ANIMAL HUSBANDRY INFORMATION

Livestocks

Introduction

Livestock are domesticated animals intentionally reared in an agricultural setting for want of food or fibre, or for their labour. Livestock include pigs, cattle, goats, sheep, and poultry. The type of livestock reared varies worldwide and depends on factors such as climate, consumer demand, native animals, local traditions, and land type. According to FAO, the world livestock population in 2005 comprised of 1,365 million cattles, 172 million buffaloes, 1,059.8 million sheep, 790 million goats and 943.8 million pigs.

Livestock Sector in India

India has vast resource of livestock and poultry, which play a vital role in improving the socio-economic conditions of the rural masses. India has the largest livestock populations in the world. It has 57 percent of the world’s buffalo population and 16 percent of the cattle population. It ranks first in respect of cattle and buffalo population, third in sheep and second in goat population in the world. The livestock population shows high degree of diversity in its composition. Out of total livestock in the country, 38.2 percent are cattle, 20.2 percent are buffaloes, 12.7 percent are sheep, 25.6 percent are goats and only 2.8 percent are pigs. All other animals are less than 0.50 percent of the total livestock. The country has 97.92 million buffalo population.

As per the figures of 2003 livestock census India has 187.38 million cattle out of which 22.63 million were crossbred. The states of Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab account for about 60 per cent of the crossbred cattle population.

Total export earnings from livestock, poultry and related products was Rs. 5,120 crore in 2004-05, of which leather accounted for Rs. 2,660 crore and meat and meat products for Rs. 1,720 crore. The livestock sector produced 90.7 MT of milk, 45.2 billion eggs, 2.12 MT of meat and 44.5 million kg of wool in 2004-05.

The species-wise breakup of livestock population in India