Le Ngoc Lam, Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Bung commune said that as a locality with a large herd of livestock, the commune has directed mass organisations to encourage locals to pay attention to sanitation and cover the stalls, spray disinfectants, provide sufficient feed, not to graze cattle on forest hills when the temperature drops to below 12 degrees Celsius.

like in Nam Bung commune, Tu Le commune currently has 715 buffaloes, 1,408 cows, 3,579 pigs and 936 households with guaranteed stalls. Not being subjective to the complicated developments of the weather, the locality has reminded and encouraged locals to take measures to keep cattle warm and fully stock up on food.

The total herd of cattle in Van Chan district is over 120,000, of which there are 14,563 buffaloes, 7,115 cows, and the rest are pigs. To protect livestock in winter, the district has well implemented vaccination to control a number of diseases in livestock such as skin rash, foot and mouth disease (FMD), and African swine fever.

Currently, the district is implementing the second round of vaccination of 2021 with 9,000 doses of FMD vaccine for buffaloes and cows and spraying 900 litres of disinfectant at stalls and barns.

According to Hoang Huu Dung, deputy head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Division of Van Chan district, currently, almost 100 percent of large cattle raising households in Van Chan district have stalls, but the percentage of guaranteed stalls accounts for about 70 – 80 percent.

Therefore, the division continues to send staff to check stalls before the cold and extreme cold spells, closely examine and control the disease situation, especially in places where diseases occur in order to detect and take timely measures; speed up the second stage of vaccination; mobilise households that do not have stalls to build stalls that ensure sanitation and can prevent cold.

Van Chan directs officials and staff in charge of each area to guide, urge and support localities in raising residents’ awareness of measures to prevent hunger and cold as recommended by functional agencies such as supplementing refined foods, make the most of by-products from cultivation for processing and preservation to ensure adequate supply of food for livestock, making use of old blankets, cloths and tarpaulins to keep livestock warm, and take the cattle to the barn before it gets cold in mountainous communes.