Adoption of cattle rearing practices by dairy cattle owners in Latur district

The present investigation was undertaken to study the adoption of cattle rearing practices by dairy cattle owners. The sample of 60 respondents was selected for present study. 53.33 per cent of the respondents were between 36 and 50 years with 36.67 per cent had primary school education and 63.33 per cent of the respondents were having nuclear type of family. 28.33 per cent of the respondents were semi medium farmers (2.01 to 4.0 hectares land) and 78.33 per cent of the respondents depend on agriculture. It was noticed from the study that 45.00 per cent of the respondents were having annual income ranging from Rs. 36,001 to 60,000/-. Regarding breed wise livestock population is concerned that 55.00 per cent respondents possessed Deoni breed followed by Red Khandari (43.33%), non descriptive cattle (33.33%) and Marathwadi buffalo (10.00%). It was observed from study that, maximum score was obtained for adoption of cattle breeds of the region (90) followed by rearing of improved cattle breeds (65), adoption of types of cattle breeding (64), appropriate age of cow for breeding (53) and selection of bull for breeding (45) as adoption of breeding practices by the dairy cattle owners. It was also observed that the category wise adoption index was presented in which feeding practices for cow possessed more adoption index (57.36) followed by feeding practices for newly born calf (54.83), breeding practices (52.83) and health care practices (40.20). The overall adoption index was 52.17.