eChapters

Livestock economics and marketing plays an important role in the economy of farmers in the country. Marketing of goats and goat products suffers from many drawbacks such as involvement of middlemen, avoidable marketing cost, and unnecessary transportation, mortality of animals during transit leading to exploitation of both producers and the consumers. Goat keeping and marketing is fraught with risks. Risks in goat keeping can be managed or reduced but cannot be completely eliminated. Some of the precautions needed include following the recommended systems of management and health care, use good feeding and vaccination schedules and master the art of marketing. Marketing of goat is under the hand of unorganized sector and middleman oriented. Goat producers themselves are most often involved in informal market systems which lead to underestimation of goats’ contribution to the rural and national economy. Goats from villages are sold to middleman or butcher or in the local goat market that go to the slaughterhouses of organized or unorganized sector. Male goat is sold at the age of 12-15 months and at higher prices. However, farmer grows the male goat to sell in festive season for more profit. Market Goat price is highly variable. It differs from region to region. In area where good breeds of goat found, the prices are more for these animals. It also depends on health, body status, production potential and market demand for meat/milk of animals. Infact, male goat is sacrificed before God in many places. Goat market price gets higher during the festive season of Bakrid. “Bakra bech rahe ho ya sona,” a customer was heard exclaiming at Nai Sadak Mandi, considered the biggest goat market in Kanpur. During Bakri Id, male goat is sold even at the cost of Rs 30-35 thousand. Similar stories are commonplace in most other goat markets. Lame and ailing goats are not purchased by customers for sacrificial purpose. For this purpose goats which are at least a year old are purchased. They are recognised by their two teeth.If animal is young one (1-2 yrs old & or pregnant), then price is higher than old animal. Female goats are sold to market for slaughter at the end of their productive life (Spent goat. Normally goats are sold on lot basis and not on body weight basis. With advancing knowledge, the farmers are now demanding price on body weight basis.

A disease is any process which disrupts an animals’s normal function. Occurrence of diseases causes heavy economic loss in terms of livestock health and production. Presence and accumulation of infectious agents in the environment lead to reduction in quality and quantity of animal products. Strategic control and eradication of economically important diseases will result in enhancing goat production in the country. Goat suffer from many diseases although the susceptibility of goats to diseases is less as compared to sheep or cattle. Goat diseases can be bacterial, viral or parasitic. Viral diseases are more common in herds and are responsible for large scale mortality at one time. With a good hygiene in the barn and if the goats are kept in a way appropriate to their species, most of the diseases can be avoided.

Much attention has not been paid for prevention and control of goat diseases since most of the goats are reared by poor people and prevention and control is generally considered uneconomical. However, this is not true, as small investment in disease prevention and control can bring enormous gains in goat productivity. Simple preventive measures like deworming and vaccination alone can save the herds from heavy mortality and can increase production considerably. Serious and early efforts on diagnosis and prevention of goat diseases are essential in order to improve the health and production. A wide range of bacterial, viral, parasitic infections, causing heavy mortality and morbidity result in huge economic loss to different goat farming systems. Metabolic and nutritional disorders in goats also affect their production performance. Metabolic disorders are of great importance in pregnant goats, especially those carrying multiple foetuses. Deficiencies of essential minerals, metabolites and amino acids below the critical level also adversely affect the production. Therefore, it is necessary to avert these imbalances (calcium, magnesium, Co, Cu, Zinc, Iodine) in the ration. Provision for extra energy and protein in late pregnancy are necessary to avoid parturient paresis due to low blood sugar and high ketones and hepatic insufficiency of glycogen. Soil- plant- animal interactions in relation to the incidence of chronic deficiency diseases of goats are often being observed.

Goats are used primarily for milk and meat production, but their skin is also a valuable by- product. Goats are an important source of hides and skin . The term hide is used to denote the outer covering of large animals such as cows, buffaloes, horses ,sheep, camel etc. The term “Skin” is applied to that of smaller animals such as sheep, goats , calves etc. Raw hides and skins are used mainly for the manufacture of leather.Goat skin is in great demand for making leather gloves , shoes , luggage, book covers etc.Goat skin was also used in many of the musical instruments .Goat skin has been used since time immemorial as water-containers. The water containers from goat skin were called “Mushk” and the person carrying such containers as “Bhisti”.Pelt is undressed skin of sheep & goats. To prevent putrefication, the skin is treated as well as preserved by dry salting and are graded according to curled type quality of the skin.

