Application of Neem oil with pig lard in cattle sheds as a disinfectant and as an insect repellant..... Application of turmeric paste with Neem oil for maggot wound treatment..... Feeding of ghee with pepper together with betel leaves in fever conditions..... Application of camphor in oil over the animal in low body temperature..... These inexpensive remedies for animal health, practised down the ages in rural India, were recently closely observed by Scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. After careful study it was concluded that by and large most of these practices were effective.

It might interest readers to know how an outbreak of the foot and mouth disease is handled in the Indian countryside..... First of all the animal is isolated and provided soft bedding. Then it is gradually made to walk on hot sand to help in healing of foot ulcer. Use of coal-tar, kerosene, turmeric and extract of leaves of neem or custard apple is made on the foot ulcers to promote healing and prevent maggot infestation. A special diet of green gram along with chopped onion is fed to the ailing animal. .....While this does not result in an overnight cure, it helps the healing process and the animal eventually recovers. How much more humane and preferable these practices are compared to the killing and destruction of thousands of animals struck by foot and mouth disease in UK and Europe.

"How many other cultural practices cast away as 'backward' by our growth and science oriented society, can come to our rescue and help alleviate some other major problems of the same society? We will never know unless we start examining objectively the ways of our ancestors. Let us build upon the lessons learnt with Neem" - Dr. S. Ahmed, U.S.A.

It is estimated that currently about 20% of the medicines used in veterinary practice in India and other Asian countries are of herbal or herbo-mineral nature. It is expected that within the next 10 years this would increase to about 50 - 60%. This has enormous economic and commercial implications.

In this issue we have focused on the uses of neem in animal health and bring to you some of the latest studies from across the world to highlight the therapeutic potentiality of neem in veterinary medicine and as a feed supplement.

Neem - the wealth of the poor and the wise.....
P.Thakkar
P.Thakkar