Housing and Feeding Practices Followed by Sheep and Goat Farmers in Telangana

A study was aimed to assess housing and feeding practices followed by sheep and goat farmers under different rearing systems in Telangana. The study was conducted in six districts, namely, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda (Southern zone), Siddipet and Warangal (Central zone), and Nizamabad and Jagityal (Northern zone). From each district, four mandals and from each mandal, 20 farmers (10 sheep and 10 goat farmers; five extensive, four semi-intensive and one intensive in each species) were selected. The average flock size under extensive, semi-intensive and intensive systems was 53, 61 and 90 sheep and 55, 66 and 84 goats respectively. The majority of farmers (66.26%) provided shelter only at night, with predominance of kuchcha flooring (58.12%) and asbestos roofing (70.21%). Separate house for young stock (95.00%) and good ventilation (97.29%) were mostly observed. Half of the respondents (50.00%) practised complete grazing, while 42.50% adopted grazing with supplementation. Community land was the major grazing source (74.17%). A total of 66.25% farmers provided concentrate supplementation before breeding and 79.38% during advanced pregnancy. The findings indicate a gradual shift from traditional extensive systems towards semi-intensive rearing to improve the productivity of sheep and goats.