Because of Lumpy skin disease, about 155,000 milk cattle have been slaughtered in India. This is one factor lowering milk production in the country. Other factors are poor crop yields for cattle feed, and farmers who exited cattle trading during Covid.
There are approximately 59.5 million head of cattle in India, so the number slaughtered because of the disease is only a quarter of one percent of the head of milk cattle.
Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that affects cattle. It is transmitted by certain species of blood-feeding insects – flies, mosquitoes, and ticks. It causes fever, nodules on the skin and can lead to death, especially in animals that that have not previously been exposed to the virus.