Assessment of the Existing Feeding and Housing Management Practices of Dairy Animals in Rajbanshi Dairy Farmers

Feeding and housing play a very significant role in utilizing the real potential of dairy animals as both are prerequisite factors for milk production. The study was conducted in the Coochbehar district of West Bengal to explore the existing feeding and housing management practices followed by Rajbanshi dairy farmers. A total sample size of 200 dairy farm families was taken using multistage random sampling for the present study. It was observed that the majority of dairy farmers (63.00%) followed the system of stall feeding and for feeding green fodder majority (94.50%) of dairy farmers depended on naturally grown vegetation/ pastures. The study revealed that the majority (68.00%) of dairy farmers fed paddy straw as dry fodder followed by 32.00 percent of dairy farmers who fed both paddy straw and wheat straw to their animals. The majority (83.00%) of the dairy farmers did not feed mineral mixtures to their animals. Among animal sheds a vast majority (83.50%) were kaccha and the maximum percentage (87.50%) of the housing systems were single row. The majority (83.00%) of the sheds had a full wall in addition to this the walls were made up of tin sheets (45.00%) as well as jute sticks (37.00%). Rice straw was used as bedding material in the winter season by 62.00% percent of dairy farmers. The existing feeding and housing practices among Rajbanshi dairy farmers need improvement, including increased awareness of fodder cultivation, promotion of home-prepared feed, mineral supplementation, better shed construction, sanitation, and waste management.