|
|||||||||
| Economy > Livestock | |||||||||
Location |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| Feeding Practices and Fodder Needs | |||||||||
| Buffaloes are
largely stall-fed on grass or hay harvested from rangeland and cereal
and pulse straw from arable land. Cattle, particularly those located
on the steeper agricultural lands, obtain most of their feed from
grazing open rangelands and forest areas during the summer and most
of the winter. Sheep and goats obtain the bulk of their feed from
open ranges and forest areas, but goats browse more on shrubs and
bushes than sheep, which prefer forbs and grasses. In the winter,
sheep are confined to household yards longer than goats with about
8% of their annual feed requirements coming from arable land crop
residues and about 2% from range-hay. Goats are only stall-fed on
very snowy winter days and obtain negligible quantities of feed
from crop land residues and range-hay.
Horses, donkeys and mules are commonly more stall-fed than all
other livestock except buffaloes. Approximately 30% of stall-fed
forage comes from cropland residues, 10% from range-hay, and about
60% of their forage from grazing wasteland and open rangeland.
|
|||||||||
| Local Prices of Livestock | |||||||||
Sale and purchase
are locally done by the on spot cash payment or in instalments,
which can increase the price of the animal, depending on the number
of instalments involved.  |
|||||||||
| Problems with Livestock in Palas | |||||||||
| Livestock diseases are common and
include ecto and endo parasites; pleuro-pneumonia, haemorrhagic septicaemia,
foot-and-mouth, mange and diarrhoea. Local chicken lay only 50-60
eggs per year, and among the problems with poultry, Newcastle's disease
is devastating. There is currently no government or private veterinary
service. Government services are unlikely to be extended to a remote
area like Palas and therefore sheep and goats fall prey to various
epidemics and predation. It has been reported that one of the reason
for the decrease in the number small ruminants is the migration of
the Gujars and other ethnic groups. |
|||||||||
| Institutional Support | |||||||||
The NWFP Livestock and Dairy Development
Directorate has three principal services covering artificial insemination,
in-service training, and veterinary extension. The principal services
received directly by farmers are the provision of artificial insemination
for local cattle and buffaloes at Dassu, but most of the service
delivery facilities are altogether absent in the project area. Veterinary
treatment for animal diseases is provided at Dassu, whereas it is
not available anywhere in the study area.
|
|||||||||