The Leather Industry holds a prominent place in the Indian economy. India produces 13.14% of the goat skin production of the world.This sector is known for its consistency in high export earnings and it is among the top ten foreign exchange earners for the country. With an annual turnover of over US$ 7 billion, the export of leather and leather products increased manifold over the past decades and touched US$ 3.40 billion in 2009-10; recording a cumulative annual growth rate of about 5.43% (5 years).It is estimaed that 72.3 million goat skins were produced in India in 2008 (FAOSTAT). India ranks second among the goat skin producing countries of the world, second only to China. India produced 130 thousand tones of goat skin in 2008 ( FAOSTAT) against China producing 351.7 thousand tones and Pakistan 94 thousand tonnes (FAO Stat).

The major production centers for leather and leather products are located in Tamil Nadu - Chennai, Ambur, Ranipet, Vaniyambadi, Trichy, Dindigul ; West Bengal –Kolkata ; Uttar Pradesh –Kanpur, Agra & Noida ; Maharashtra –Mumbai; Punjab –Jallandhar ; Karnataka –Bangalore ; Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad ; Haryana - Ambala, Gurgaon, Panchkula and Karnal; Delhi. India is the second largest producer of leather footwear and garments in the world.

The goat milk has several peculiarities, being a food of high digestibility and high nutritional value.Goats can hardly compete with cattle or buffalo in milk production ability. Goats produce approximately 2% of the world’s total annual milk supply. Neverthless, goat is an important source of animal protein for the landless and marginal farmers of tropical countreis, in areas where other classes of livestook cannot possibly survive and for several classes of people allergic to cow milk. Goats contribute about 4 % of the total milk produced in India. Goats and sheep producing milk for people start with the beginnings of domestication. For thousands of years they have provided sustainance for the people. During the last 150 years genetic selection and better feeding conditions led to several superior goat and sheep breeds in some countries in terms of milk and solids productivity, proving a great potential for evolution in both species, and responding to an increasing market demand and popularity. Some sheep breeds can produce more than 1000 kg milk in one lactation and several goat breeds more than 2000 kg milk, but in physiologically comparable terms of 4% fat-corrected milk both species can be equal. Goat milk production leaders have been capable of producing 10 kg milk per day of lactation.

Goat has been referred to as the Poor mans cow or wet nurse in Europe. Goat provides the cheapest source of milk to the poor both in rural and urban areas. The milk of goats is sweet, nourishing and medicinal. Goat milk is white in colour. Goat milk is whiter than whole cow milk. Butter and cheese made from goat milk are also white, but may be colored during processing. Exploitation of goats as a source of milk for human beings dates back from antiquity. Goat milk has been acknowledged as an ideal food for the aged, the sick and convalescent as well as for infants and growing children. Ever since Cleopatra filled her bathtub with goat milk , fresh goat’s milk has been revered for its superior moisturizing properties.

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, liver, brain, bone marrow, kidney, or lung. Meat is a nutrient dense food. Meat contains protein, fat, enzymes, vitamins and minerals for proper human nutrition. Goats are important producer of meat besides milk, fiber and skin. Goat meat is lower in calories, total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, than traditional meats.Goat have number of characteristics , such as high reproductive potential , short generation interval , ability to thrive on shrubs, bushes and tree leaves, high digestive efficiency for cellulose and less susceptibility to infectious diseases, that make them suitable as meat producing livestock. Since these animals are more concentrated in the developing part of the world, they play a major role in subsistence agriculture of developing economies of poor and marginal farmers inhabiting such countries. More than 95 % of goats are concentrated in dry tropical and subtropical areas of poor agricultural potential and even on marginal lands of the world (Morand Fehr and Boyazoglu, 1999). Goat has several other advantages as producer of meat which make it predominant and preferred animal for meat production. Often because of the above mentioned reason, goat meat is sold two to three times costlier as compared to pork in India. Beef is unavailable in India with the exception of Kerala and West Bengal. Goat meat has an edge over mutton too, as the number of goats slaughtered for meat purposes (40%) far exceeds the number of sheep slaughtered for similar purposes. The slaughter rate of goat is at the level of 39.7 % as compared to 31.8% for sheep and 11% for buffaloes, respectively. Sheep and goat meat are both called “mutton” in India. Goats convert the poor quality roughage, browse tree leaves, which would have otherwise gone waste, into valuable source of protein in several desert or hostile areas of the world where other classes of livestock like cattle and buffalo will starve to death. Goat meat production and consumption has an important place in the economy of Asian and African countries. Goats have been recognized as an important source of meat in the rural areas of these countries. Commercial meat-goat enterprises account for majority of the meat-goat production systems and herd sizes range from five to several thousand does. Prolificacy, milk production and pre-weaning growth are important in achieving good productivity of commercial meat production enterprises.

