A special drive to vaccinate 4.83 lakh cattle against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) began in Villupuram district on Wednesday. The camp was inaugurated by Collector D. Mohan at Kakuppam.
According to Regional Joint Director of Animal Husbandry Department, T. Manoharan, all arrangements have been made to complete the vaccination drive within the scheduled period of 21 working days. A total of 51 teams have been formed to vaccinate 4,83,209 cattle across the district.
Each team comprising a veterinary assistant surgeon, a livestock inspector, and an animal husbandry assistant, will visit each village panchayat on a specific date and vaccinate the cattle. The campaign to inoculate cattle against this viral infection was held once in six months.
Once affected by the disease, the cattle becomes unproductive and there would be drastic reduction in milk yield, affecting the livelihood of farmers, Mr. Manoharan said, adding that farmers should vaccinate their cattle without fail.
