Livestock holding pattern and feeding practices in semiarid Eastern region of Rajasthan Chaturvedi O.H., Sankhyan S.K., Mann J.S., Karim S.A. Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Rajasthan, 304 501. Abstract A survey was carried out to gather information about land and livestock holding pattern and livestock feeding practices in semi-arid eastern region of Rajasthan. Fifty-six farmers were randomly selected and the information was collected from them through personal interview. The overall holding of livestock and adult cattle unit (ACU) in the area was 20.98 and 7.57, respectively. The number of ACU was higher in case of large (15.78) farmers followed by medium (7.33), small (3.63) and marginal (3.24) farmers. The livestock: land (ACU/acre) was higher in case of marginal farmers followed by small, medium and large farmers. The percentage of cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats was 10.14, 9.48, 36.73 and 43.65, respectively. The percentage of male: female ratio among sheep and goats was 3.85: 96.15 and 17.06: 82.94, respectively. The percentage of small ruminants was higher in case of marginal farmers followed by medium, large and small farmers. Sheep, goats, idle bullocks and non producing cattle were mostly grazed in mixed grazing on community/public rangeland for about 8–12 hour in a day. The concentrate was offered to bullocks, milch cattle and buffaloes @ 2.5–3.0 kg/animal/day. Milch goats were provided concentrate @ 350–500 g/head/day. Sheep were reared exclusively on grazing, however, depending on season some greens were made available to them. The farmers in particular poorly reared livestock and in general small ruminants. They were not supplemented with concentrate mixture during critical stages of growth and advance pregnancy. Top Key words Feeding practices, Grazing, Land holding, Livestock holding, Semi-arid region. Top |