Sheep rearing: Socio-economics and health practices in south kashmir of Jammu and Kashmir

A study was conducted to investigate the socio-economics of sheep rearers and health practices prevalent in sheep rearing in all the 4 tehsils (Pulwama, Pampore, Awantipora and Tral) of district Pulwama in Kashmir valley. A total of 34 villages with 340 respondents were surveyed using a pre-structured questionnaire. The results revealed that majority of respondents had medium sized (62.35%), joint type (52.06%) families and agriculture as primary occupation (54.12%). Majority of the respondents were 51–60 yrs old (32.65%) and illiterate (39.12%). Majority (53.24%) of the respondents had income of Rs.11000 to 20000/- per month, sheep rearing experience of 10–15 yrs (34.12%) and with women involvement (61.18%). The average flock strength was 39.61±0.84. Majority (76.77%) were reported to sell their sheep to middleman at home/farm (98.24%) with mode of transaction as cash (72.35%). Veterinary health care facility within a distance of 2 to 6 km (56.47%), deworming of sheep (63.23%), vaccinating irregularly (66.47%), not using precautionary measures for disease control (59.12%) and lamb mortality of >10% (35.29%) were reported by respondents. It was concluded that marginal landholders with agriculture as primary and sheep farming as secondary occupation with significant involvement of women were practiced by majority of sheep rearers in South Kashmir.