Vol. 10, Special Issue 6 (2021)

Author(s):
Rana Partap Singh Brar, Sandeep Singh, Gurpreet Kaur and Gurpreet Singh Preet

Abstract:
An interview based study comprising 25 different and relevant questions related to information on animal health management and hygiene practices was designed to evaluate the awareness of farmer related to common animal health and hygiene practices. A total of 100 randomly selected respondents were taken for the survey from rural areas of Faridkot district of Punjab, India. A majority of the farmers were illiterate (54%), only 12% of the farmers do farming as main source of income, concrete made floor was found in the majority of the animal shed (59%) followed by earth and brick (30% and 11%). Most of the farmers practice rearing backyard poultry (55%), used milk for self-consumption (42%), animal waste management using dung for manure in farm (74%), as fuel for cooking (21%). Farmers prefer simple feeding practices with 51% giving homemade feed to animals, 98% feed green fodder. Most of the farmers try to treat their cattle by themselves in the primary stage using local herbs as primary medications (46%). Most farmers vaccinate their animals regularly (62%) but do not practice regular deworming (85%). Colostrum feeding to the calves was practised by 100% respondents but majority of them were not so strict about calf movement just after birth (64%). 94% of the farmers maintain a healthy manner of regular animal shed cleaning and hand washing practices with female as the good hygiene performer. Udder cleaning was practised by 100% respondents before milking but 22% practice cleaning after milking. Almost 68% of farmers mentioned about having no different animal shed. To close the knowledge-to-action gap and enhance farmer awareness among small-scale farmers, a variety of training and workshops must be conducted to the establishment of healthy farming policy.animal health, contact survey, dairy, farmer awareness, questionnaire