If LSD uncontrolled, cow milk production may be hit

Rajkot/Vadodara: The spread of lumpy skin disease (LSD) has started adversely impacting Gujarat’s cow milk production.
Home grown dairy giant – Amul – has seen a procurement loss of 50,000 litres per day in milk procurement by its milk unions, especially in Kutch and Saurashtra. While the reduction is not alarming for now, it’s feared that if the outbreak is not contained, the milk sector will face a big jolt next summer.
The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and its 18 milk unions, who are its members, currently procure two crore litres of milk per day of which 42 % is cow milk.
“Milk procurement has dipped by 50,000 litres per day (LPD) but as of now it is not much. The impact of this viral disease is seen more in Saurashtra and Kutch compared to north, central and south Gujarat regions which have recorded only sporadic cases,” said R S Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF.
Kutch, which has the highest population of livestock, is the worst-hit district. “Our total milk procurement is three lakh litres per day, including 50,000 litres of cow milk. The cow milk collection has reduced by 15,000 to 20,000 litre per day after the outbreak,” said Sarhad Dairy’s chairman and GCMMF’s vice-chairman Valamji Humbal.
Humbal said that milk production of a cow recovered from LSD reduces by 50%-70 % “We fear a cow milk crisis in Gujarat in near future if LSD is not contained,” he said.
Officially, over 38,000 cows have got infected by LSD in Kutch alone. But sources claimed that these are conservative figures.
Cow breeders say if pregnant cows get infected, it results in miscarriage in a majority of cases.
“When any animal is under stress, milk production gets adversely impacted. Even in the case of LSD, when the cattle gets infected and you start seeing first clinical signs of the infection (which is high temperature in most of the cases), milk production starts decreasing for a couple of days,” said Dr Snehal Patel, deputy director (animal husbandry) Anand district panchayat.