Vol. 8, Special Issue 3 (2023)

In order to assess the knowledge level of dairy farmers and to study the impact of training on the awareness levels of dairy farmers of the Kandi area of Punjab. A total of around 110 farmers were randomly selected and were interviewed by using a previously prepared questionnaire. All these farmers were provided trainings and were again assessed after a gap of around one year after the completion of training. In the training, lectures were delivered to them on the various manage mental, reproductive, health and nutritional aspects of dairy farming. In the pre-training survey, it was seen that most of the farmers are having very less knowledge about the scientific methods of dairy farming leading to the losses in the dairy farming. Almost all the farmers were practicing colostrum feeding to the newborn calves only after shedding of placenta of animals due to which calf mortality was reported. Similarly, there was very less knowledge to the farmers about the importance of balanced feeding, green fodder and mineral mixture supplementation for the dairy animals. Among the reproductive problems, anestrous and repeat breeding were the major problem reported by the farmers. Among these farmers, a major group of farmers have now started feeding mineral mixture to their animals. About 25 per cent of the farmers were not following any proper hygienic practices during milking which improved significantly post-training. Overall, the farmers have reported an improvement in the productivity of their animals after adopting the scientific methods of dairy farming.