Cattle Production and Lumpy Skin Disease of Smallholder Farmers in Svay Rieng Province

The cattle production in Romeas Haek district, Svay Rieng province, was developed remarkably, since there were some households raising cattle in large number, more than 20 heads. The grazing method of cattle was tethering and free grassing in the commune grass, since the natural grass and rice straw were the main source of cattle feed, however some of them supplemented their cattle with crop-byproducts, planting grass or concentrated feed. For the majority, BCS (Body Condition Scoring) of the cattle in those areas was 3 accounting for 52%-73.33%, but it was found the thin cattle has low BCS of 2 accounting for 11.11% to 40.00% and also fat cattle has BCS of 4 up to 27.78%. However, the average BCS varied with village which ranged from 2.68 to 3.17, but is not different in term of commune and sex of cattle. Besides facing with shortage of feed, the experience with diseases was also another concern, since 85.71% to 95.83% of the households faced this problem last year. Among the clinical signs found, lumpy skin was 100%, i.e. no one escaped from this problem, thus making them aware of vaccinating their cattle against some diseases such as FMD (Foot and Mouth Disease), HS (Hemorrhagic Septicemia) and LSD (Lumpy Skin Disease), but mostly vaccination was used against FMD. Because the LSD has occurred in these areas since 2020, then the seroprevalence was found in high positive up to 72.62% by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test. This positive rate was also varying by villages, ranging from 53.3% to 94.44%. But there was no association between positive cattle with commune, BCS, sex and age of cattle. In conclusion, the cattle production in Romeas Haek district, Svay Rieng province had developed markedly, however the shortage of feed and disease occurrence are the main challenges for farmer cattle producers, especially LSD outbreak last year. However, most of the farmers have been aware of the benefit of vaccination and had vaccinated their cattle against those main disease, such as FMD, HS and LSD.