Housing and Feeding Management Practices Followed by Adopted and Non-adopted Goat Farmers under Adopted Villages of Assam, India

Abstract

The present investigation was conducted to study the housing and feeding management practices followed by adopted and non-adopted goat farmers in three rural village’s viz. Nahira, Tepesia and Tetelia adopted by “All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Goat Improvement”, Goat Research Station, Assam Agricultural University, Byrnihut, Guwahati. A total of one hundred and five goat farmers adopted under the project and another one hundred and five non-adopted goat farmers from the adopted villages were selected randomly for collection of data. The total sample size was 210. It was observed that 91.43 and 78.10 per cent of adopted and non-adopted goat farmers respectively had separate goat sheds, 87.62 and 72.38 per cent, respectively had closed type of houses, 68.57 and 66.67 per cent, respectively used corrugated iron sheets as roof material, 28.57 and 80.95 per cent, respectively had earthen floor sheds. The common feeding practice of majority of adopted (54.29%) and non-adopted (84.76%) goat farmers were browsing and grazing while 45.71 and 15.24 per cent of adopted and non-adopted goat farmers respectively provided concentrates along with browsing and grazing. An average 85.71 and 56.19 per cent of adopted and non-adopted farmers respectively provided salt to their animals. To conclude management practices namely housing, feeding, health care, breeding and mortality of Assam hill goats were better in adopted goat farmers than in non-adopted goat farmers.