Debashis Ray

Here in south of West Bengal, India we have a common problem of lameness in the small land-race cattle that are usually kept in our villages. They are small animals-mature weight about 300 kg, inured to poor food and a hot moist climate. They give little milk and are so skinny that I would hesitate to term them either dairy or beef animals. In Bangladesh they are called as 'Bengali breed'. Much o ...

Dear Dr Hill, I am neither a poultry specialist nor a veterinarian, just an intereseted onlooker with a suggestion. Sometime in the early '70s ornithologists studying wild ducks hatching eggs under controlled conditions, fitted microphones connected to recorders in the nest box. They found that about four days before hatching date, the mother duck started calling to her still unborn ducklings. A ...

Dr Islam's findings confirm what we have noticed here across the Border in south West Bengal-that the local landrace of cattle and local breeds have less reproductive and health problems generally, than exotic (Jersey,Frisiean) cross-bred cattle. There is one aspect missed which may be masking/affecting the results of this study. This is the prevalence of copper deficiency, noticed as faded color ...

The problem and its incidence has been well identified. Implementing a prevention programme with peasant farmers is a bigger job. Would suggest a reading of work done in Bangladesh-'Studies on Medicinal Plants Against Gastrointestinal Nematodes of Goats' by Sujon, Mostafa et al, published in Bangl.J.Vet.Med(2008).6.(2):179-183. They had tried ten medicinal plants and narrowed the selection to four ...