1Veterinary University Training and Research Centre, Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu
2Dept. of Animal Husbandry Economics, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal - 637 001, Tamil Nadu
Authors are grateful to the referee for his critical evaluation
Foot and mouth disease is a viral disease affecting cattle, pigs, sheeps, goats, etc. and causes irrecoverable economic losses to the farming community. An evaluation of such losses has been done in this study conducted in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu on different dairy animals, viz. buffaloes, crossbred cows and indigenous cows. The parameters employed are number of infected animals; duration of their illness; reduction in yield of milk, price of hides and skins, market value and working capacity, and losses due to abortions and deaths. Some policy issues have also been suggested.
