Assessment of Livestock Management Practices among Livestock Farmers in Hamirpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the livestock management practices adopted by livestock farmers in Hamirpur district, Uttar Pradesh. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select 200 livestock farmers from ten villages of Rath and Maudaha development blocks. Data were collected through personal interviews using a pre-tested and well-structured interview schedule and analysed using descriptive statistical tools with the help of SPSS software. The findings revealed that the respondents showed higher adoption of housing and sanitation practices than of scientific feeding, health care, and breeding management practices. Most respondents regularly cleaned calf sheds (98.00%), maintained calves on kaccha floors (83.50%), and provided bedding facilities (75.00%). However, the adoption of recommended practices such as timely colostrum feeding (4.00%), deworming (17.00%), veterinary consultation (9.50%), and neonatal calf care (7.50%) was comparatively low. In breeding management, the majority of respondents bred animals at the onset of heat (59.00%), identified bellowing as the major sign of oestrus (66.00%), preferred natural service (57.00%), and practised pregnancy diagnosis (80.50%), whereas only 25.50 per cent of the respondents sought treatment for repeat-breeder animals. The study concludes that strengthening extension services, farmer training programmes, and veterinary support is essential to improve the adoption of scientific livestock management practices, thereby enhancing livestock productivity and the sustainability of livestock farming.