Lameness in Cows

 written by: Naqib Ahmad Azizi

In most villages of Afghanistan, the majority of people are busy in keeping livestock, such as cattle, sheep, and goats, and a number of livestock owners can get benefit from the selling of milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter. Some livestock owners keep cows at home. Cows, like all other livestock, suffer from various diseases. One of these diseases is lameness in cows during winter.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some cattle owners and a veterinarian about this disease.

Hamidullah, a resident of Farza district, Kabul province says: “I bought a cow at 140 thousand Afghanis. During winter, she faced with lameness and she could not walk and I slaughtered her and I faced 125 thousand Afghanis loss.”

What do the cattle owners think about the causes of Lameness of the cattle?

A cattle owner, Muhammad Daoud says: “if you do not keep the cattle’s stable warm during winter, the cold weather causes the cattle to be lamed.”

Another cattle owner, Hamidullah says: "if someone doesn’t take care of the cleanliness of the stable, the cows might face lameness.”

A veterinarian Doctor Hidayatullah says: “most cows that give birth to a calf, face lameness due to the deficiency of the calcium. After each milking, the cow loses her body calcium, and the deficiency of the calcium, causes the bones' weakness and at the result, the cow could not stand up. Most cattle owners do not pay attention to the cleanliness of the stables and the cattle sit and sleep in their dung and it causes the lameness in the cows. Wet stable and no sun rays in the stable are also could be the cause of lameness.”

How to prevent the cattle from lameness?

 Hedayatullah says: “the lame cow should be moved from one side to the other side so many times a day; the cattle owner should pay attention to its feeds; he should show his lame cow to a veterinarian; the cattle owners should build the stables in a way that the wastes of the cows could be easily removed from it and they should bring their cattle into the sun daily.”