's plan.

Currently, in the town, there are 2 concentrated pig slaughterhouses, with 8-12 owners slaughtering pigs daily, slaughtering about 80-100 pigs/day; 3 small-scale cow slaughterhouses, slaughtering about 13-15 pigs/day; 4-6 households slaughtering poultry on a small scale at home, slaughtering about 50-60 pigs/day; 3 households slaughtering poultry at the Quang Tri town market, slaughtering about 100-150 pigs/day; 4 pig roasters both roasting for hire and slaughtering on a small scale.

The Town's Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station has controlled 2 centralized pig slaughterhouses and 3 cow slaughterhouses relatively closely; assigned staff to implement the daily livestock slaughter control process. Currently, the Town People's Committee continues to direct specialized units to coordinate with related units to review the location and site for building new centralized livestock and poultry slaughterhouses with control, ensuring food safety and hygiene, and environmental sanitation.

Along with the urbanization process, in the coming time, Quang Tri town will continue to maintain and encourage the strong development of livestock farming in the hilly areas of Hai Le commune, An Don ward in the direction of concentrated farms, ensuring disease safety and environmental hygiene; limiting livestock farming in the inner city area.

Encourage livestock households in residential areas to apply measures to minimize environmental pollution such as building biogas pits, using biological bedding, etc.; apply new science and technology in livestock farming to increase productivity, quality, and limit diseases.

Deploy and implement well the regulations on areas where livestock farming is not allowed, areas for raising swiftlets, declaration of livestock farming activities, vaccination of livestock and poultry, contributing to the development of the livestock industry in a sustainable and disease-free direction, ensuring food supply for consumers.

Khanh Ngoc

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