The behaviour of dairy farmers towards rearing cross bred cows in Banaskantha district of Gujarat

Abstract

Dairy farming in India is one of the most important means of providing livelihood and nutritional security to a vast rural population. Though Gujarat is one of the leading states in the dairy sector, it has inherent constraints of a low-yielding non-descript cattle population, along with a scarcity of balanced feed and fodder resources. No previous attempts had been made to study the attitude of dairy farmers towards rearing crossbred cows. Therefore, taking these considerations into account, the present study was conducted in Banaskantha district of Gujarat. The majority of the respondents had a neutral attitude towards rearing crossbred cows, followed by favourable and unfavourable attitudes. The study highlighted the need for organizing more training programmes related to crossbred cow-rearing practices and active participation by dairy farmers, which would bring a significant change in the attitude of dairy farmers towards crossbred cows.