Cattle disease wreaks havoc in Libya

On Najmeddine Tantoun's farm on the outskirts of the western Libyan city of Misrata, the usual whir of hundreds of dairy milking machines has given way to near silence. The farmer has lost almost half his cows to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, a highly contagious illness affecting hoofed animals. The outbreak in Libya has dealt a major blow to many cattle farmers, who say they have yet to receive vaccines for their animals as dairy and meat production suffers. Most of the North African country's revenue comes from its oil resources, but Misrata is a major dairy centre which used to produce 70,000 litres of milk a day. Some farmers have reported losing 70 percent of their cattle to the disease in Libya's Misrata. By Islam ALATRASH (AFP) Output has now fallen to 20,000 per day, according to Salem al-Badri, 45, head of the city's committee of cattle farmers. Tantoun, 27, said "the future looks bleak". "I almost lost everything," he said. "From 742 cows, we lost about 300. ...