UPMSP Intermediate Animal Husbandry - Code 171 cheat sheet

Livestock sector contributes roughly 4-5% of India's gross value added and about one-third of agricultural GVA; it grows faster than the crop sector.

India ranks first in the world in milk production, buffalo milk output and goat milk output, and among the top in egg and meat production.

Livestock provides drought-proof income and insurance against crop failure, which is why it matters most to small, marginal and landless households.

Dairy animals are concentrated in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh; poultry is concentrated in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Mixed crop-livestock farming recycles crop residues as fodder and dung as manure, lowering purchased input costs.

Key institutions: Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (Union), State Animal Husbandry Departments, ICAR research institutes and veterinary universities.

Livestock census is conducted every five years by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying; it is the main source of breed-wise population data.

Main constraints: low productivity per animal, feed and fodder shortage, inadequate breeding cover, and weak veterinary and market infrastructure.

Cattle are classified as milch (Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir, Tharparkar, Rathi), draft (Hallikar, Khillari, Kangayam, Amritmahal, Nagori) and dual-purpose (Hariana, Ongole, Kankrej, Mewati).

Zebu cattle (Bos indicus) carry a hump and dewlap and tolerate heat; exotic dairy breeds such as Holstein Friesian and Jersey are Bos taurus and are used mainly through crossbreeding.

Buffalo breeds: Murrah (Haryana, highest milk yield, curled horns), Nili-Ravi and Surti (Punjab/Gujarat, wall eyes), Jaffarabadi (Gujarat, heavy), Mehsana, Nagpuri and Bhadawari (high fat).

Sheep are grouped by purpose: wool (Merino, Rambouillet, Bharat Merino), mutton (Suffolk, Nellore, Mandya, Madgyal) and carpet wool (Chokla, Nali, Marwari, Patanwadi).

Goat breeds: Sirohi, Beetal, Jamunapari, Barbari (milk/meat), Black Bengal (prolific, meat), Surti, Osmanabadi and Changthangi (pashmina).

Pig breeds: indigenous Ghungroo, Niang Megha, Doom and Ankamali; exotic Large White Yorkshire, Landrace, Hampshire and Duroc used for crossbreeding.

Poultry: indigenous Aseel, Kadaknath (black meat), Chittagong and Nicobari; improved layers such as White Leghorn, Rhode Island Red, and synthetic hybrids like Giriraja, Vanaraja and Gramapriya for backyard systems.

Duck breeds include Khaki Campbell (layer), White Pekin (meat) and Indian Runner; turkey, guinea fowl and quail are minor poultry species.

Proximate analysis fractions: moisture, crude protein (N x 6.25), crude fibre, ether extract, nitrogen-free extract and total ash; these describe feed composition, not digestibility.

Ruminants need a minimum crude fibre (roughage) level to keep rumen function; concentrate is supplemented for energy and protein according to production level.

Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) and digestible crude protein (DCP) are the standard measures for ration balancing in Indian feeding schedules.

Maintenance plus production is the basis of ration formulation: energy and protein allowances rise with milk yield, growth, pregnancy and work.

Common roughages: green fodder (berseem, lucerne, hybrid napier, maize), dry fodder (wheat straw, paddy straw) and silage; common concentrates: maize, oats, gram, mustard cake, groundnut cake, cottonseed cake.

Urea treatment of straw raises crude protein and digestibility; urea/molasses blocks supply non-protein nitrogen, but urea must never be fed in excess or to non-ruminants.

Mineral mixture, common salt and clean water are essential; water intake roughly 3-5 litres per litre of milk produced.

Anti-nutritional factors: gossypol in cottonseed cake, glucosinolates in mustard cake, and aflatoxin risk in improperly stored groundnut cake.

Selection is choosing animals to be parents; it is effective only for heritable traits, and milk yield has moderate heritability while fertility traits are low.

Selection methods: mass selection (individual merit), progeny testing (sires, especially for milk), family selection and tandem or index selection.

Pedigree, individual performance, progeny and collateral relatives are the four sources of information used to estimate breeding value.

Inbreeding raises homozygosity and exposes recessive defects; crossbreeding exploits heterosis and is the basis of exotic-indigenous dairy crosses.

Artificial insemination (AI) allows one superior bull to serve many cows, controls venereal disease and removes the need to keep bulls on farm.

Estrus (heat) cycle in cattle and buffalo averages about 21 days, with heat lasting roughly 12-18 hours; ovulation occurs near the end of heat, so insemination is timed late in heat or 12 hours after standing heat.

Gestation: cattle about 280 days, buffalo about 310 days, sheep and goats about 150 days, pig about 114 days.

Puberty age: cattle heifers around 15-18 months, buffalo around 24-30 months; age at first calving is a key herd efficiency indicator.

Housing should give dry flooring, good drainage, ventilation without draught, protection from heat and rain, and easy cleaning.

Floor space norms: loose housing about 4-5 sq m per adult cattle, about 3-4 sq m per buffalo; calf pens need about 1.5-2 sq m per calf.

Manger length per animal is roughly 70-80 cm for cattle and buffalo; water trough space is about 60 cm per animal.

Byre (stanchion) barns suit small herds, loose housing with a loafing area suits larger herds; a north-south ridge orientation reduces heat load.

Ventilation ridge opening and adequate side openings control humidity and ammonia; wet floors cause foot rot and mastitis risk.

Farm records: breeding register, calving register, milk register, feed register, health and treatment register, and financial records; these drive culling and breeding decisions.