Reproductive processes have profound influence on the ultimate economics of livestock production. Regularity in reproductive functions guarantees a profitable return to the farmers. Reproductive efficiency is paramount to the success of goat husbandry. Disruption of one or another of the reproductive processes in male and female results in decreased reproductive efficiency and hence is of concern to the animal production strategies. Reproductive performance or efficiency depends on many hormonal, genotypic and environmental factors. Environmental stress can drastically reduce reproductive efficiency. Goats are the most prolific of all domesticated ruminants under tropical and subtropical conditions. Goats are genetically endowed with good reproductive efficiency in the sense that goats can breed three times in two years and many breeds give birth to twin and triplets.

Age at puberty in male and female goat

Puberty is the time when the reproduction first becomes possible and is characterized by the release of germ cells and sexual maturity. Age at puberty depends primarily on the growth rate of the kid which in turn depends on its quality and quantity of the feed offered.

Age at puberty in males has been variously defined as the age at which the complete separation of the penis occurs from the sheath, or the age of 1st appearance of spermatozoa in the seminiferous tubules or the availability of the first ejaculate. Although animals develop sex play much earlier than their ability to reproduce,considerable variation can exist between the age at puberty determined in different ways as it evident from the study of Elwishy and Elsawaf (1971) in male Damascus goats. The separation of the penis occurs at a mean age of 242.9 days while first ejaculate could be obtained only at the age of 509.2 days. Age at puberty varies with different breeds, plane of nutrition, presence of females etc. The endocrine development usually precedes the testicular development and androgen production is usually high prior to the actual onset of puberty.

Introduction

Optimum nutrition is one of the fundamental requirement for sustainable and efficient goat production . It involves the judicious selection and use of available feed resources in formulating a palatable, economical and nutritionally balanced ration for goats. In common with cattle, sheep and buffalo, goat is endowed with a pouch in the stomach called rumen and can digest a wide variety of herbage (tree leaves, grasses, weeds, legumes); agro-industrial by-products (Salseed meal, neem seed cake, bagasse, molasses, citrus pulp, oil cakes) and non-protein nitrogen sources such as urea. The rumen ecology of the goat is unique among other ruminants, with an adaptability to rapid changes in dietary components.Goats are reputed to be better utilizers of poor quality roughages. The traditional feeding systems for goats are based on native grasses available in the natural grassland and forests and the main constraints to goat production are lack of feed, particularly in the dry season. Goat production in developing countries is largely dependent on fibrous feeds –mainly crop residues and low quality pasture –that are deficient in nitrogen, minerals and vitamins. Goats diet in the tropics is largely composed of tree leaves and shrubs (browse), which ensure a reliable and steady supply of nutrients all the year around, albeit at a low to medium quality food

Goats are generally maintained on browsing on natural rangelands, community pastures and tree loppings. Goats prefer browsing as compared to grazing. They can digest tree leaves and farm weeds which cattle do not consume. Now the goats are being used as natural weeder. Goat producers in India are primarily located in semi-arid and arid zones where low capability land with shrub vegetation provides the grazing area. Improved pasture or its management for the goat production is naturally considered irrelevant to landless and socio-economically depressed farmers. Due to progressive fall in the forest cover (currently less than 20%), the administrators and planners are highly critical about the development of goats, dependent on extensive grazing in areas defined as fragile zone. On the contrary, the demand for reclamation of low capability soil to more productive agricultural land is ever increasing with the phenomenal growth in human population over the years in India.

Goat husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of goats. Goat rearing for long mainly consisted of “zero input” concept, which suits well under extensive system of management. Major goat management systems in vogue are nomadic (transhumant)/extensive, semi-intensive and intensive, which have evolved on age-old experience and convenience of resource poor farmers under diverse agro-climatic and agro-ecological conditions.

