COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s liquid milk production could fall sharply if a fresh outbreak of lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cattle continues its spread to more areas, officials warned.
Lumpy skin disease was first detected in the Eastern and Northern Provinces around 2020 and was contained. But it has since re-emerged.
“There will be a drop in the milk harvest due to this,” Media Director at the Ministry of Agriculture Dharma Wanninayake said.
“A cow that gives 30 to 40 litres of daily, the milk can fall by 50% due this disease.”
Cows and buffaloes that are infected with the virus develop visible lumps under the skin.
Since the disease is painful the cows are in a mental stress, milk yields fall, said Provincial Director at Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH) S. Vaseeharan, noting that authorities have told dairy farmers not to move cattle from district to district.
Cattle is moved for slaughter. Farmers have also moved stock to plough rice paddies.
“We warned the farmers not to bring the cattle from those areas but many have not listened and the lump disease has resumed again, and there will be a drop in milk production,” Wanninayake added..
The disease spread from carriers like mosquitoes and ticks.
According to a research report by the Governor Veterinary Surgeon from Vavuniya the disease was first identified in Zambia in 1929 and has been reported in Africa and the Middle East. In 2019 an outbreak was detected in Odisha, India, and later in Sri Lanka.
-economynext.com
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