Taking Care of Cows Like Their Own Children

Only with patience, farmers are able to heal their sick cows. Farmers are taking care of cows that are infected by foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) like their own children.

KOMPAS/ANDY RIZA HIDAYAT

Two cows in Pendi's stable (32), in Kesamben Kulon Village, Wringin Anom District, Gresik Regency, East Java. All livestock here are exposed to foot and mouth disease, Thursday (16/6/2022).

Farmers are taking care of cows that are infected by foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) like their own children. The farmers try to calm down the cows, which feel restless, and feed them. With limited drugs and vaccines, they also take every means to cure their sick animals, including using intravenous fluids and body preservative fluids or even formalin.

On Thursday evening (16/6/2022), Pendi, 32, was working at the pen of his cows in Kesamben Kulon village, Wringin Anom district, Gresik, East Java, when Kompas met him. Pendi, accompanied by his wife, checked the condition of his cows and goats, which had been very weak for the last few days. Worried that the condition of the animals would worsen, he called a veterinary nurse to come to his house.