Nomadic/Transhumant/Migratory/Extensive System

Extensive grazing lands cover vast areas of temperate Asia, and are important both environmentally and as a source of livelihood for goat and sheep herders.This practice is strengthened by migratory, free range, pasture cum range grazing options. The goats are compelled to often graze over long distances in search of feed and water. Under nomdic (transhumant) system, both grasslands and browse are important vegetation type. Land tenure problems, or lack of clarity in grazing rights are some of the emerging challenges for the goat herders under nomadic system. Many a times, the conflict of interests between settled farmers and herders is increasing with rising population pressure and intensification of agriculture. Poor pasture condition is one of the major constraint for the goat herders under nomadic system. Some of the measures suggested to improve the situation include better grazing management, reseeding with high-yielding species, and herder training.

Goat and sheep are two species which have been traditionally managed extensively. Mixed flocks of sheep and goats are common, although separate flocks of either species can also be seen. Extensively managed animals have considerably more behavioural freedom compared to intensively managed animals that are always more confined. Goat has an advantage over other species of livestock in that they can live and produce on land unfavourable for other forms of agriculture. Goat has the ability to forage and survive in areas, where cattle and buffaloes would perform poorly. Goat can revert to wild conditions if given the opportunity whereas sheep donot.

Goat anatomy

Understanding of the basic structure and functioning of goats is required to maintain the health and productivity of goats. Anatomy deals with the form and structure of the animal whereas physiology deals with the mechanism of body functions.

The skeleton of goat is made up of the vertebral column, ribs and skull, the limbs, and the joints. There are 7 neck (cervical) vertebrae, 13 chest (thoracic) vertebrae, 6 or 7 lumbar vertebrae, 4 pelvic (sacral) vertebrae and between 4 and 8 tail (coccygeal) vertebrae.The ribs are elongated, curved bones that form the ribcage, which is the skeleton of the thoracic cavity (chest). There are 13 pairs of ribs attached to each side of the thoracic vertebrae. Most of them are fixed i.e. they are joined to the sternum (breastbone) at the front of the chest but the last two pairs are not attached at the front and are called floating ribs.The skull includes all the bones of the head. It consists of a number of flat bones that form immovable joints, most of which disappear with age; and a lower jaw bone (mandible), which forms movable joints with the other parts of the skull.The limbs include forelegs (thoracic limbs) and hindlegs (pelvic limbs). The forelegs consist of shoulder,forearm and a lower limb made up of carpus,metacarpus and phalanges. The hind legs consist of pelvic girdle, thigh, and a lower limb made up of tarsus, metatarsus and phalanges.

The joints are where two or more bones of cartilages meet. There are two main kinds of joints.Fixed or immovable joints have no joint cavity and are united by fibrous tissue or cartilage. Many of these are temporary joints which become fixed as calcium accumulates in the flexible tissues and turns to bone (calcifies) with age. Examples are the joints in theskull, the joints of ribs to vertebrae, and the pelvic and mandibular symphyses (midline joints).Movable joints have a joint cavity surrounded by ajoint capsule. There are two opposing bone surfaces,which have smooth surfaces of very dense bone.

Movable joints have cartilages between the bones to reduce friction and absorb concussion. The inner lining of the joint capsule is the synovial layer, which produces synovial fluid (joint fluid). Examples include joints of the limbs, such as the shoulder and the hip, and the joint between the skull and the vertebral column.

Mostly goats are reared in extensive small holder systems in developing countries. Goat breeding programmes in these environments have been limited, amongst other factors, by the non availability of pedigree and performance records for traits of economic importance. Cross-breeding and selection play an important role in increasing production in the goats.The development of breeding strategy for the improvement of goats should be based on genetic parameter estimates of economically important traits. Biological, cultural, statistical, socio-economical and management aspects should also be an important component of the selection process.

