In Jhalakathi, animals fed market feed instead of grass are losing their disease resistance, and as a result are easily dying of stroke. Livestock keepers and farmers are living in great fear of stroke as well as foot-and-mouth disease in cattle.

Md Kuddus Hossain, a union parishad member in Narikel Baria of Rajapur upazila, keeps several Friesian dairy cows. They were raised in the cowshed, relying on market feed. One of them calved a month and a half ago and was producing about seven litres of milk.

At around 7am on Wednesday (3 March), the cow developed breathing difficulty while being milked and its body turned cold. After speaking to livestock department officials by mobile phone, the family began applying heat to warm its body as instructed.

Meanwhile the cow lay down and within a short time died, foaming at the mouth. It was buried in a pit in the ground. The cow was worth more than Tk 1.5 lakh on the market.

Not only in Narikel Baria: another cow died in the same way on Tuesday morning (2 March) in the area near Rajapur Medical Mor. Cattle have also been reported dying of heat stroke or unknown causes in various remote parts of the district.

Jhalakathi Sadar upazila veterinary surgeon (acting livestock officer) Dr Md Sarowar Hasan said: "We always advise feeding livestock grass, and we tell people to give feed as an alternative to grass. But many livestock keepers and farmers rely entirely on feed to raise their cattle. This makes the animals fat quickly with excess body fat, but their disease resistance falls."

This is not noticeable in the adverse weather of winter but is seen more in hot weather. When high blood pressure sets in during the heat, cattle suffer strokes just like humans. Without proper treatment in time, they develop breathing difficulty and die.

Giving his advice, Dr Md Sarowar Hasan said: "Heat stroke in cattle usually happens in summer. Tying cattle up in the sun in summer can cause heat stroke, so cattle must never be tied up in an open field."

If cattle can be given cold water to drink in extreme heat, their body temperature stays under control and the risk of heat stroke falls many times over, the officer said. He added that if an animal's body temperature rises very high, ice should be rubbed on its head if possible.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.