Karnataka vaccinates over 31 lakh cattle against foot and mouth disease

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], November 22 : To control foot and mouth disease, over 31 lakh cattles were vaccinated against the disease in Karnataka, said the state Minister of Animal Husbandry Prabhu Bhamla Chavan on Monday.
Chavan said foot and mouth disease can be prevented by giving vaccination every six months. He said that all the farmers rearing cattle should take advantage of the campaign.
Aimed to vaccinate 84,51,740 heifers, 31,74,880 heifers have been vaccinated so far. The minister said that vaccination is being done by going to every district, taluk and animal hospital and to the places where cattle are present.
As per the 20th Livestock Census, the aim is to vaccinate all cattle across the state. The vaccine is completely free.
The minister requested the vaccinators to cooperate with the cattle rearers and vaccinate all the cattle and buffaloes above four months of age.
A vaccination campaign has been launched in the state for one month starting from November 7 under "The National Cattle Disease Control Program" for the control of foot and mouth disease in cattle. All kinds of cattle are being vaccinated across the state every day and the state government has appealed to the cattle owners to take advantage of the programme.
Foot and mouth disease in cattle is a viral disease that causes heatstroke even after recovery from the disease. Foot and mouth disease in dairy heifers results in reduced milk yield, abortion, delayed conception, and reduced working capacity in bulls/heifers.