Existing Livestock Rearing Practices in the Surrounding Villages of Ranthambore Tiger Reserv, India

An extensive survey-based study was conducted in the year of 2021-2022 to collect the information regarding existing livestock practices adopted by the farmers in the 30 surrounding villages of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) through a designed questionnaire on livestock practices. RTR is divided in two zone namely buffer and core zone these both zone were selected. There are 304 villages existing in the eco-sensitive region of RTR, among them 30 villages selected randomly and 12 farmers from each villages were selected, randomly, so total sample size was 360 for the present study. It was found that majority of the respondents were reared buffalo followed by cattle and goat. Livestock keepers have belonged to average age was 46 years old and average milk production among them was 12.50 liter per day which was quite good. In existing breeding practices common sign of estrus was frequent urination identified by 93.61 per cent of respondents. A majority (63.61%) of respondents mated their animals within 12 hours after heat detection. All of them offered lukewarm water in case of retained placenta followed by desi formula ghugri made by wheat by 62.11 per cent of respondents. The majority (60.83%) of the livestock keeper adopted stall feeding and gazing up to 4 hours in adjoining reserve areas. The majority (72.11%) of the respondents adopted elfmedication against mastitis in case of failed then used to consult with a veterinarian. The government provided vaccination of FMD to their livestock. The majority of the respondents do not have pucca houses for their animals and used manger of feeding made by concrete. All the respondents call the contractor to dispose of dead animals. So overall, farmers have good knowledge regarding livestock practices but need to provide scientific knowledge to them to uplift their livelihood.