Way forward in Health for Increasing Productivity of Dairy Animals
Swaran Singh Randhawa* Raj Sukhbir Singh and Randhir Singh Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana
India is the largest producer of milk globally with production of 187.74 million tonnes in 2018-19 which has risen to 221.1 mn tonnes in 2021-22 (Source: Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics, MoFAHD, DAHD, GoI). India’s total livestock wealth is 53.676 crores as per 20th Livestock Census (2019) which includes19.346 crores cattle, 10.985 crores buffaloes, 14.888 crores goats, 7.426 crores sheep, 0.906 crores pigs and 85.181 crores poultry. India ranks first in milk production (221 MMT), 3rd in egg production (122.05 billion) and 8th in meat production (8.79 million tons) as per The Economic Times dated January 31,2022. Currently, the total meat production in the country was 9.29 million tonnes (The Hindu dated March 16, 2023) and India‘s meat export is expected to rise to 1.48 million MT in 2023. Dairy is the single-largest agri-commodity in India which contributes 5% to the national economy and employs over 100 million as workforce out of which 80 million are farmers with majority involving landless, small-scale and of marginal segment (Outlook latest issue dated June 21, 2023). The contribution of livestock sector to total agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA) (at constant prices) has increased from 24.3% in 2014-15 to 30.1% in 2020-21 in last five years. The Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in livestock sector during 2014- 15 to 2020- 21 (at constant prices) was 7.93% against 2.05 % in the crop sector (Annual report 2021-22, DAHD, MOFAHD, GOI). Estimated annual economic losses due to various diseases like HS, FMD, Brucellosis, Rabies, PPR, ASF, LSD, Avian influeza and production diseases like mastitis and lameness is thousands of crores (Bansal and Gupta, 2009; Bardhan et al., 2019, 2020; Govindraj et al., 2021). The human-animal-environment association in developing regions is particularly close as animals are used as a source of income as well as transportation, draught power, fuel, clothing and high-quality proteins in the form of milk, meat and eggs. Therefore, Animal health in developing economies is a core element for sustainable growth and livestock production (https://www.fao.org/animalhealth/en). By following One Health approach and achieving optimal health for all at the human-animal-environment interface, FAO contributes to improving animal health to make livestock production more productive and sustainable. FAO have different programmes like Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) to prevent and mitigate the impact of animal diseases using a One Health approach and Emergency Prevention System for Animal Health (EMPRES-AH) to undertake progressive biosecurity management of animal and zoonotic diseases, monitoring emerging pathogens, enhancing early warning and coordinated actions to control food security and livelihoods threats (https://www.fao.org/ animal-health/en). Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries is the custodian of animal health in India. The department runs various national programmes to prevent and control diseases for sustainable animal health and production but there are huge gaps in the goals perceived and goals achieved. To fill these gaps, a Roadmap to improve animal health has been drawn for enhancing productivity of dairy animals.
Keep a check on porous international borders:
India shares land borders with China, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Factors like climatic change, human and wildlife movement, international trade/globalization of market, illegal trade of live animals and their products across borders are responsible for the transboundary transmission of TADs Kumar et al., ). Diseased stray animals/animal products and human carriers usually become a source of contagion for our country livestock and spread epidemic in this way. LSD spread in India is a recent example. Strict regulations related to international trade of animals and animal products, proper quarantine facilities, restriction of cross border movement of wild animals and vectors, the emergency of preparedness (EMPRE), illegal movement of human, vaccination using new generation DIVA vaccines (subunit vaccine, DNA vaccines, RNA vaccines) and vaccines with easy delivery systems (oral vaccines), one health approach , active disease surveillance, continuous observance of illegal movement of humans and illegal trade of wild animals across the borders using artificial intelligence and global positioning system (monitor the movement of wildlife) are some of the measures those could be taken to control and prevent the trans boundary transmission of trans boundary animal diseases (TADs) and the emergence of new TADs.
Customized farm biosecurity measures as per regional needs:
Farm biosecurity measures prescribed by international and national agencies are as per international and national standards. These can be customized as per local or regional environmental and agro climatic conditions, farm animal density, local resources availability as well as local/regional vector population. Raising awareness of livestock owners, training of farmers for dairy husbandry practices by the concerned body, inspiring livestock owners to develop a biosecurity plan as per their farm and practicing it especially improving sanitation and animal health management systems should be the priority areas of the policy makers or the concerned organizations.
