Cows died from foot and mouth disease

The State Veterinary Service Department says the cows were not vaccinated as scheduled .

SEREMBAN : Three cow breeders from Bahau have been blamed for the death of 147 cows from foot and mouth disease.

The state executive council member for Agriculture Industry, Entrepreneurs Development and State Cooperative, Yunus Rahmat, told the State Legislative Assembly that the cows did not have the necessary vaccination.

Yunus explained that upon checking with the State Veterinary Service Department (SVSD), the three cow breeders failed to provide the vaccination to the cows on the fourth month after the arrival of the cows from Australia.

“FMD is a common disease among the cows, buffaloes and goats. There are two other cow breeders each from Lenggeng and Kota where their cows too were affected with FMD.

“But the cow’s dead ratio at Lenggeng and Kota is only 2.17 percent and 4.90 percent respectively. The cow breeders at Lenggeng and Kota cooperated with SVSD and vaccinated their cows according to the vaccination schedule.

“But the cow’s death ratio in Bahau is from 50 percent to 100 percent. When we checked we found there is no vaccination record for their cows”, said Yunus, who is also the Klawang sate assemblyman.

Yunus also explained that all the cows imported from Australia were quarantined at the Quarantine Centre in Pulau Indah, Port Klang.

Yunus also told the assembly that the SVSD is also facing manpower shortage.

FMT reported in September that three cow breeders from Bahau sued the government, the Negri Sembilan Veterinary Department and four other defendants for almost RM1 million at the Seremban High Court.

K Tamilselvan, C Krishnan and M Nganersegaran sued the defendants for alleged carelessness and failure to make sure the cows that was given to them under the “Ternakan Bekalan Trust 2010” scheme was free from the FMD.