Equipment: chaff cutter, milking machine, milk cans, weigh scale, dehorner, castrator, ear tags, and a first-aid kit; machinery should be cleaned and serviced on a schedule.

Culling decisions use milk yield, reproduction, health and age; a cow that fails to conceive after repeated services is a candidate for culling.

Average milk composition: cow milk about 3.5-4.5% fat and 3.2-3.5% protein; buffalo milk about 6-8% fat and higher total solids.

Colostrum (first milk) is rich in immunoglobulins and must be fed to the calf within the first hours of life; it is not saleable milk.

Clean milk production steps: wash hands and udder, use a clean dry cloth, foremilk strip in a separate cup, sanitised milking utensils, and immediate cooling.

Milk is cooled to about 4°C to slow bacterial growth; raw milk should be filtered and chilled within two hours of milking.

Platform tests: clot-on-boiling, alcohol test, methylene blue reduction test and resazurin test give quick quality and keeping-quality indications.

Chemical tests: Gerber method for fat, Kjeldahl for protein, lactometer for specific gravity and added-water detection; somatic cell count indicates udder health.

Processing terms: pasteurisation (about 63°C for 30 min or 72°C for 15 s), sterilisation, homogenisation (fat globule size reduction) and cream separation.

Products: butter, ghee, paneer, curd, khoa, flavoured milk and milk powder; ghee is judged by Reichert-Meissl and butyro-refractometer values.

Layer production targets about 300-320 eggs per hen in a production cycle; broilers reach market weight of about 1.8-2.2 kg in 5-6 weeks.

Incubation: chicken eggs hatch in 21 days, duck and turkey in 28 days, quail in 17-18 days; incubation temperature about 37.5-37.8°C with turning.

Sexing: day-old chicks by vent sexing, feather sexing or wing-band; sex separate rearing improves uniformity.

Light management: 14-16 hours of light stimulates lay in layers; broilers usually get near-continuous light for feed intake.

Brooding temperature starts around 33-35°C in week one and drops about 3°C per week; chick behaviour signals comfort.

Backyard poultry with Vanaraja, Gramapriya or Giriraja suits low-input rural systems; they need night shelter, vaccination and supplementary feed.

Ventilation and stocking density control ammonia and respiratory disease; wet litter causes coccidiosis and footpad problems.

Egg quality: albumen index, Haugh unit, yolk colour and shell strength; eggs are graded by weight and stored cool and dry.

Viral diseases: foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest (historically), bluetongue, peste des petits ruminants, rabies, and in poultry Ranikhet disease (Newcastle) and infectious bursal disease.

Bacterial diseases: anthrax, black quarter, haemorrhagic septicaemia, brucellosis, tuberculosis, mastitis and Johne's disease; many are zoonotic.

Parasitic diseases: fascioliasis (liver fluke), amphistomiasis, ascariasis, coccidiosis, babesiosis and theileriosis; ticks transmit blood protozoa.

Metabolic and production disorders: milk fever (hypocalcaemia), ketosis, bloat, acidosis, retained placenta and downer cow syndrome.

Mastitis control: post-milking teat dip, dry cow therapy, clean bedding, milking machine maintenance; subclinical mastitis is detected by California Mastitis Test.

Vaccination calendar: FMD, HS and BQ in cattle and buffalo; PPR and enterotoxaemia in sheep and goats; Ranikhet and IBD in poultry; rabies in dogs.

Zoonoses and hygiene: brucellosis, tuberculosis, anthrax and salmonellosis; use protective clothing, disinfect premises and dispose of carcasses properly.

Signs of health: alert posture, normal temperature (cattle about 38-39°C, poultry about 40-41°C), regular rumination, normal dung and appetite.

Farmyard manure output is roughly 10-15 tonnes per adult cattle per year; dung and urine are the base of biogas and compost systems.

Biogas plants (fixed dome, floating drum, Deenbandhu) convert dung to methane-rich gas and leave enriched slurry as fertiliser.

Vermicomposting converts dung and litter into nutrient-rich castings; poultry litter is high in nitrogen and must be composted before field use.

By-products: hides and skins (leather), bones (bone meal, gelatin), horns and hooves, blood meal, tallow, and poultry feathers (feather meal).

Integrated systems: crop-livestock, fish-duck, fish-pig, poultry-crop and biogas-livestock; they recycle nutrients and reduce purchased inputs.

Duck-fish integration uses duck droppings to fertilise pond plankton; pig-fish integration is common in the north-east.

Silvopasture and fodder trees (subabul, ber, mulberry) supply green fodder and reduce dependence on crop residues.

Waste management: proper carcass disposal by deep burial or incineration, and manure storage away from water sources to avoid contamination.

Extension methods: individual (farm visit, office call), group (demonstration, field day, farmer interest group) and mass (radio, TV, print, mobile advisory).

Key extension agents: village-level workers, livestock inspectors, gopalan mitras and dairy cooperative societies.

Milk marketing channels: village cooperative society to district union to state federation (Anand pattern), private dairy, and direct sale.

Milk pricing is usually fat-based or a fat and solids-not-fat formula; cooperative societies pay on a fat and SNF basis.

Livestock market infrastructure: cattle markets, regulated markets, e-NAM and the National Livestock Mission support marketing and entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship opportunities: dairy micro-enterprise, poultry hatchery, goat rearing, fodder production, milk processing, vermicompost and livestock insurance services.

Credit and support: Kisan Credit Card for animal husbandry, NABARD refinance, dairy entrepreneurship development schemes and state subsidies.

Extension adoption is influenced by perceived profitability, risk, social norms and access to inputs, credit and market information.