Livestock farming at the end of the year

At this time, livestock farmers in the province are busy restocking their herds to meet the food demand at the end of the year. Although the price of livestock and poultry meat has increased again, it is not stable and due to the fear of disease, many livestock farmers are still hesitant to invest.

Fearing disease and market fluctuations, many farmers are hesitant to restock on a large scale.

Afraid of big investments

Despite building a closed, methodical farm with a scale of raising up to several thousand chickens/batch, for more than a year now, Mr. Vu Hai Ly, Dong Trung commune (Tien Hai) has only maintained about 2,000 chickens. Investing in an incubator system, Mr. Ly both raises egg-laying chickens and hatches them for sale. Mr. Ly shared: The price of chickens sold in bulk is about 10,000 VND/bird, ducks from 12,000 - 13,000 VND/bird, much lower than the same period in 2022. From the beginning of 2023 until now, the price of animal feed has also been adjusted down 5 times. However, the atmosphere of re-herding is not bustling even though it is the end-of-year breeding season to create food supply for Tet.

According to farmers, the price of broiler chicken is quite high, from 50,000 - 85,000 VND/kg depending on the type of chicken. With such a selling price, farmers have made a profit. However, due to the fear that the selling price could decrease at any time and the high risks of raising chickens at the end of the year, many people are still hesitant to invest in re-raising their flocks.

Not only chicken farmers, pig farmers are also cautious about repopulating large-scale herds. Having just sold nearly 10 tons of live pigs at 60,000 - 65,000 VND/kg, earning a profit of about 100 million VND, Mr. Pham Van Duong, Vu Tien commune (Vu Thu) is cleaning the barn to repopulate to serve the high demand for food consumption at the end of the year. From 200 - 300 pigs/batch, after many times the price of pigs "hit rock bottom", he only raises about 70 - 80 pigs/batch. He shared: This is the most suitable time for households to raise a new crop, "welcoming" the year-end market. Although the price of feed has decreased slightly, what we are most worried about is the unstable output price. In just a few days, the price of pigs dropped from 65,000 VND/kg to 60,000 VND/kg. I had to pay two prices for the same batch of pigs, so I didn't dare to risk making a big investment.

Focus on epidemic prevention work

This is the time when livestock and poultry farmers in the province prepare breeding stock and restock their herds to meet the demand for Tet. However, this is also the time when the weather is unfavorable, the resistance of livestock is reduced, making it easy for viruses to "attack". Therefore, farmers need to be careful in disease prevention and control.

According to the report of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, since the beginning of the year, the disease situation in livestock has been controlled. Localities are implementing the second phase of the month of sanitation, disinfection and sterilization to prevent and control livestock and poultry diseases (from September 15 to October 15) and at the same time implementing vaccination against autumn-winter diseases. The agricultural sector has collected 1,176 samples to actively monitor the circulation of avian influenza and African swine fever viruses, and collected 560 samples of pig serum at 15 livestock farms to test for the circulation of African swine fever viruses to serve animal quarantine work. The Cau Nghin Animal Quarantine Station has controlled 661 vehicles transporting animals and animal products, contributing to preventing and controlling the disease situation for livestock and poultry in the province. The results of vaccination for livestock and poultry in the recent spring-summer season show that the vaccination rate is high, including the group of vaccines not supported by the province. This shows that livestock farmers have raised their awareness of disease prevention and control.

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine recommends that breeders should not increase their herds massively, but should base on the actual conditions of the barns, focus on raising animals in the direction of bio-safety, ensuring quality and developing along the chain from breeding to slaughtering, preliminary processing, processing and consumption of products.

Mr. Pham Thanh Nhuong, Head of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, said: The professional sector recommends that livestock farmers regularly clean and disinfect the livestock environment. Localities need to proactively source chemicals and lime powder, and encourage livestock farmers to buy chemicals and lime powder themselves to disinfect and disinfect barns and the environment around the livestock area to prevent and control epidemics; and effectively control the transportation, trading, and slaughter of animals according to the management hierarchy. The professional sector also recommends that when people detect sick livestock and poultry, they should report to the professional agency for timely handling...