Gyeonggi-do, All-Out Effort to Prevent Livestock Deaths and Diseases Amid Heatwave Forecast

Concerns Over Outbreaks of Bacterial Diseases, Heatstroke, and Mosquito-Borne Livestock Diseases

File photo [Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter La Young-cheol] The Northern Gyeonggi Province Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory is launching a heatwave management and disease consulting campaign for livestock farms in the province in anticipation of scorching heat following the rainy season.

According to the laboratory on the 14th, during periods of hot and humid weather and heatwaves exceeding 35°C along with tropical nights, livestock experience reduced feed intake and weakened immunity.

Therefore, thorough management is necessary as livestock are vulnerable to digestive diseases such as heatstroke, mold toxins, and bacterial food poisoning, as well as mosquito-borne diseases including Akabane disease, epidemic typhus, and Japanese encephalitis.

Since most cattle are housed in open-type barns, shade structures should be installed in the pens or exercise yards to lower environmental temperatures. It is also important to provide sufficient high-quality forage that is easy to digest and place mineral blocks in the barns so cattle can freely consume them.

Pigs are vulnerable to high temperatures because their lung capacity relative to body weight is smaller than that of other livestock and their sweat glands on the body surface are degenerated. Proper ventilation and airflow inside pig houses should be maintained, and stocking density should be kept at an appropriate level. It is also recommended to feed pigs multiple times, using early morning or nighttime hours.

Chickens typically drink about twice the amount of water compared to their feed intake, but under high temperatures, this increases by 4 to 8 times, making it essential to supply fresh and cold water sufficiently. Installing connected ventilation fans in the chicken coops to circulate air and appropriately using feed additives such as vitamin C, amino acid supplements, and electrolytes are necessary to minimize heat stress damage.

The laboratory plans to regularly support farm disinfection and strengthen disease diagnosis and surveillance activities.

Focused management will be conducted to prevent the recurrence of African Swine Fever (ASF) and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (AI), including providing livestock disease prevention guidelines and summer feeding management instructions in vulnerable areas such as previously affected farms and densely populated farming regions.

The director of the Northern Animal Hygiene Testing Laboratory urged, "Farmers should pay special attention to summer feeding management and immediately report to the laboratory (8008-6400) if any suspected mosquito-borne or other livestock infectious diseases occur."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.