Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Poultry
Animal husbandry questions cover cattle and buffalo breeds, feeding, breeding and health, plus poultry types and products.
Breeds
- Milch cattle: Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir, Tharparkar. Dual purpose: Hariana, Gangatiri (UP), Kankrej, Ongole. Draught: Nagori, Amritmahal. Exotic: Holstein Friesian and Jersey, used for crossbreeding.
- Buffalo: Murrah (highest milk yield, 6–8% fat), Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jaffarabadi and Bhadawari (UP, high fat).
- Poultry: indigenous Aseel, Kadaknath and Brahma; layers such as Leghorn (white eggs) and Rhode Island Red; broiler strains for meat.
Feeding and care
- Ration = roughage (green fodder, dry straw) + concentrate (maize, oil cake, gram chuni, mineral mixture).
- Concentrate rule for a crossbred cow: 1.5 kg maintenance plus 1 kg for every 2.5 L of milk above the first 5 L.
- Colostrum within the first hour of birth; deworming and vaccination against Ranikhet (Newcastle disease), fowl pox and Marek's disease.
Worked example
A crossbred cow yields 15 L daily. Maintenance 1.5 kg + milk allowance 15 ÷ 2.5 = 6 kg, so total concentrate = 7.5 kg, with 25–30 kg green fodder and 4–5 kg dry straw. If yield falls to 10 L, concentrate becomes 1.5 + 4 = 5.5 kg.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling Murrah a cattle breed; it is a buffalo breed.
- Writing Jersey or Holstein as indigenous breeds.
- Applying the milk allowance without the maintenance part.
- Saying colostrum should be discarded - it carries antibodies.
- Mixing layer (egg) and broiler (meat) production.