General Management Practices and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Thanjavur Black Goat Farmers of Tamil Nadu

Aim: The present study was carried with the objective to know the management practices and socio-economic characteristics of Thanjavur Black goat farmers.

Place and Duration of Study: Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Tiruchirappalli and Pudukkottai districts of Tamil Nadu from April to September 2022.

Methodology: Data was collected from 250 goat flocks in five districts of Tamil Nadu using stratified random sampling through a pretested interview schedule and analyzed by percentage, frequency and the Chi-square test.

Results and Conclusion: The study revealed that Thanjavur Black goats were compact and docile in nature, so 54.40 percent of small farmers (with up to 2.5 acres) preferred to rear this goat. The Thanjavur Black goat is a native goat and mainly reared for meat purposes; 72.80 percent of the goat flocks were small (1–15 goats). Further, 51.20 percent of farmers were male, the majority of whom were in their middle age (59.60%) and had less than 5 years of experience in goat farming (47.20%). Besides, about 40.40 percent of the farmers completed their primary education and farmers, who accounted for 69.60 percent of them, were the most backward community. The study found that the majority of the farmers engaged in small-scale goat rearing as an additional source of income. The study further shows that 85 percent of the goat shelters were half open without a side wall, 50.80 percent of the farmers followed grazing only with additional rice gruel, 86.80 percent of mating happened on grazing land with other herd mates. Foot and mouth disease, enterotoxaemia and peste des petits ruminants disease were major in Thanjavur Black goats. So far, no significant efforts have been attempted to register this indigenous germplasm. The current study was conducted to record the management practices and socio-economic profile of the farmers.