Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana-141 004, India
1Division of Animal Nutrition, F.V.Sc & A.H., SKUAST-K, Srinagar-190 006, Kashmir (J & K)
A field study was conducted in thirty villages of four blocks (K I Khan, Moga I, Moga II, and N S Wala) of the Moga district in Punjab to assess the existing feeding practices and nutritional status of lactating cattle and buffaloes as well as their common health problems. For this purpose, 142 lactating crossbred cattle and 150 lactating buffaloes (total 292 dairy animals) were evaluated without any bias of age, production and health status through a common questionnaire. Majority of the dairy animals were on medium plane of nutrition representing increasing level of awareness about their feeding practices in the district. Only 46.5% of the dairy cattle and 34.0% of the dairy buffaloes (total 44.1% of the dairy animals) were receiving mineral mixture either premixed with feed or separately. The most common health problems reported among the animals were repeat breeding/anestrous followed by pica and low milk production.
Nutritional status, Health problems, Dairy animals, Moga district, Punjab
