Prevailing Buffalo Calf Rearing Practices and Mortality Patterns in the Operational Area of Dairy Vigyan Kendra, Gujarat

Abstract

Background: The study aimed to observe the prevailing buffalo calf rearing practices and mortality patterns in the operational area of Dairy Vigyan Kendra (DVK), Vejalpur, Gujarat, India. Methods: Using the simple random sampling method, 240 buffalo owners from 24 villages of 6 talukas from the operational area of Dairy Vigyan Kendra were selected. The data were collected based on the interview schedule. Result: The majority of buffalo owners had not adopted the different management practices viz., provision of milk replacer, calf starter, mineral mixture, salt, deworming agent at every month up to six months and vaccine. An overall buffalo calf mortality was observed 24.26% in the study area. There was a higher mortality rate in male calves (45.00%) than female buffalo calves (14.58%) because of negligence towards the male calf. The mortality rate observed was higher during the first three months of age (90.98%) and during winter (45.08%). A negative and significant relationship was observed between some important calf rearing practices like colostrum feeding time, providing milk replacer, calf starter, concentrate feed, mineral mixture, dewormer and vaccines to calves with female buffalo calf mortality. Participation in various animal husbandry training programs and adoption of scientific management practices to large herd size farms will be helpful to reduce female buffalo calf mortality rate at the field level.