The rise in mercury level and drought has posed severe economic loss to the livestock of farmers, particularly shepherds in the district.
Although the impact of drought had not been felt in the canal-irrigated areas of the district, it is evident in several areas including Thuraiyur, Thiruvellarai, Manachanallur, Omanthur, and Puthanampatti that received less than normal rainfall in the last two years.
The rising temperature, around 40 degree Celsius, has added to the woes of livestock farmers who had been finding it difficult to find grazing ground for the cattle.
There are reports that the heat wave has claimed a few lives of sheep and goats in Thuraiyur block, which is reeling under severe drought.
Those rearing cattle say sheep and goats had been in distress because of the sudden increase in heat and humidity level in the last two weeks. Since the temperature surged suddenly, sheep could not adapt to the warm weather even at night.
Except for about two or three hours in the early morning, sheep were reeling under sweltering heat. “Many sheep appear ill and restless as they were not able to tolerate the severe heat. Nasal discharge is heavy in some of them. We cannot afford to lose even a single sheep. We do not know how to survive this summer,” Govindaraju, a livestock farmer in Thiruvellarai, told The Hindu on Wednesday.
Drought had rendered Thuraiyur block without a grazing ground for cattle. Watering the cattle had also become a problem to them, he added.
The Joint Director of Animal Husbandry, Tiruchi, Chellasamy, said there was no report of outbreak of cattle-related diseases in the district so far during the summer. One or two animals might have died because of metabolic disorder caused by heat. The shepherds had been asked to keep them on a cool surface at night. They should not give room for mismanagement. They had been educated about the good management practices.
