Dr. N. RAJANNAGADDAMEEDI NIJANAND2023-11-042023-11-042021-12-16GADDAMEEDI NIJANANDhttps://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810200370A study was conducted to analyse the socio-economic profile of migratory shepherds, management practices followed, migratory pattern and constraints faced by the shepherds in Narayanpet district of Telangana. A total of 125 sheep farmers from 25 villages in five mandals were selected by multistage random sampling method. These sheep farmers were divided into three flock sizes based on the flock strength for analysis of the data. A study on socio-economic condition of the shepherds revealed that majority (67.2. %) of the shepherds belonged to middle age group and the mean age of sheep farmers was 38.66 ± 11.72 years. Majority (77.60%) of the sheep farmers were illiterates and only 22.40 percent of farmers were literates. The average sheep farming experience of shepherds was 23.65 ± 12.58 years and the average family size in study area was 4.67 ± 1.67. Nuclear family (71.20%), type was most prevalent in three flock sizes of Narayanpet district. All the shepherds (100%) among three categories of flocks in the surveyed area were belonged to the backward caste (BC) only. Among the shepherds, majority (93.6%) of the sheep farmers were having sheep rearing as a major occupation in the study area. The overall mean land holding (acres) of shepherds in study area was 2.02 ± 0.08 and about 35.2 percent shepherds belonged to large farmers category. The average annual income of the shepherds was Rs 85760 ± 55808.1/- and 80.00 percent of shepherds had medium annual income of Rs 29952/- to Rs 141568.1/-. A significant (P<0.01) relationship between annual income of shepherds and category of flock size was observed amongst three flock categories. With regard to material possessed, about 36.8 percent were having mobile phone, all shepherds were having T.V. at their home. About 24.8 percent shepherds were having pump set, only 6.4 percent were possessing the bullock cart and no sheep farmer had car in the study area. It was noticed that 57.60 percent and 42.40 percent of the shepherds were residing in pucca and kutcha houses, respectively during their nonmigratory period in the study area. The mean flock size in the study area was 157.84 ± 125.17. Majority (72.0%) of the shepherds possessed medium flock size of 33 to 283 sheep followed by large flock size (15.2%) of above 283 and small flock size (12.8%) of less than 33 sheep. It was observed that the sheep flock comprised of 79.34 percent breeding ewes, 2.51 percent breeding rams, 10.69 percent female lambs and 7.46 percent male lambs in the surveyed area. None of the sheep farmers provided proper housing, however, all most all (100.0%) shepherds were penned their sheep during night time to provide night shelter and all shepherds provided lamb enclosures for new born lambs. With regard to grazing and feeding practices it was found that majority (34.4%) of the shepherds utilized all types of lands (community lands, forest, waste barren lands) followed by waste barren lands (20.8%), community lands (16.8%), forest alone (16.0%) and forest + waste lands (12.0%) for grazing their sheep in the study area. None of the farmers offered supplementary feed to their sheep. In case of watering source, majority (59.2%) of the shepherds reported that they used ponds/tanks for watering their sheep. The mean grazing time (hrs) and distance (km) in summer was 8.38 ± 0.08 and 9.35 ± 0.07, respectively whereas mean grazing time (hrs) and distance other than summer months was 5.14 ± 0.07 and 5.66 ± 0.08, respectively. The average sex ratio in the flocks was 33.80 ± 1.74 and the rams were put to service at the age 16.79 ± 0.10 months. The overall recorded mean retention time of breeding ram in the flock was 4.48 ± 0.06 years and all the shepherds (100%) followed the flock mating system to breed their sheep. Majority (58.4%) of shepherds reported that they obtained one lamb crop in 12 months and none of the shepherds followed the practicing of weaning in the study area. All the shepherds followed the practice of deworming but the frequency varied amongst flock sizes. Majority (55.2%) of the shepherds dewormed their flock four times in a year. Majority of the flock owners (58.40%) dewormed their flock by the combination of on their own and on the advice of Veterinarian. All the flock owners (100%) were followed the practice of vaccination to their sheep flocks. Majority (56.0%) of the shepherds got their flocks vaccinated on their own by procuring the vaccines from the veterinary drugs stockiest. All most all the shepherds have vaccinated their sheep against F&MD followed by PPR (92.0 %), blue tongue (62.4) and sheep pox in the surveyed area. Majority of the flock owners (58.40%) sold their excess sheep at 3-6 months of age followed by 7-8 months (24.0%) and 9-12 months of age (17.60%) in the study area. The price of their sheep was fixed mainly on the basis of physical appearance (67.20%), followed by physical appearance + age (24.80%) and physical appearance + age + sex (8.0%). Majority (42.40%) of the shepherds sold their sheep to meet the family needs, followed by 28 percent from fear of diseases, 19.20 percent for purchase of inputs, and remaining 10.40 percent to maintain their flock. Majority (72.0%) of the flock owners disposed the carcass by throwing into open fields followed by burial method (20.0%) and only 8.0 percent of shepherds consumed the meat of carcass in the study area. A total of nine major and three minor migratory tracts were identified in the study area. The duration was ranged from 175 to 196 days with a mean value of 187.44 ± 1.40 days. The radial distance covered in migratory tracks was ranged from 130 to 426 km with a mean distance of 300.11 ± 33.28 km in major migratory tracts. Whereas, the duration was ranged from 161 to 181 days with a mean value of 169.00 ± 6.11 days and the radial distance covered ranged from 79 to 90 km with a mean distance of 85.00 ± 3.21 km in minor migratory tracks. The constraints perceived by the migratory shepherds were identified and classified into breeding, feeding, health care and marketing constraints. Among the breeding constraints, non-availability of good breeding rams (62.24%) was the major constraint followed by poor knowledge on breeding (61.65%), lack of knowledge on pregnant ewe care (59.46%), and less conception rate (57.25%) were ranked from I to IV, respectively. With regard to feeding constraints, scarcity of grazing lands (66.49%) was the major constraint followed by a scarcity of drinking water (60.22%), the high market price of concentrate feed (56.34%), and lack of knowledge on balanced feeding (55.96%) in the surveyed area. Among healthcare constraints high incidence of diseases (65.48%) as a major constraint followed by high lamb mortality (58.63%) poor veterinary services (56.60%), and lack of knowledge of prevention of control diseases (54.82%). With regard to marketing constraints, exploitation by middlemen (71.49%) ranked as major constraint followed by unorganized market (66.1%), lack of weight-based pricing (60.1%), nonremunerative price (58.01%) in the study area.EnglishThesis