Adoption of dairy farming practices and productivity status of milch cows in the Union Territory of Puducherry

Dairy farming plays a vital role in the sustainability of rural households particularly landless labourers. The study assessed the extent of adoption of dairy farming practices and production performance of milch cows based on the primary data collected from a field survey of 200 dairy farmers in U.T. of Puducherry. There was wide scale adoption for health care practices like FMD vaccination, deworming, ecto-parasitic control measures and breeding practices like AI. The feeding practices like use of mineral mixture, green fodder and compounded feed had low adoption rates. Awareness programmes on mineral mixture and feeding practices would enable farmers to get higher milk yield. Group farming for cultivation of green fodder in fallow lands and restoration of common grazing lands are suggested. In addition, training programs on green fodder cultivation with supply of high-yielding green fodder seeds/slips by the State Agriculture Department to dairy farmers owning land would encourage them to take up fodder cultivation. The Government may provide feed subsidies for concentrates to help farmers increase milk production. Veterinary infrastructure may be strengthened to ensure availability of sex-sorted semen to dairy farmers to have female calves. Awareness programmes on hygienic milk production with emphasis on udder hygiene would help to prevent mastitis and avoid economic loss. Regardless of economic status, all the farmers should be made eligible to avail subsidy for livestock insurance. Milk procurement prices of Cooperative Milk Society may be increased to enable dairy farmers realize more profit.