Feeding practices followed by professional Kankrej cow owners of Banaskantha district of North Gujarat

This surveillance was carried out on 200 Kankrej cow owners of 20 villages in WAV, Tharad, Kankrej, Deesa and Dhanera talukas of North Gujarat, which are densely populated with Kankrej cow breeders. The objective was to identify various constraints faced by them in feeding and rearing their dairy animals through personal interview schedule. Majority of Professional Kankrej cattle owners were small, marginal and landless. They grazed their animals mainly on natural Shedha grass, while 40.0, 20, 10 per cent supplied additional green fodder in the form of green jowar, Rajaka bajari and Lucern respectively and dry fodder straw to their animals. Almost all Kankrej cow owners also offered compounded concentrate mixture to their animals. Majority (70.0%) of the Kankrej owners were fed colostrums to newly born calves whereas 50.0 per cent of them fed colostrums to the newly born calves even before expulsion of placenta. The major constraints faced were inadequate perennial pasture land for grazing, high cost of green fodder and concentrate and lack of credit facilities to cultivate green fodder or purchase of dry fodder in bulk.