The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Finding fodder for cattle an ordeal here

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Wednesday, Aug 05, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Finding fodder for cattle an ordeal here

R. Avadhani

GUDUR (Medak District): Sharanamma is in her early sixties. She did not hesitate to admit that some of the villagers were stealing fodder from wherever it was available to save the animals.

Unable to find fodder for days together, they were walking miles to get it whether it was on road side or on the bunds of fields. As the entire area was rain fed, getting fodder became a Herculean task in this tiny village, around 35 kilometres from Narayanakhed in Medak district.

“We do not know what to do? But the animals are starving. Twenty five per cent of the animals in the village are being taken out for fodder feeding. If there is no rainfall in the near future, all other others will have to follow suit,” said Sharanamma.

Jagannath is on his way to the village from Alldurg with a small lorry load of dry fodder. He went for about 50 kilometres to fetch the fodder and bought 30 bundles of fodder for Rs. 900. He paid Rs. 2,000 for transport.

“This fodder can last about a month by feeding them sparsely. After three days moving from pillar to post we are able to get the fodder. Even the animals were not eating dry fodder. There was no way out,” Jagannath told The Hindu on Tuesday.

The other impact of not having required fodder was that the milk production from animals has drastically reduced. “Milk yield has reduced from four litres daily to two per cow. This may not go for long,” says Shadabi.

All of them who gathered at the village panchayat office to attend a programme were more worried about their future. “Such situation was not witnessed in the near past,” said Sanjiva Reddy, a resident of the village.

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