Goats were domesticated for the triple purpose of milk, meat and hair. Although the development of milk and hair producing animals did not go together, the development of meat and hair together worked very well and there are several breeds like Angora which in addition to providing fiber, are excellent meat animals too. The development of meat breeds was favored by natural selection. The characters which aided to this aspect were high fertility rates and the relatively more active life which goats were forced to lead in order to get enough of nutrition in poor agricultural lands, deserts etc. where these animals were domesticated. These animals were exposed to the vagaries of the environment resulting in decline in production traits such as milk, meat etc. But meat production was not. Most of the breeds of Asia and Africa are thus predominant meat breeds which have been improved little by conscious effort of breeders. Some of them still have slow growth rate and feed conversion efficiency. The preference for goat meat had eroded the dairy potential of Indian goats, as the fastest growing males are slaughtered for meat purposes and only poor animals are retained for breeding purposes. Careful selection and utilisation of breeding males can alleviate this problem to a large measure and animals for both milk and meat production can be developed.There are several goat breeds that have good potential for meat production. Generally, there have been limited planned selection and breeding programs carried out by animal scientists to improve rate of growth and carcass composition of goats. As a result, many goat breeds deposit less intramuscular and subcutaneous fat. In the past, domesticated meat animals were selected for heavier mature weight and greater rate of gain. Selection for such parameters usually resulted in undesirable characteristics because some of the animals had not only gained weight faster and were heavier at maturity, but also had more subcutaneous and intramascular fat. Since consumers currently prefer leaner red meat, the livestock industry is making significant changes to satisfy these demands. Goat meat has unique attributes which will be beneficial to the present day consumer. Goat meat has 10% more lean carcass than cattle. At the same time the fat content is lower by 47% than beef. These qualities of the goat meat need to be emphasized so that the general public can become aware of this useful product.

Worldwide, almost 90% of the human food supply is provided by only 15 crop species and eight livestock species. The eight livestock species useful to man include cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig, poultry, camel and horses. All or some of these species provide milk, meat, skin, fiber and manure for use of mankind. Whereas, milk and meat are important component of human food supply, skin, fiber and manure are also useful in different manner. Goats are important food-producing animals especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Goats are the most adaptable and geographically wide spread livestock species.

A breed of livestock is a group of animals that, through selection and breeding, have distinguishable characteristics and resemble one another and pass those traits uniformly to their offspring. Or A breed is defined as a group of animals that has been selected by humans to possess a set of inherited characteristics that distinguishes it from other animals within the same species. A cluster of domestic animals of a species where individuals are homogeneous in certain distinguishable characters which differ from one to the other group of animals constitute the breeds. Breeds are primarily distinguished by visual characteristics: color pattern, polled or horned condition, or extreme differences in form and shape. Breed is indicative of the perception of the breeders and the livestock industry which decides when a group of individuals constitutes a “breed”. Livestock breeds have evolved over time through genetic changes that are both natural and selected by man.

Primarily breeds have been developed to provide increased production of meat, milk and/or wool, pashmina within a certain environmental area. This breed development is a process of continuous selection over a number of generations so as to stabilize the characters in the animals for the selected traits. The distinguishable characters are quite often color markings, size, and shape, hair pattern which may have little economic significance in terms of meat, wool or pashmina production. Breed development may have begun soon after animals were first domesticated. Breed is a group of animals related by descent and similar in most characteristics like general appearance, features, size, configuration, etc. In most cases, selection has been practiced for many generations in order to fix certain characteristics in the breed. The goat breeds have since long been described primarily in terms of physical conformation (chiefly, ear, nose, face and horn), body coat/colour characteristics and body measurements with subtle reference to production traits. Today there are more than 300 breeds of goats, and they live in climates ranging from high altitude mountains to deserts. Some breeds are known by the same name in different places, but are phenotypically different from one place to another. Conversely, there are breeds that look alike but have different names in different places.

Over the past 12,000 years Homo sapiens have moved from the hunter–gatherer life-style to settled agriculture to advanced civilization in urban society with improved quality of life. Livestock has played an important role as an instrument of bringing out this change. Farmers all over the world, attach great importance to livestock ownership as a source of nutrition, as a mechanism for capital accumulation, and concomitantly, as a symbol of wealth and status in the community. Just as in today’s society, money is used to exchange goods and services, livestock including goats used to play the same role in times gone by. Most farmers consider livestock as a important resource for income generation. Livestock sector plays a significant role in supplementing family income and generating gainful employment in the rural sector, particularly among the landless, marginal and small farmers and women, besides providing cheap nutritional food to millions of people. History indicates that livestock has been not only a resource, but also an instrument of dominance and a source of conflict in the society. Livestock especially small ruminants have often served as a means for exchange of goods and services and thus becoming increasingly important in the growth of agriculture in developing economies.

