GOAT FARMING PRACTICES IN INDIA
BY -Dr.M.S.Saravanan B.V.Sc.,M.A.,PGDCM.,LME.,
Assistant Director of Animal Husbandry Sivagangai Division,Sivagangai District Tamilnadu,India
Goat – ATM of rural India
India has 148.88 million goats population as per 20th livestock census , which is second largest in the world. 70 million farmers of over 5 Lakhs remote villages of India involved In the goat farming business.70 percentage of goats In India reared by landless labourers,marginal farmers and nomads. In rural India goat farming is the main source of additional income and act as insurance against famine and disasters. Goat can be readily marketable at any point of time and provided the needy emergency fund to the rural farmers of India. So goats are fondly called as ATM of rural India. Goat farming is a major pillar of Indian rural Economy which was achieved through the age old Traditional goat rearing practices of Indian Farmers and continuous development programmes of the Government of India.
Goat farming contribution to Indian economy:
In India the goat sector contributes 8.4 percent to the Indian livestock GDP that is 38,590 crores through meat Rs 22625 crores , through milk 9564 crores , through skin Rs 1491 crores, through manure Rs 1535 crores, and others Rs 3360 crores .Indian goat sector also generates about 4.2 percent rural employment to the small ,marginal and landless farmers. India ranked as second largest goat meat producing country in the world with the quantity of 5,53,380 tonnes in 2019 . India ranked 5th in the export of goat (live) value around 6.17 million dollars in 2020.India ranked number one producer of goat milk in the world in 2017 and the estimated production was roughly 50 lakh metric tonnes. All these economic contribution from goat farming in India generated by 70 million farmers of over 5 lakhs remote villages of India. Traditional goat farming practices of Indian farmers are the backbone of this economic achievements.
Traditional goat farming practices in India:
Indian goat farmers are the best in the world because of adaptation of the no cost low cost technology in goat housing,feeding ,traditional goat breeding techniques and disease management practices through their traditional knowledge which was imparted by their Ancestors and village Elders.
NO-cost LOW-cost technology housing :
There are 34 recognized goat breeds in India and each breed of goat is region specific and has special qualities unique to the breed. Rajasthan state which is the highest goat population state in India with 20.4 million goats.Sirohi,Marwari,Jhakrana,Barbari and Jamunabari are the famous goat breeds of Rajasthan. In Rajasthan 94.58 percentage of the farmers provided katcha floor for the goat houses . 50 percent of farmers constructed goat houses near human dwellings.92.08 percentage of Rajasthan goat farmers used locally available thatch material for construction of roof. Boundary walls of goat houses were made with dry twigs of khejri Bushes. This is called no cost low cost technology.
West Bengal state which is having second largest goat population in India with 16.28 million goats . Black Bengal goat is the famous goat breed of west Bengal. In west Bengal 67.1 of percentage goats were housed along with residential housing and 82.63 percentage of houses were mostly katcha type with 86.47 earthen floor goat houses.
Uttar Pradesh is the 3rd highest goat population in India.Goat population is around 14.48 million. Famous goat breeds of Uttar pradesh are Barbari,Jamunabari,Pantja and Rahikandi
.No cost low cost technology in housing of goats adopted by UP goat farmers.12.66 percentage of goats reared in open space,34.18 percentage of goats were reared in hut type houses ,13.92 percentage of goats in pukka houses,39.24 percentage of goats in mixed type goat houses. Most of the states in India have same no cost low cost technology goat housing .
Low cost –no cost technology in feeding:
Almost all the goat farmers of India used to graze their goats for feeding and watering from common water ponds in villages .Traditional common grazing lands and private lands which are unfit for agriculture in villages are the main source of feeding place for goats.Goats are meticulous eaters and can tolerate more amount of bitterness than other animals. Hence they can thrive on the agricultural byproducts, agricultural waste, all type of tree leaves and other such feed, and because of the no input cost in feeding, goat rearing is the choice of small,marginal farmers and landless laborers of rural India. Tethering ,extensive rearing, intensive rearing and semi intensive rearing are different rearing methods in which goats are feeding in no cost low cost technology.