Disease control through compulsory vaccination:
Control of Infectious diseases is only possible if more than 85 percent of the livestock will get vaccinated for any diseases. Noncompliance of livestock farmers to the vaccination of their animals is a usual phenomenon in India due to which the 85 percent target is not usually achieved. In this way, diseases like FMD keep persisting in the country at one place or other throughout the year and become a source of infection for healthy productive and even vaccinated animals due to frequent antigenic variation. The noncompliance can be reduced by improving the overall literacy rate, extension services and enhancing the number of field vets per unit area or reducing the animal heads per veterinarian. Necessary amendment should be done in “The Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009” in Chapter II (Control of Scheduled Diseases) under section 8 and word ‘compulsory’ or ‘mandatory’ should be added along with vaccination. Moreover the second hurdle in control of infectious diseases is quality of vaccines which is usually purchased by authorities on tender basis and usually the bidders supply the vaccine at lowest rate but do not maintain the quality. So the purchase procedure should be modified accordingly maintaining the quality of vaccine. Long term studies on vaccine manufacturing and diagnostics can also improve the quality of vaccines especially if the vaccine got manufactured by the national institutes independently or under public private partnership with strict guidelines. Improving the rural literacy rate and awareness about the benefits of vaccination using vaccine vs disease management cost, are other measures which can improve the compliance of owners for vaccination of their animals.
Regulate use of antibiotics:
Misuse/overuse or irrational use of antibiotics in livestock and human treatment is a major issue in India and other developing countries. The services in the animal husbandry sector are manily provided by veterinarians, para-vets and the untrained “quacks”. The major concern in our country is that the smallholder dairy farmers hardly undertake prophylactic vaccination of their animals in routine. Treatment by untrained quacks, poor literacy rate of farmers, poor extension services, self-doctoring by the farmers, no isolation of diseased animals, easy availability of antibiotics over-the-counter, preference of farmers for medicines of previous experience with quick results, increases in drug dosages in poor response, advice from peers, feed stores and veterinarians and nonexistence of regulations are the other concerns which usually lead to misuse or overuse of antibiotics (Mutua et al., 2020). Direct marketing of drugs to livestock farmers by medical representatives of pharmaceutical companies is another big problem. Even, access of drugs through milk vendors, feed stores, and cooperatives has also been reported. Moreover, farmers are not aware of the concerns related to inappropriate disposal of milk from sick /treated cows which may cause environmental contamination (Mutua et al., 2020). India is a leading producer and consumer of antibiotics (Van Boeckel et al., 2014; Singh, 2019) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an emerging issue of public health concern due to unregulated use of antibiotics in human and animal treatment. India has nearly 34,500 field veterinarians against a required number of 75,000 (http://www.navsindia.org/downloads/ files/n593137c054c72.pdf). Quackery should be stopped immediately. Reducing the need for antibiotics use through good husbandry practices and use of alternative medicines, encouraging antibiotic stewardship, reducing and phasing out antibiotic use in agriculture, educating health professionals, consumers, farmers and stakeholders, policy makers, and public on sustainable use of antibiotics and dangers of antibiotic resistance, applying nationwide surveillance and monitoring system for veterinary antibiotic use, enacting of laws to ban or restrict the use of antibiotics in animals, regulate over-the-counter availability of drugs, following proper withdrawal period after usage, by giving incentives, doing culture tests before antibiotic administration, expanding the network of accredited laboratories and developing low cost diagnostics, regulating antibiotic supply chains and quality and initiation of internship programs for postgraduate students for promotion of antimicrobial stewardship activities are the major strategies to stop this growing monster of AMR. In addition, the VCI should control this inflating quackery in veterinary profession.
Emphasize on non-infectious / production diseases (mastitis, ketosis):
Till date, most of the emphasis given by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India is on prevention and control of infectious diseases. Approximately 75% of diseases in dairy cows occur in the first 30 days in milk (LeBlanc et al., 2006) and 30 to 50% of high producing cows may be affected by some diseases around calving (LeBlanc, 2010). Though we have less number of high producing animals but they do suffer from production diseases owing to heavy drainage of minerals in their high milk production. Research should be initiated to carve out standard practices to reduce these diseases and losses because of these.
Facilitate and make accountable the Govt. diagnostic laboratories in animal husbandry sector:
An estimate tells that there are more than 200 govt. diagnostic laboratories in animal husbandary sector but very few of them are having good infrastructure and are in good working conditions. All the existing public diagnostic labs in animal husbandry sector should be upgraded with latest diagnostic infrastructure and necessary manpower and should be made accountable for excellent diagnostic standards. Non working labs should be upgraded and shifted to nearest veterinary colleges after fixing the accountability, to bring them to work.
Research on epidemiology of diseases especially role of vectors, and strengthen epidemiology curriculum in BVSc & AH degree program:
Twenty nine (29) percent of the 593 known mammalian viruses are vector-borne viruses account (Olival et al., in review) and have three times the host range (multispecies host range) compared to nonvector-borne viruses (Johnson et al., 2015). Rift Valley fever (RVF), an emerging mosquito-borne zoonotic disease, has been recognized as a pathogen of significant concern by the WHO, OIE, FAO, U.S., USDA with broad relevance for both human and animal health. Vector borne diseases (VBD) are even affecting endangered species for exampleYersinia pestis affecting black-footed ferret populations. Consistent surveillance, prioritization, and integrative strategies are required to discern patterns of VBD in animals. To better understand and control VBDs, molecular diagnostics and new or better vaccines are needed along with understanding of the ecology of vectors and hosts which needs the support and training of medical entomologists. A likely possibility for introduction of VBDs on a global scale cannot be ignored as the emergence of WNV in South Dakota, it is very difficult to predict the favorable ecological conditions for disease emergence. It is important to understand human-animal- plant vector-borne illness synergism in total to benefit health as a whole. So more funds should be allocated by funding agencies like DBT, DST, SERB etc. for comprehensive studies on epidemiology and transmission of diseases by various vectors. Moreover, to understand epidemiology of diseases, course curriculum on epidemiology of diseases for BVSc & AH degree program should be strengthened against the present position of only one course of epidemiology in degree program.
