By Ademu Usman Idakwo
Cattle are not left out of the ill-treatment of farmed animals in Nigeria. The herdsmen in Nigeria nurse cattle like their biological children and do everything possible to protect them from any harm of whatever form.
Aside from vaccinations, the herdsmen give them local herbs to make them healthy and to become very productive.
However, cattle suffered at the point of transportation from the farm to the market.
For instance, the Cattle will be conveyed in a truck-lorry from Katsina to Enugu State, a journey of 728 kilometres of about 15 hours 23 mins without being properly fed or spaced to create a healthy allowance for them.
They will be overcrowded, distressed and exhausted as well as dehydrated then some will eventually die. If any of them died in the course of the journey, the body would be sold to the mai-suya, the seller of beef kebabs in Hausa to graciously turn it into slices of beef for consumption.
Those who survive the hardship may not be lucky at the place of disembarking from the truck.
Some will hit the ground from the truck with serious shock and fractures to the legs. Speaking in this regard, a Cattle Ranch worker, Ibrahim Aboki, who lives in Akwanga in Nasarawa State, condemned the unhealthy treatment of the cattle by the traders.
He suggested that the cattle should be given healthy treatment from the point of sale to the market.
” A very easy thing to be done is to get an inclined plane, such as a large and strong sloppy plank so that the animal can disembark to the ground to save them from fracture.
” If possible one can erect a concrete platform where the base of the Truck can rest on to make it easy for the cattle to come down from the market. “ he stated
On the transportation, the ranch worker advised that before leaving the farm, food and water should be provided in every truck for the animal to feed on, given the distance of the journey to be covered.
He said they should avoid overcrowding in a truck to create spaces for them to move unhindered to where they can feed themselves in the truck.
