Vol. 10, Special Issue 5 (2021)

Author(s):
B Simhachalam Naidu and B Subrahmanyeswari

Abstract:
Organic livestock farming involves a strong principle of high food quality and good animal welfare with strong emphasis on animal health promotion, disease prevention and support of natural behavior and the natural lives of the animals. A major goal of organic animal husbandry is to provide opportunities for animals to express their natural behavior and have natural needs satisfied. Organic livestock farming differs from conventional farming in many aspects, including pasture management, animal nutrition, housing, animal health maintenance and animal disease management. Organic meat, milk, and eggs mean that are produced, harvested, preserved and processed as per organic standards. The farmers need support by way of research information organic dairy practices, standards, economics, certification and labeling to take forward the concept of organic farming. As Veterinarians were the persons with technical knowledge regarding organic dairy farming and it’s standards and will be in close contact with farmers, a study was undertaken in Andhra Pradesh among 60 Veterinarians of Andhra Pradesh among whom 30 were field veterinarians working in state department of Animal Husbandry and 30 were Scientific staff of Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University to analyze their profile characteristics and their perception towards organic dairy standards. The study revealed that nearly half of the veterinarians were young aged and majority of field veterinarians were with B.V.Sc and three-fourth of scientific staff with Ph.D qualification. None of the veterinarians in the study area received any training regarding organic livestock production. Majority of the veterinarians were willing to learn about organic livestock production. It is interesting to note that three-fourth of the veterinarians are favorable towards organic dairy standards.