PREVAILING CALF MORTALITY AND ITS PATTERNS IN CROSSBRED CATTLE

The study aimed to know the prevailing crossbred calf rearing practices and crossbred calf mortality and its patterns in the Anand district of Gujarat, India. Using simple random sampling methods, 200 crossbred cattle owners from 20 villages of 4 talukas from the Anand district were selected. The data were collected based on the interview schedule. The majority of crossbred cattle owners had not adopted the different calf management practices viz., cutting the navel cord with sterilized sharp object, provision of milk replacer, calf starter, salt, bedding facility, deworming agent at every month up to six months and vaccine. An overall crossbred calf mortality was observed 51.68% in the study area. There was a higher mortality rate in male calves (71.64%) than female calves (31.57%) because of negligence towards the male calf. The mortality rate observed was higher during the first three months of age (73.18%) and during monsoon (44.93%). A major reason for death of calf said by crossbred cattle owner was diarrhoea/ dysentery (35.51%). A negative and significant relationship was observed between providing milk to the calf, providing calf starter with crossbred calf mortality. A negative and significant relationship was observed between experience in dairy farming of crossbred cattle owner, training in animal husbandry and crossbred calf mortality. Participation in various animal husbandry training programs and adoption of scientific management practices will be helpful to reduce crossbred calf mortality rate at the field level.