An effective animal health system needs workforce with the sufficient knowledge of field epidemiology, skills and abilities. This workforce should be trained for a set of internationally identified and agreed upon core competencies to harmonise field veterinary epidemiology training (Pinto et al., 2023). Based on expert discussions, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) identified 13 competencies for the frontline and intermediate levels. These competencies were planned into three domains: epidemiological surveillance and studies; field investigation, preparedness and response; and One Health, communication, ethics and professionalism. Further these competencies can be utilized to develop curriculum of field epidemiology training of veterinarians as per country’s training needs, or customization of training of other close disciplines. Also the mentors or employers can evaluate their mentees based on these competencies and take guidance for selection process in the recruitment of new staff. By strengthening field epidemiology training, graduates will be able to carry out outbreak investigation and surveillance activities in their respective countries to support early detection, quick response and effective containment of disease threats (Pinto et al., 2023).
Document ITKs (Indigenous technical knowledge) and use alternative therapies for treatment:
ITKs are having various benefits over the allopathic medicines like availability of the raw materials, cost effectiveness and no side effects (Shubeena et al., 2022).Our ancestors used to treat many human and animal diseases by using home/kitchen remedies like turmeric, black pepper, coriander seeds, Ajwain, Fennel, ginger etc. Nearly 25 plants were reported by local people of Kathua district in Jammu & Kashmir, India for formulation of different traditional medicines for treating 20 types of livestock diseases and ailments after validation through Quantification of Indigenous Knowledge (QuIK) method developed by Villiers (1996). The Indigenous practices for pneumonia treatment was perceived even better than Modern Veterinary Drug (MVD) due to ease in availability, less side effects and low cost. These ITKs and alternative therapies should be documented and put into practice after standardization of their use. Concerted efforts should be undertaken for conservation of such herbal plants after validation (Bhanotra and Gupta, 2014). Another study recorded use of ITKs by dairy and piggery farmers of Meghalaya for healing of wounds, in diarrhoea, foot and mouth disease, increasing body mass, bone fracture, etc. of dairy animals and piggery (Shadap and Dkhar, 2019).
Initiate Continuing Veterinary Education (CVE):
Continuing Veterinary Education (CVE) is essential to introduce research outcomes on the field or the ground level. CVE is very poor in India and should be initiated and made mandatory for each and every field veterinarian. Although some of the universities undertake 1-5 days training programs for field vets but the national scenario is almost nil on this aspect. GOI should make it mandatory for field vets to attend at least 2 training programs in a year.
Invest in mobile veterinary units at hospital / block level:
To provide door to door veterinary services, every hospital should have its own mobile unit with minimum laboratory and diagnostic facilities. This will improve the diagnosis and also increase the satiety level of the livestock owners. It will also improve the treatment outcome due to timely treatment of the sick animals and especially will be a great help to the poor and marginal farmers.
Compulsory accreditation of veterinary institutes as well as services-
Based on the education standards and the quality of services provided, every veterinary institute should be graded or accredited as O, A, B, C etc. Prerequisite is that every hospital or institute should have minimum quality infrastructure and manpower.
Broaden the area of animal husbandry sector to include breeding, nutrition, health, byproduct utilization, processing/value addition and marketing.
Cull unproductive animals / design shelters for stray cattle:
Keeping unproductive animals is a routine practice in India because of emotional /social reasons. A government policy should be brought for culling of these unproductive animals. This will also increase the amount of resources for productive animals and also manage the feed and forage shortage and reduce the input cost. Government can establish cattle ponds on sides of roads at toll plazas or other requisite places for their shelter to avoid accidents due to non-voluntary trespassing on the roads.
Ensure accuracy of census in animal husbandry sector:
Livestock census in our country is being done by people who could not even identify the different species of animals. To improve accuracy of census in Animal Husbandry sector, training of manpower should be done before pursuing census before or census assisted by AI workers, Matris etc. who can identify the different species.
Revise definition of ‘Dairy’ by including ‘Meat’: Dairy is defined as a place on a farm where milk is kept and butter, cheese, etc. are made. Defintion of Dairy should include meat. Improve quality of feed and fodder: Feed and fodder quality can be improved by giving quality seeds of high yielding varieties to the dairy farmers or livestock owners. It will enhance the fodder produce per unit area and also improve the quality of feed. Review ‘Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act 2009’ as per the present scenario.
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References
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