Indian Journal of Small Ruminants (The)

A survey was carried out on 645 goat farmers in Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts of Uttarakhand from April, 2015 to March, 2017. The information on the common symptoms or ailments inflicting losses to the goats along with the use of local plants and other traditional healthcare practices followed by them were collected through personal interview using a wellstructured questionnaire. It was found that ethno-veterinary practices used by the farmers for diarrhoea/dysentery, pneumonia, anoestrus, bloat, retention of placenta, gastrointestinal helminthiasis, external parasites, constipation, indigestion, wounds and plant poisonings are common ailments in goats. Different types of plant species and their parts viz., roots, leaves, twigs, bark powder, fruits, seeds, oils etc. are used for the treatment of these ailments. Ethno-veterinary practices like bolus made from pigeon droppings and sprouted Triticum for aneostrous goats, feeding cotton seeds for enhancing growth, oral administration of a mixture of asafoetida, Chirayata swertia, Trachyspermum ammi and black salt for bloat, feeding a paste of Curcuma longa, Trachyspermum ammi and black salt for fever and pneumonia, feeding castor (Ricinus communis) seeds for constipation were evaluated.