B.Ganzorig: Mongolian herds are relatively healthy
We interviewed Head of the General Authority for Veterinary Services B.Ganzorig to discuss the present situation of Mongolia’s livestock husbandry...
We interviewed Head of the General Authority for Veterinary Services B.Ganzorig to discuss the present situation of Mongolia’s livestock husbandry.
Let’s start the interview by discussing the most common diseases among Mongolian livestock. What are the measures you are taking to prevent and address livestock diseases?
...It’s a misunderstanding that the misusage of drugs is the reason for low export. The number of imported medications are relatively low compared to the livestock population...
As of 2019, Mongolia counted a total of 70.9 million livestock throughout the country and 91.5 percent of them went through health checkup. Some 0.01 to 1.2 percent of them were diagnosed with parasitic or non-communicable diseases. This statistic shows that Mongolia’s total herd is relatively healthy for a country with a huge livestock husbandry industry. In the last two years, we have no record of extremely contagious diseases, which is good. However, we are still registering cases of mild contagious, parasitic and other diseases. Also, due to environmental changes and pasture degradation is causing untimely deaths among livestock and it’s likely to increase. Veterinary services work with all immediate resources to protect and save livestock with cooperation of offices of the capital, districts, provinces and soums, and the support of private sector.
Last year, supply of injections and vaccines for livestock was lacking due to COVID-19 in Mongolia. Surprisingly, disease rate among livestock has dropped. It causes some to suspect that all the injections and vaccines were causing the livestock diseases instead of keeping them healthy. What is your take on this matter?
Regular vaccination and injection work wasn’t suspended or disrupted due to COVID-19 like you just said. The necessary vaccine based on the number of livestock for a certain year is requested in June of the previous year and the funding is provided by the government. Other procedures get done to approve and run a program to prevent communicable diseases among livestock. The controversy about injecting and vaccinating livestock with unnecessary chemicals to worsen their health is nonsensical and an unprofessional notion.
Mongolia registered about 800 medications for livestock and over 130 of them are antibiotics. It’s common for herders to use those medications on their own without a veterinary’s prescription and advice. Is it really necessary for herders to use that many kinds of medications for livestock?
Mongolia has a branch committee for livestock medications, which is responsible for veterinary medications and equipment, registration, trade, and import and export of forage. We established the General Authority for Veterinary Services and decreased the number of medications to 560 after running a thorough inspection and 81 of them are antibiotics. But the matter of increasing or decreasing medication quantity is not the issue here. Because there are many pharmaceutical companies producing many kinds of products, and it’s correct to give consumers a choice. We will be further registering effective medications of high quality that meet international standards. People misunderstand that every injection and medication used for livestock is antibiotics. Antibiotics usage in veterinary is relatively rare than in human medicine. In other words, as some might claim, medication usage for livestock is not out of control and not necessarily unhealthy for the animals. The usage in Mongolia is going according to the “tolerable maximum usage of medications in livestock food and risk management” standard of Codex Alimentarius, which is updated every year. On the other hand, the medications used mostly by herders are for parasitic diseases and laxatives. I guess, those are the medications they use without a veterinary’s prescription. Additionally, you can check the legitimacy of the drugs on www.vetdrug.mn. If it’s registered, it provides all information and usage conditions of the medications. But of course, we have a lot of things to do to improve livestock medication usage.
Is it true that meat of livestock injected with Ivomec is bad for health and is a cause of liver viruses?
Even though the injection is popularized by the name Ivomec, it simply refers to many injections that include ivermectin and avermectin. These are used to treat parasitic worms and insect pests once in spring and fall. We should use all medications correctly, according to the instructions provided. Due to misusage, it can have side effects and cause threat to safety of food. Particularly, the remains of substance can be accumulated in the human body and cause poisoning and allergy. However, we can’t say it can be a cause of liver viruses since viral and bacterial diseases are completely different notions.
Is it possible to grow animals naturally without using drugs? Can we assume that the notion that the Mongolian livestock consumes natural pasture and water is no more?
As the pace of livestock husbandry development increases, usage of medications and bio vitamins are rising. Even though traditional husbandry provides plentiful pasture for livestock, it’s causing overpopulation and outbreak of diseases due to lack of pasture management. The medications are not only to cure diseases, but it’s used to prevent diseases, support their growth, and reduce their stress and calm them. We can’t assume that naturally growing the herd without any medications is the optimal way.
Foreign meat consumers are not interested in importing from Mongolia due to local misusage of medications. Experts say that export is poor as Mongolia couldn’t prove that its meat is healthy and fail to report the source of raw material correctly. What is your take on this matter?
It’s a misunderstanding that the misusage of drugs is the reason for low export. The number of imported medications are relatively low compared to the livestock population. The usage of medication is not so high since we don’t run many farms. There are several diseases that is slowing us down in improving meat export. International organizations confirm whether cattle plague or aftosa, which is the most serious of the 17 extremely contagious diseases, is active in Mongolia or not every year. We confirmed that cattle plague has not broken out in Mongolia and are working to get a certificate to prove that we are currently free of aftosa, with cooperation of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry. Besides checking the situation of extremely contagious diseases, importing countries also approve that Mongolia is not experiencing an outbreak of other diseases that can affect meat quality and health.
Has the workload of the veterinary field increased during the pandemic?
The load increased as much as the human medical care. The number of livestock allotted to each veterinary has soared. Lack of human resources in the field was already causing problems even before COVID-19. Due to government protocols, veterinary is not included in 14 sectors that can operate during emergency times. However, livestock vaccination can’t wait and there are other necessary actions that we must take. We filed a request to allow us to work during lockdown to the special commission of the capital and provinces. We normally run 683 spots with 809 people and 294 vehicles to provide veterinary services in Ulaanbaatar and provincial areas.