A STUDY ON GOAT PRODUCTION PRACTICES IN VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
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Date
2013-12
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SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI – 517 502. (A.P) INDIA
Abstract
ABSTRACT :
A study was undertaken to study various goat production practices followed by the goat farmers and to record the physical and economic characters of local goats in Vizianagaram district. A total of 240 goat framers, selected at random from two divisions of the district, were interviewed by a pretested schedule and required information was collected. The local goats of Vizianagaram district were medium sized. The predominant coat colour was bicolour (48.64%), followed by single colour (44.22%) and multi colour (7.14%). The bicolour pattern consisted of mainly black and white whereas, single coat colour pattern was represented by black and white colour. The head profile of majority of local goats was straight (80.18%), followed by slightly convex (19.82%). Most of the goats (99.28%) had pendulous ears. Majority of goats (68.38%) did not have beard. Wattles were present in 50.88 per cent of goats and were present in both sexes. Both the sexes were horned (91.65%), but few were polled (8.35%). The overall body length of local goats of 2 teeth to full mouth age groups ranged from 61.02±0.25 to 76.62±0.51 cm in males and from 57.50±0.22 to 66.16±0.98 cm in females. The male goats of 2 teeth, 4 teeth, and full mouth groups had significantly (P≤0.05) more body length than the females. The overall body height of goats of 2 teeth to full mouth age groups ranged from 74.05±0.42 to 90.43±0.29 cm in males and from 70.96±0.29 to 73.84±0.51cm in females. The males of all age groups had significantly (P≤0.05) more body height and chest girth than the females. The overall mean body weights of local goats of 2 teeth to full mouth age groups ranged from 30.45±0.45 to 53.28±0.43 kg in males and from 26.15±0.34 to 43.58±0.43 kg in females. The males of 2 teeth, 4 teeth and full mouth age groups had significantly (P≤0.05) more body weight than the females. The overall mean age at first kidding, kidding interval and litter size were 16.83±0.13, 8.75±0.06 months and 1.99±0.02 respectively. Majority of does (85.25%) had shown twining compared to singles (8.25%) and triplets (6.50%). Majority of goat farmers belonged to Backward Class (77.90%) followed by Scheduled Tribe (15.45%) and Scheduled Castes (6.65%) in the study area. Majority of respondents belonged to middle age (61.24%) followed by young age (23.35%) and old age (15.41%). Majority were illiterate (65.42%). Most of the goat rearers were marginal farmers (61.25%) followed by landless (22.92%), small farmers (15%) and medium farmers (0.83%) with respect to land holding. Majority of respondents (58.75%) had medium size goat flock of 21-40 animals followed by small size (28.33%) and large flock size (12.92%). Overall mean flock size was 27.70±0.12 per farmer. Overall buck to doe ratio was 1:48 in the study area. Majority of the farmers (54.89%) rotated the buck every 3 years, followed by every two years (36.96%), every year (4.35%) and every four years (3.80%) in the study area. The main breeding season of local goats was rainy (63.33%), followed by summer (24.17%) and winter (12.50%), while the main kidding season was winter (60.42%), followed by rainy (32.50%) and summer (7.08%) in the study area.
All the goat farmers practiced extensive system of rearing. Goat migration was practiced only by 36.67 per cent of respondents. Majority of the goat farmers (74.40%) located the goat shed nearer to the farmer’s house. Most of the goat farmers (99.17%) provided kutcha type of shed, thatched type of roof (97.92%) and flooring of all the sheds was of moorum type in the study area. Majority of the respondents (73.33%) adopted colostrum feeding in kids. Majority (97.50%) did not practice creep ration feeding to kids. Most of the respondents (75%) practiced feeding of tender tree leaves to the kids. They practiced weaning at 4 months age (71.67%) and 3 months age (28.33%). Most of the goat farmers practiced vaccination (85.40%) and deworming for adult goats (96.66%). They have not practiced dipping in goats. Majority of goat farmers (73.33%) approached the paraveterinarian followed by veterinarian (26.67%) for the treatment of sick goats. Most of the goat farmers (82.08%) sold the kids at the age of 3-4 months followed by 6 months to one year age of kids. Majority of bucks and does were sold at the age of above 6 years. Majority of respondents (50.83%) disposed goats in shandies followed by village (35.83%) and nearby towns (13.34%). Lack of supply of superior quality goats on subsidised basis, lack of encouragement from government for goat rearing, lack of financial assistance from banks or government for purchase of goats, lack of organised market, feed and fodder shortage and disease incidence were observed to be some of the major constraints perceived by goat farmers. No special government programme for the development of goat farmers, farmers own treatment or approaching quacks for treatment of sick goats, lack of scientific knowledge about feeding and management of goats, lack of financial assistance from government or banks and lack of insurance programme for goats were the major constraints perceived by the field veterinarians in Vizianagaram district.
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