Introduction

Gangatiri is a medium size, good looking dual purpose cattle; its breeding tract is situated in eastern Uttar Pradesh and mainly reared by small, marginal and landless labourer for their livelihood security (Anonymous, 2006). As per report of BAHS (2012), there is scarcity of fodder in Uttar Pradesh as available crop residue and green fodder is 42.07 and 15.73 million tons against the requirement of 57.19 and 30.50 million tonnes. Gangatiri cattle are mostly reared on low or zero input system, mainly on grazing. Gangatiri bullocks are very good for agricultural works and farmers earn income through selling of milk and milk products, drought power for agricultural operation, dung manure and dung cakes; thereby securing their livelihood. This cattle breed is well adapted to local agro- climatic conditions. Resource poor farmers who cannot afford maintenance cost of exotic and crossbreed cattle, practicing gangatiri cattle rearing because they can be easily maintained. As being indigenous cattle it also had advantage of low reproductive and productive diseases and high ecto and endo- parasitic resistance (Anonymous, 2006). Beside above facts, it is another important fact that milk is one of the well accepted sources of animal protein for vegetarian population of this region and can play key role in combating problems with nutritional deficiency in the society. According to Planning Commission’s Report (2010) on animal husbandry and dairying for 11^th five year plan in Uttar Pradesh, region specific livestock production systems will ensure uniform and higher growth rates which lead to a stable and sustainable rural development. Since gangatiri cattle are native of eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, road map of rural development in this region cannot bypass it. Gangatiri cattle rearing also have full potential to contribute in gender equity because it is estimated that women compose around two thirds of the poor livestock keepers who mainly rely on livestock for their income (FAO 2011). According to Planning Commission Report 2010 in India women participation is 71 per cent of total labour force engaged in animal husbandry. Since gangatiri cattle rearing is not a practice but it is a part of tradition passes from generation to generation for livelihood also. So keeping in view the above facts, performance and profitability of rearing of gangatiri cattle was studied.

Material and Methods

The native tract of gangatiri cattle is in Duaba belt falling between Ganga and Ghaghara. This tract covers Varanasi, Ghazipur, Balia, and Chandauli, districts of eastern part of Uttar Pradesh (Anonymous 2006). Two districts Varanasi and Ghazipur were selected for study because having highest number of gangatiri cattle population out of four districts. One block from each district, namely Arazilines from Varanasi and Mohammadabad from Ghazipur were selected randomly. From each selected block, 3 villages in each block were selected randomly. A list of dairy farmers was prepared from each village, that were rearing at least one Gangatiri cattle exclusively, provided condition that cattle must have completed at least single lactation at the time of investigation. One hundred eight dairy farmers were selected by proportionate random sampling method from the each village in different operational land holding category.

The indicators and their measurement were as followed-

Production Efficiency- It refers to average milk yield as liters per day per animal.

Net Profit- It was measured by deducing the total expenditure on rearing of gangatiri cattle from total receipts from this rearing.

The procedure of calculation explained below-

1. Total Expenditure– Fixed cost + Variable cost
2. Fixed Cost

It includes the expenditure which remain unchanged over a short period of time the relevant component of fixed cost were interest and depreciation on fixed capital.

1. Interest on Fixed Capital

Value of animal, cattle shed and other equipments related to rearing was taken to work out interest at the prevailing rate (12.75%) at which financial institution like banks advance credit in the study area. The interest on working capital was not taken into consideration as the household gets income from the milk every day.

1. Depreciation on the Fixed Cost

It was a loss of value of an asset due to normal wear and tear resulting out of its use over time and technological obsolescence. The depreciation on cattle shed and other equipments was worked out by using straight line method considering their useful economic life. The depreciation on milch cattle was charged as 12.5 per cent rate, assuming a productive life of 8 years.

1. Variable Cost

It comprises of those expenses that vary with level of milk production. Variable costs included those recurring components in milk production, which was incurred on green fodder, dry fodder, concentrates, labour and miscellaneous expenses.

1. Returns from Cattle Rearing

Annual gross return from rearing gangatiri was worked out by taking into account of annual return from milk, dung, draught performance in agricultural fields and sale of animals. Return from milk was worked out by multiplying milk production per household with average milk price received.

1. Lactation Length

It is the number of days a cow remains in milk from the date of calving to the date of dry. It express in days.

Average lactation length = 

Where L_i = Lactation Length of i^th animal (i=1- – – – – n)

n = Total number of milch animal with farmer

1. Dry Period

It refers to the number of days a cow remained dry i.e. the interval between the date of dry to the date of next calving and was expressed in days.

Average dry period = 

Where Di = Dry period of i^th animal (i=1—-n)

n = Total number of milch animal with farmer

1. Calving Interval

It is the period between two successive calving i.e. the period between the calving of the first calf to the calving of immediate next calf and was expressed in days.

Average calving interval = 

Where Pi = Calving interval of i^th animal (i=1—-n)

Classes or categories of respondents for different indicators or index were calculated by cumulative square root frequency method.