GOAT -NATURAL WEEDER
Goats are natural weeders and several characteristics of goats make them the animal of choice for vegetation mangement . Goats have very agile lips allowing for selection and consumption of the most nutrious components of the available biomass.Goats as a natural weeder,consume and control unwanted plants in the village ecosystem. Goat farmers in rural India adopted the no cost low cost feeding techniques for their goats which also provide benefits like weed control, vegetation mangement and balancing ecosystem.
Goat Disease Management Practices
Indigenous goat breeds of India free from Major disease conditions because of the High disease resistance capacities against Local Goat Diseases and traditional goat rearing methods of Indian Farmers.There are around 15 Common Disease conditions of Goats in India.Common Bacterial Goat diseases are Anthrax,Haemorrhagic Septicemia,Brucellosis,Enterotoxaemia,Pneumonia,Foot rot,Mastitis.Common Viral Diseases are PPR,FMD,Goat pox.Endo parasitic Diseases are Fluke Infestation,Tape worm,Round worm,Coccidiosis.Ectoparasitic Infestation are Ticks,Lice etc.,
Goat farmers of rural India mostly aware of the above all disease occurrences which are seasonal in nature and most of the Indigenous goat breeds are having good disease resistance power against all the above disease conditions.
Most of the goat farmers in India follow the culling method at the early stage of disease condition of goats to avoid the disease spread and for disease control.
Ethno veterinary medicinal Practices
Traditional goat farmers of India are well knowledged in Ethno veterinary medicines for various goat diseases.Because of easy availability of Ethno veterinary medicines at the villages and their well established traditional knowledge in usage of these medicines, most of the disease conditions of goat treated at primary stage itself by farmers with best success rate. Now under the guidance of Animal Husbandry Department of India extensive research carried out in Ethno Veterinary Medicine practices of traditional farmers of rural India by various premier veterinary Institutions of India.Most of the ethno veterinary medicines used by traditional farmers are now accepted as first aid remedy for Animals.
Due to unfavourable weather conditions upto 10 to 20 percent mortality due to various disease conditions commonly occurred in goat farming in India.Unexpected heavy rains, sudden floods during monsoon seasons and feed shortage during summer seasons causes higher percentage of mortality in goats.By their traditional knowledge about the local unfavourable weather conditions most of the farmers sold their saleable goats before these unfavourable weather conditions. Under one field level study in India regarding the Goat mortality rates due to various disease conditions for small, medium and large categories of goat keeping were 32.8,32.1, and 15.8 in kids and 31.2,19.9 and 14.9 in adult goats respectively. The losses due to diseases in goats scaled at national level were estimated at 11,720 million per annum in India. The adaptation of prophylactic and preventive measures in goats could result in a net savings of Rs.5144 million per annum.Government of India, Ministry of Fisheries Animal Husbandry and Dairying is now implementing various programmes for goat farmers like mass vaccination for FMD Disease, PPR Disease and Awareness and Training programmes on basic goat farming management through various village level schemes,which will promote disease prevention and disease control in goat farming in India.
Breeding Management Practices
Most of the Indian goat Breeds are prolific Breeders. Each goat breed have unique breeding abilities.Barbari goat Breed is mainly known for their early sexual maturity and the ability to produce mutiple kids in each gestation. The Black Bengal goat breed gain sexual maturity at earlier age than most other goat breeds.The female goat becomes pregnant twice a year and give birth to one to three kids.Jamunapari goat breed is known as the best dairy goat and tallest goat breed, give birth to once in a year and giving birth to single in 60 percent kidding while twins in 45 percent kidding. Triplets and quadruplets are common. The average age of first conception is 18 months in female Jamunabari goat.The pallaiyadu goat breed of pudukottai district of Tamilnadu able to produce upto 8 to 10 kids in one kidding.All these Breeds of goats developed by careful long term selection and breeding by Indian Traditional rural farmers.Long standing breeding practices provided the development of unique breeds of particular region of India.Unique strains of breeds maintained by traditional goat farmers,famous for their breeding practices present in all states of India.Cross breeding between various Indian breeds developed by Indian farmers with their traditional breeding practicies.For example Jamunabari breed with different colours and different level of body weight due to the cross breeding with different Indian breeds. In Tamilnadu ,Tellicherry goat breed from Kerala which is a milch as well as meat purpose breed of goat was crossed with Kanniyadu and kodiyadu breeds of Tamilnadu which are primerily meat purpose breed of goats.Exotic Breeds were also crossed with Indian Goat Breeds and good example was cross between Boer goat with Indian breeds of goat.
