Indigenous Rearing Practices on Kasargod Cattle Farming Systems of Kerala

Kasargod is the northern most district in Kerala. It is from this district that the Kasargod cattle have been reported. Simple random sampling was then used to select 60 farmers rearing Kasargod cattle. Triangulation involving the use of observations, focus group discussions, SWOT analysis, in-depth interviews and questionnaires were used for data collection. Among the various indigenous practices on selection of Kasargod cattle, the practice of selecting animals with shaky horns was adopted to the highest extent whereas that on selecting animals with a long body was adopted to the least extent. The most extensively adopted indigenous feeding practice was that of feeding animals with thin rice gruel as a source of water while the least adopted indigenous feeding practice was that of feeding a fodder variety called parappullu in local parlance as roughage. The practices on having sheds with elevated mangers as well as that on having the floor of sheds half to one meter below the ground level was continued to be adopted by more than 98.33 per cent of respondents and hence were ranked first among all the indigenous housing practices related to Kasargod cattle. . The practice of serving females after 3 years of age was the practice adopted to the greatest extent while that on feeding sprouted horse gram / black gram / green gram in cases where the animals did not show heat was the least adopted practice. The results of the present study points to the fact that it is important to have more in depth studies of the Kasargod cattle system in order to further explore the system of rearing and thus ensure the sustainable conservation of this breed.