Problems and Prospects of Small Scale Beef Cattle Fattening Program in a Selected Area of Bangladesh

The study was conducted to identify the problems and prospects associated with small scale beef cattle fattening program in three upazilas under Jhenaidah district of Bangladesh. Data were collected from sixty (60) respondents involved in cattle farming through questionnaire. The results indicated that majority (66.6 %) of the farmers was middle aged (36-55 years) having various degree of education (73.4 %) while 60 % of the farmers had small sized family (1-4 members) with 38.3 % farmers belonged to landless. About 58.3 % farmer�s income was between 100, 000 to 200, 000 BD Taka and 78.3 % of the farmers involved in agriculture while all the farmers used their own capital for beef cattle production. Most (93.3 %) of the farmers didn�t get any training whereas various level of experiences was observed among the farmers. Majority (63.3 %) of the farmers never went to upazila livestock office for getting information about beef cattle production. The current status related to beef cattle production revealed that majority (46.7 %) of the farmers used artificial insemination while all of the farmers used male cattle for their fattening program. About 58.3 % farmers used cattle of less than 1 year whereas none of them practiced urea molasses straw and silage feeding and growth hormone in the fattening program. Only 26.7 % of the farmers provided vaccination and 65 % used vitamin and minerals while 90 % used local doctors to treat diseases. Most of the farmers (98 %) didn�t isolate disease infected cattle from other healthy cattle and 38.3 % farmers used to access their cattle to outdoor while 31.7 % in pasture. Only 3.3 % farmers used to keep records regularly. Most (73.33 %) of the farmers faced low problem while 26.67 % faced medium problem in small scale beef cattle fattening program. Lack of training opportunity, high cost of vaccines, limitation of knowledge were the top three problems of the farmers in small scale beef cattle fattening program which might be solved providing proper training, credit facilities, communication media exposure and extension services.