Vet’s assessment: Poor animal care caused most deaths

THE recent deaths of most of the 69 livestock in upland barangays in Cebu City were due to “mismanagement” or poor animal husbandry, worsened by the cold weather, a City Hall official said.

Most of the cattle were left out in the cold,  said Dr. Pilar Romero, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF).

“We’ve talked to barangay captains and we found out that gipasagdan ra ang mga hayop (the animals were not taken care of). They were left out in the fields for 16 days and not housed in barns,” Romero said.

He didn’t mention, however, that most   marginal farmers can’t afford to put up barns. Some use  simple, improvised sheds or just leave their cows in the pasture.
DVMF staffers headed by Romero visited barangays Tagbao, Adlaon, Taptap, Malubog, Paril and Cantipla.

They distributed feed supplements, vitamins and oral hydration medicines were distributed to livestock owners who were also taught good animal husbandry practices.
“The condition is getting better  in the barangays when we visited.

We will be following up the other barangays by next week,” she said.

The City Agriculture Department has pegged the  damage at P22 million or double their initial report.

This includes 69 livestock heads that died  and 354 hectares of damaged crops.
“We submitted a request for assistance worth P1.9 million to purchase seeds to give to the farmers,” City Agriculturist Joseito Baclayon told  CDN.

The request will go to the City Council, which will approve its release from the city’s P24 million disaster and risk management fund.
The CAD has its own P2.9 million budget  this year for the purchase of seeds to be given to  farmers in tranches within the year.

Baclayon said they have tapped this budget to start giving seeds to farmers but still requested for more  funds  to sustain them for the rest of the year.
Hesaid the Department of Agriculture 7 will be giving support to the city under their buffer program for seeds.

Baclayon  clarified that the damage on livestock and crops is “ not alarming.”

The death of 69 livestock should be taken against the total pouplation of 5, ,000 heads of cattle in the city’s mountain barangays while there are  8,000 hectares of crops and flowers in the upland barangays.

Unlike standing crops, cut flowers were not affected by the cold weather and actually prefer the cooler climate,  Baclayon said./ Correspondent Jose Santino S. Bunachita