Animal husbandry practices play a major economic and cultural role

-ruminants, such as cattle and goats.  

The breeding, maintenance, and slaughter of livestock, known as animal husbandry, is a component of modern agriculture that has been practiced in many cultures since humanity's transition to farming from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and time periods, and continues to play a major economic and cultural role in numerous communities.

Livestock farming practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming, sometimes referred to as "factory farming"; over 99% of livestock in the US are now raised in this way.[4] Intensive animal farming increases the yield of the various commercial outputs, but has also led to negative impacts on animal welfare, the environment, and public health.[5] In particular, livestock, especially beef, dairy and sheep stocks, have out-sized influence on greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

The government has put in place strategies whereby come 2021 vaccines for various livestock diseases will start being produced locally. This was revealed by the Deputy Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Abdallah Ulega in Mwanza when he talked to this paper recently . Production  of six types of vaccines for livestock diseases to eradicate conning done to herders who buy fake vaccines.

We are told that  the vaccines being produced are for Newcastle disease, mistiss and anthrax among others for both animals and poultry.

It is against this backdrop the livestock keepers  need plunge dips (or simply, dips) which are baths designed to immerse livestock in liquid pesticide or other treatment.

Typically a dip is designed as a narrow channel (about the width of the animal) through which the animals walk, immersing them in progressively deeper liquid until the animal is completely immersed (apart from its head so it can breathe). The channel then becomes progressively shallower until the animal exits. Because many animals can walk through the channel one after another, it is an efficient method of delivering pesticide or other liquid treatments to a large herd.  

A liquid product used to treat the livestock by immersion in a plunge dip is also known as a dip. Some of the herders in the country  have explained the challenges facing them including the ineffectiveness of many vaccines making them fail to have a solution for their problems.This comes in two ways – low quality vaccines and drugs smuggled into the country by unfaithful business people which have already expired, or those manufactured by rogue factories unknown to the government.

Another challenge  livestock keepers  facing is the lack of extension services – they are not visited by veterinary officials, hence the herders decide to look for themselves for drugs and vaccines for their animals bumping into fraudsters while doing so.

We appeal  to the government through Tanzania Food and Drugs Administration (TFDA) to examine the quality of all drugs entering the country, veterinary extension officers to stop staying in their offices. For  it would be a relief to them if the government will implement its strategies to have animal vaccines produced in the country as well as educating them on the better use of the drugs.