There has been a scramble for purchasing hay for cattle among livestock owners in the district. The demand for hay has been on the rise, particularly in semi-urban areas, where the cattle owners have to largely rely on the hay available in nearby villages.
No sooner a paddy field is harvested cattle owners camp in the area.
A case in point is a cattle owner B. Jaya from Pirattiyur, who spared no time in purchasing hay from Manthoppu, a rural area nearby. She bought the hay for Rs. 22,000 and incurred an additional expenditure of Rs. 4,000 towards labour and transport expenditure.
She said the price of hay kept soaring every month and she wanted to avoid any scarcity during monsoon. She owns five cows, and the stock will be sufficient for a few months. Last year, a shortage of hay resulted in poor yield in milk.
Many cattle owners point out that the hay supplements the cattle feed to a considerable extent.
The spiralling rise in the prices of oil cake, brawn, and other feed compelled the farmers to curtail the expenditure on fodder.
N. Ganesan, State joint secretary of Tamil Nadu Milk Producers Welfare Association, said that it had become very expensive for breeding cattle.
He suggested that the State government increase the sale price of milk.
