Drive to vaccinate 2.8 lakh cattle against FMD begins in Erode

A special drive to vaccinate cattle against foot-and-mouth disease began in Erode on Wednesday.

A special drive to vaccinate 2.8 lakh cattle against foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD) began in the district on Wednesday.

The camp was inaugurated by Minister for Housing and Urban Development S. Muthusamy at Periyasadayampalayam in the Corporation limits.

Officials of the Department of Animal Husbandry said that under the National Animal Disease Control Programme, all cattle in the district should be vaccinated against the disease. They said that the camp would be held for 21 days from November 10 to 30. A total of 96 teams were formed to vaccinate the cattle across the district.

Officials said that once affected by the disease, the cattle become unproductive and there would be drastic reduction in milk yield, affecting the livelihood of farmers. Hence, farmers should vaccinate their cattle without fail, they added.

District Revenue Officer P. Murugesan, Corporation Commissioner M. Elangovan and other officials took part in the inauguration of the camp.