The Department of Veterinary in Northwestern Province has vaccinated over 50 thousand herds of cattle against Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP).

Provincial Veterinary Officer Peter Banda said the exercise is aimed at preventing the spread of diseases among cattle in the province.

He told ZANIS that in addition to the CBPP vaccination the department is currently conducting Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccination in Mufumbwe , Kasempa, Kalumbila and Mushindamo districts  targeting over 36,000 herds of cattle.

Dr Banda disclosed that livestock was also negatively affected by the drought which hit the country last year resulting in the drying up of  grazing land for animals.

“The animals were not spared from the drought as most water points dried up leaving animals with no place to drink water from,” he noted

Dr. Banda explained that the department sensitised farmers on ways of coming up with alternative water points for the animals.

“Each region has a particular disease or parasite which affects the animals in that area which comes about because of the environmental factor, because we saw that animals were at risk in the province due to high influx of animals we decided to vaccinate the animals in order to prevent the spread of diseases,” he said 

 

Dr Banda has since encouraged livestock farmers to work closely with officers from the veterinary department and follow procedure when moving and selling animals in order to prevent the spread of diseases.