3rd April, 2024
By Felicia Imohimi
Dr Ifeanyi Ogbu, former Chairman, Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), FCT Chapter, has advised poultry and other livestock farmers to maintain routine vaccination of birds to reduce the mortality rate due to disease outbreaks.
Ogbu made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Ogbu, reacting to the mortality rate of birds despite routine vaccination, said such failure could result from expired vaccines, wrong administration by quacks, wrong dosage, breach of preservation cold chain, among others.
He identified the main cause of mortality in poultry farming as bacteria and virus infections.
According to him, death due to bacterial infection can always be handled by treating the infected animal while it is still sick; but treatment of disease caused by a virus is always difficult and at times very ineffective.
He urged farmers to engage the services of qualified veterinary doctors in the management of their farms especially in drug and vaccine administration.
The veterinarian further advised them to buy all their vaccines from a veterinary-recommended source.
“Farmers should read all vaccine instructions before administration and as well consult a veterinarian anytime there is a challenge in the farm.
“Anybody that wishes to embark on poultry farming should first get insurance from the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) to be able to cushion the effect of losses due to death and mortality.
“Anyone planning to embark on livestock farming should consult a veterinary doctor even before he starts,” he admonished.