Results and Discussion

Results for following economic indicators, used to measure the productivity and profitability of the cattle rearing activities are presented in Table 1 and Table 2.

Table 1: Productive performance of gangatiri cattle of respondent (n= 108)

1. Production Efficiency

Productivity was the input efficiency over output in farming system. For economic viability of any cattle rearing, productivity of those cattle was very important. A glimpse of the Table 1, reveals that for 47.22 per cent respondents production efficiency of their gangatiri cattle herd was high i.e. more than 3.1 liters per day per animal, it was between 1.4 to 3.1 liters per day per animal for gangatiri herd of 44.44 per cent respondents while 8.33 per cent farmers reared gangatiri herd had production efficiency less than 1.4 liters per day per animal. Mean production efficiency for the overall herd was 2.93 liters per day per animal.

Gangatiri, dual purpose indigenous cattle is mainly reared on low or zero input system by the farmers. These farmers reared them mostly by grazing on pasture land available in nearby area. Beside this household by products like bran, vegetable waste etc. was also provided by farmers to their animals. In study area some farmers were also feeding greens, straw and even oilcakes whenever available. Peak yield of gangatiri cows of these farmers was recorded up to 7 liters per cow per day. In present study, average milk production of gangatiri cattle is 2.93 lites per day per cow which is slightly lower than the observation of Singh (2008) also who found that average milk production of these cattle was 4.5 liters per day per animal which may be due to difference in nutrition status and local environmental variation.

Table 2: Reproductive performance of gangatiri cattle of respondent (n= 108)

2. Net Profit from Cattle Rearing

Extent of profitability is the most important indicator of viability of cattle rearing. Since owners of gangatiri were mostly small, marginal and landless, so they had limited resources. They tried to optimize profit by using their available resources. Thus, in study efforts have been made to work out net profit generated from the gangatiri cattle rearing. Net profit was calculated by deducting total expenditure from the total receipt from cattle rearing. Net profit calculated for gangatiri a cattle rearing was as follows:

The average net profit per annum from the gangatiri cattle of respondents was calculated to be Rs. 1637. Table 1 revealed that majority of the respondent’s (55.56%) net income from gangatiri cattle were medium, followed by 23.15 per cent and 21.30 per cent respondents earned high and low net profit, respectively. The present findings is in concur with the findings of Das (2010) and Rahman (2011) who conducted the economic study on indigenous cattle’s rearing. While it is higher than result of Singh (2008) who conducted economics study on indigenous cattle’s rearing in Varanasi.

3. Lactation Length of Gangatiri Cattle of Respondents

Data pertaining of gangatiri cattle were presented in Table 2 which revealed that average lactation length of gangatiri cattle was 187.80 days. In present study, medium lactation length (180-190days) of gangatiri cattle was of 44.44 per cent of respondents followed by large lactation length of 36.11 per cent of respondent’s gangatiri cattle herd and short lactation length of gangatiri cattle of 19.45 per cent respondents were found. The findings were corroborated with findings of Anonymous (2006), Singh et al., 2007, Prakash et al., 2008 and Prakash (2009).

4. Dry Period of Gangatiri Cattle

A cursory look on Table 2 revealed that average dry period of Gangatiri cattle was 176.60 days. In present study medium dry period of gangatiri cattle was recorded for 58.33 per cent of respondents followed by long and short for 29.63 percent and 12.04 percent of respondents; respectively. The findings are supported with the findings of Verma (1993), Anonymous (2006), Singh et al., 2007, Prakash et al., 2008, Prakash (2009) and Rahman (2011).

5. Calving Interval of Gangatiri Cattle of Respondents

Average calving interval of Gangatiri cattle was 372.40 days. Calving interval of Gangatiri cattle was medium for majority of respondents (53.70%), followed by large for 39.82 per cent of respondents and was short for 6.48 per cent of respondents. The finding had similarity with the results of Verma (1993), Singh et al., 2007, Prakash et al., 2008, Prakash (2009) and Rahman (2011).

Conclusion

As for as the performance and profitability of gangatiri cattle were concerned, most of the owners of gangatiri cattle were fell into medium category, however, wide variation in the performance and profitability of gangatiri cattle indicated good scope of improvement in all aspects of management. Therefore, it is suggested to take up programmes for genetic improvement of gangatiri cows along with improvement in their health management. It was evident from the study that the gangatiri cows are contributing in the livelihood of their owners through food and extra income. Most of the respondents under the study used informal channels of milk marketing leading to lesser income. Therefore, there is intense need of strengthening milk co-operative societies and/or other marketing infrastructure for milk so that gangatiri cattle owners can be remunerated with better price of milk and milk products. This will not increase in viability and profitability of gangatiri cattle only but also help into upliftment of socio-economic status of resource limited farmers also.

Acknowledgements

The study was supported by ICAR- NDRI, Karnal under Division of Dairy Extension. The facilities provided by Director, ICAR- NDRI, Karnal are thankfully acknowledged. Much appreciation is extended to scientist and staff of Division of Dairy Extension, NDRI and to gangatiri cattle owners that made this study possible.

References

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