Abstract:The data for present investigation "Socio-economic Status and Constraints Faced by Indigenous Cattle Owner Under Field Conditions in Western Maharashtra" was collected from the different cattle owners from the Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Pune and Solapur district of Maharashtra who was rearing indigenous cattle mainly Sahiwal, Gir, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi and Rathi breeds which are mainly famous as milch purpose breeds during the year 2021-22. The 30 cattle owners from each district i.e., total 150 cattle owners were selected randomly. The study observed that majority of 52.00 percent cattle owners had medium size family, 30.67 percent were had large size family, 58.00 percent cattle owners belonged from the middle age group. Among all the cattle owners, 32.00 percent had higher secondary education. About 32 percent cattle owners had small farmers they had 1.1 to 2 ha. of land holding. Annual income of cattle owners was low, medium and high 18.67 percent, 52.67 percent and 28.66 percent respectively. Majority of the cattle owners had Gir cattle (944) followed by Sahiwal cattle (667) in their herd. Majority of the cattle owners had 11-20 cattle. Social participation of cattle owners was highest i.e. 78.00 percent in Dairy co-operative and lowest i.e. 48.00 percent in Gram Panchayat. Majority of cattle owner’s main occupation was Dairy + Agriculture i.e. of 44.00 percent. About 32.00 percent cattle owners had more than 11-15 years of experience in dairying.
Majority (94.00%) of cattle owners faced problem of lack of knowledge of processing of milk and other products from cow dung and urine. About 84.67 percent cattle owners had lack of knowledge of scientific management practices of cattle and faced non availability of technical person problem. The 72.67 percent fetch low market prices, 65.33 percent cattle owners faced problem of high cost of improved seed of fodder. The 64.67 percent cattle owners faced difficulties in transportation. About 64.00 percent cattle owners faced reproduction problem in their cattle. About 52.00 percent, 48.67 percent and 44.67 percent cattle owners faced problem of non-availability of grazing land, non-availability of land for loose housing and lack of knowledge of processing and preservation of fodder, respectively.