Breeding Practices for Disease Resistance
Indigenous goat breeds like Jamunapari,Malahari,Attappady black,Ganjam,chegu,Kanniyadu and Kodiyadu are resistant to parasite diseases under the origional grazing tract.Indian rural farmers prefer the indigenous Varity of goats due to the disease resistance quality and breed them properly to maintain the disease resistance ablilty against Endo,Ecto parasities.Because of this disease resistance character only most of the goat farmers aviod the regular administration of Anthelmentics medicines.Indiscreminate crossbreeding among indigenous breeds and crossbreeding between exotic breeds lead to decrease in disease resistance qualities and lead to high susceptibilities to various goat diseases.By their traditional breeding knowledge Indian goat farmers mostly avoided these type of cross breeding in goats and also Artificial Insemination in goats.
NATURAL ORGANIC PRACTICES OF GOAT FARMERS OF INDIA
The basic principles of organic goat production include care,ecology,fairness,and health as stated by International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement.Essential elements for a successful organic goat production may include nutrition and feeding,animal health,animal welfare,environment,plants and vegetation and workers. Indian rural farmers grazing their goats in natural grazing lands and unproductive lands in which fertilizers and pesticides never used.Indigenous goats rarely dewormed and coccidostat provided to kids very rarely.Most of the goats are provided with tree leaves which are organic in nature.General village practices in India is that only Ethno veterinary medicines allowed for goats which are reared for meat purpose. Vaccination carried out only for breeding stock if necessary. Each goat have identified individually through out life by farmers.Record keeping of the goat farming maintained by women farmers in simple records.Indian Traditional organic goat farming practices at natural level need to be documented extensively.Goat meat is considered by most of the Indian consumers as organic because of the natural environment in which goat are reared with Animal Welfare Standards of village communities.
FUTURE GOAT FARMING PRACTICES IN INDIA
COMMERCIAL GOAT FARMING
Commercial goat farming is a good employment oppurtunity for rural youth and urban entrepreneurs because of growing demand of goat meat,milk,skin and manure.Under NLM scheme,Udyamimitra Native goat Breeders farms are promoted by government of India with 50 percent subsidy is a boost to commercial goat farming.Region specific native goat breeds are promoted under this scheme is a boom to traditional goat rearing farmers.
Goat milk and milk by products
India which is a number one country in goat milk producer in the world and there are lot of opportunity for marketing milk and milk by products. As a healthy diet goat milk and milk by products will have good market place in India and Abroad.
Integrated farming Practices
Integrated farming activity now promoted by Government of India for sustainable farming business for rural and urban entrepreneurs. Integrated farming goat rearing is one of the important component.Importance of goat manure in Horticulture,vegitation management through goat rearing and High Income generation through goat rearing with zero inputs increase the goat farming importance in Integrated farming.
Organic goat farming with processing facilities
Creation of organic goat farming organizations with standard operating procedures in each states of India will create fast growth in export of goat meat from India.
Creation of Standard slaughter houses according to international standards and goat meat processing plants with international guidelines will create more opportunity in goat farming business and goat farming practices in India. This standard operating procedures in goat farming will double the production of goat meat,milk and by products and three fold increase in the income of goat rearing farmers of India.
FARMER FIRST PRACTICES
Farmer First means focus on the farmer’s farm innovations,resources,science and technology.Scientific outputs coming out of research Institutions,many times do not fit as such as in the farmers conditions and thus certain alterations and adaptations are required at field level for their adoptation.Most of the time Research institutions adopted the best innovations of rural farmers and try to propagate to other regions.But real situation is one innovation by farmer only suitable to particular ecosystem of particular region. In Every region or state, the farmers developed unique farm innovations and traditional technologies according to their local need and with available inputs. For example goat farmers of Tamilnadu provide more neem leves to kids and stall fed goats to control endoparasites.So Anthelmentics are used only at minimal level. This farmer innovation is region specific and like these every state in India, goat farmers developed simple goat rearing practices which are best innovations of the farmers. This farmer first technologies identified and scientifically analyzed by Research Institutions and standard practices documented and promoted as future farm Technologies.
References:
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