Farmers in Ninh Thuan are facing difficulties feeding and watering their sheep even though the dry season has just started.

Farmers feed sheep with straws

Many farmers have to shut down their farms or sold the sheep at cheap prices in order to recover some of their investment. Meanwhile, the local authorities are struggling to come up with any solutions to support the farmers. 

Dong Day Village in Phuong Trung Commune, Bac Ai District is the provincial lamb hub with dozens of farms raising sheep, goats and cows. Dao Van No, an employee at a farm in Dong Day Village said their farm had over 1,000 sheep but nearly 100 had died in the past month because of exhaustion. 

"It's too hot so there's not enough grass or water outside. The sheep die every day," he said.

Nguyen Cong Bay, another farmer in Dong Day Village, said half of his 250 sheep had died. "The rest of them look very weak. Some lambs and their mothers died days after giving birth. If there's no rain in the next few days, all of my sheep will die," Bay said.

As grass and weeds wither and disappear from the meadows, the farmers have to feed the sheep straw. However, they have to buy the straws in large amounts and it is not cheap.

"I spent VND30m (USD1,322) to buy straw for the sheep in the past month and give them rice bran water every once in a while," Hoa, another farmer said.

According to the farmers, the exhausted sheep can easily catch diseases which can spread to others. That's why many farmers are selling their farms. A farmer sold 200 sheep for a few dozen millions of VND. A male sheep is sold for VND1.2m (USD52) to VND1.5m for meat. The females are more difficult to find customers.

Mau Thai Phuong, Chairman of Bac Ai District, denied the fact that many sheep have been dying and said that he hadn't received any report from the communal authorities.

Truong Khac Tri, head of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary admitted that he had heard about the news and had sent staff to survey the situation.

"The farmers must report to us then we'll report the situation to higher agencies," he said.

Deputy Director of Ninh Thuan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phan Quang Thuu said drought had started in several areas so they had to develop some plans to store water. 

He said, "The amount of water in Ong Kinh Lake in Thuan Bac District and Phuoc Nhon Lake in Ninh Hai District dropped to 50,000 cubic metres. The remaining water will be saved for the cattle instead of starting a new crop."

Dtinews/Nguoi Lao Dong