Livestock species which man domesticated for improving the quality of human life include goat, sheep, cattle, buffalo, pig, poultry, horses and camels. Among these goats were the first among livestock species domesticated by man. Goats are among the smallest domesticated ruminants and have served mankind longer than cattle or sheep. Goat is an important source of meat, milk, skin, fiber and manure since then. Traditionally goats have been an important source of income generation among small households. Goats have been used to buy salt, cloth and groceries in many communities. Goats provide a large part of the cash income for smallholder farmers. Goats are friendly animals; with proper attention they maintain good health and can be managed easily even by children.

Sailors and other explorers out on the high seas kept goats as a ready stock of meat & milk on long voyages. Captain Cook’s goat had already sailed around the world before it entered on its first voyage with Cook, and helped save everyone on board the ship from scurvy. Goats are some times kept as pet or companion animal. Their use as pet is common in European countries especially U.K. Some owners keep goats for purpose of goat shows.

Administration

Term Administration is derived from a Latin word Administaire which means to serve. The word administration is also derived from the English word administracioun, which is in turn is derived from the French word administration, which itself has its root from the Latin word administratio, which means ad (to) and ministratio (give service). The term administration is a more general and comprehensive connotation and may be defined as the universal process of organizing people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives. Administration is a distinct skill and directed towards the guidance, leadership and control of the efforts of a group of individuals towards some common goal.

Administration is the art of guiding, coordinating and integrating policies established for any organizational unit to effectively and efficiently achieve the purpose of the organization.

Nearly 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, it is not possible that food production be adequate for their needs. In some areas of food production surplus, it must be brought to the deficit places where peoples live and work and made available at prices they can afford, otherwise many will remain hungry. This is why marketing is a crucial part of any campaign to relieve hunger. Marketing is the means by which food is brought from the place where it is produced to the people who want to eat it.

Marketing can be a very simple process and it can also be very complex. This depends on what must be done to the farmer’s product to get it from the field to the consumer in good conditions, in an acceptable form and to have it ready when the consumer wants.

Marketing is relatively simple in a village community which produces most of what it needs. Here the producer can sell directly to the consumers coming to his house, or he can attract them by displaying his produce in some central open space in the village which then becomes known as ‘the market’. The total volume of the livestock products sold in this way is still very large, especially in the less commercially developed countries. Direct marketing within the villages is sometimes praised because of its low cost, and also because it does not involve any ‘middleman’ between producer and consumer. But, if farmers sell their produce only to the local consumers, and if their land could produce more than they need, there is no way by which they can take advantage of these excess production potentialities. Similarly, if the consumers are only able to eat what is produced locally, which may confine them to a diet that is monotonous, unsatisfying and very expensive too. This is true of many people’s living in isolated areas, which requires much home processing and still has little nutritional value; and of the many others for whom most meals consist of hand-pounded cereals. Hence, this undernourishment on one side and excess production on the other side leads to the development of marketing concept.

Farming system is an integrated set of activities that farmers perform in their farms with available resources and circumstances to maximize the productivity and net farm income on a sustainable basis. The farming system conceptually is a set of elements or components, i.e., soil, water, crops, livestock, labour, capital, energy and other resources that are interrelated and interact among themselves. At the centre of the interaction lies the farmer exercising control and choice regarding the types of results of interaction. The income of cropping alone from small and marginal farm is insufficient now to sustain the farmers family. A judicious mix of any one or more of these enterprises should complement the farm income and help in recycling the farm residues / wastes. The selection of enterprises must be based on the cardinal principles of minimizing the competition and maximizing the complementary between the enterprises. Of late, the researchers on multidisciplinary approach greatly realized and started developing the various farming systems models in accordance with the agro-eco systems zones.

Farming System thus may be defined as a complex interrelated matrix of soil, plants, animals, implements, power, labour, capital and other inputs controlled in part by farming families and influenced to varying degrees by political, economic, institutional and social forces that operate at many levels. The farming system therefore, refers to the farm as an entity of inter-dependent farming enterprises carried out on the farm. The farm is viewed in a holistic manner and the farmers are subjected to many socio-economic, biophysical, institutional, administrative and technological constraints.

Rural development programmes are created and maintained for influencing people to make changes in their way of living and of making a living. The existence of such programmes implies that the present situation of the rural people is not what it should and could be, that something different should prevail, and that it is possible through appropriate action to attain a more desirable status for them.

Changes that are important to people are those that help them to meet their needs for biological, economic, social, aesthetic and moral well being. Basically, all programmes for rural development exist to help people to meet their needs. If programmes do this people have their free choices in societies and will not participate for long periods in them. The element of people’s needs, therefore, becomes a central concern of planner for rural development. Hence, the entire process of planning for rural development implies a need for change. But now the question arises that change from what, to what, by whom, where and by what methods?

The society has to find ways to adjust itself so that people meet their needs for an improved economic status, for being more useful citizens and for enjoying a higher degree of social stratification, it must identify these conditions and plan realistically to achieve them. It is the prime concern to identify that what needs do people have ? How can needs be identified? What plan of priority should be set up for meeting people’s needs? What resources are necessary to meet people’s needs? How should resources be organized and directed to help people’s meet their needs? These questions give the key orientation and justification for rural programme planning.

One of the major constraints in the efforts to modernize and efficient restructuring of the animal husbandry practices is the delay in taking the results of research to the farming community and in persuading them to adopt new, profitable and locally relevant technologies. The very need of the extension work is to bridge the gap between what is known to the scientists in the laboratories and what is actually being practiced by the farmers in the field. In other words, the major goal of extension machinery is to accelerate the processes of communication and to motivate rural people or livestock owners for adoption of new and profitable technologies. Hence, it is very important to understand these processes of how the farmers get such technologies and how they adopt them.

Communication

The term communication is originated from the Latin word ‘Communis’, meaning common or establishing commoness. When we communicate, we attempt to establish ‘commonality’ with someone through the message.

Communication is the process by which two or more people exchange ideas, facts, feelings or impressions in ways that each gains a common understanding of the meaning, intent and use of the message (Paul Leagens, 1961).

The basic aim of extension system is to bring about a change in the behaviour of the people with whom the work is done. Change in behaviour pertains to change in knowledge, skills, attitude, understanding, etc about a particular technology which we want to diffuse. For this purpose, the extension workers essentially function as teachers to bring about adoption of new technologies by making regular contact with livestock owners through various means. He visualizes the problems of rural community in proper perspective and organizes the meaningful learning situation for effective learning. It calls for appropriate use of different extension teaching techniques. The desirable changes in the behaviour of learners depend upon the skill of the extension worker as teacher in choosing the various extension teaching techniques which are found to be most effective in the relevant situations.

The main job of the extension worker is to bring about behavioural changes in the rural people. A number of extension methods are required to perform such behavioural changes among the rural people which form the tools of the extension workers. These tools are called extension teaching methods. Extension teaching methods may be defined as the devices used to create situations in which communication can take place between the extension worker and learner. The effectiveness of various teaching methods depends on the combination of the same. Similarly, the adoption of innovation is positively related to the combination of different extension teaching methods, at different stages of the learning process.

Audio-visual aids may be defined as any device used to aid in the communication of an idea. An audiovisual product is any audiovisual item such as still photography, motion picture, audio or video tape, slide or film strip, that is prepared singly or in combination to communicate information or to elicit a desired audience response. Even though early aids such as maps and drawings are still in use, advances in the audiovisual field have opened up new methods of presenting these aids, such as videotapes and other equipments which allow more professional and entertaining presentations to be presented.

Such aids assist the teacher in communicating information among the learners leading to change in skills, attitudes, knowledge, understanding and appreciation. These aids stimulates the sensory organs like ears, eyes, etc and facilitates quick understanding of the message by the audience. The effective use of these aids depends upon the skillful and imaginative approach of the teacher. Hence, it is necessary that extension worker should know what type of aids will be more suitable for a particular teaching objective. These aids may be used for both literate as well as illiterate people.

The instructional devices through which the messages can only be heard are known as Audio Aids. The instructional devices through which the message can only be seen are known as Visual Aids. The instructional devices through which the message can both be heard and seen simultaneously are known as audio-visual aids.

Cooperative

A cooperative is a duly registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest that have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common social or economic end, and making equitable contributions to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted cooperative principles.

Cooperative may be defined as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. It is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.

A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned & controlled equally by the people who use its services or who work at it.

The basic objective of every cooperative is to provide goods and services to its members and thus enable them to attain increased income and savings, investments, productivity and purchasing power and promote among them equitable distribution of net surplus through maximum utilization of economies of scale, cost-sharing and risk-sharing without however, conducting the affairs of the cooperative for missionary or charitable purposes.