Analysis of Milking Management Practices Followed by Dairy Farmers of R. S. Pura Block in Jammu District

The present study was conducted in R. S. Pura block of Jammu district to ascertain the milking management practices followed by dairy farmers. R. S. Pura block was purposively selected for the study. List of villages with maximum populations of milch animals was identified from the selected block. Out of the list of identified villages, two villages were randomly selected for the study. From each selected villages 20 dairy farmers were selected randomly, making a sample size of 40 farmers. The results of the study revealed that all 100 percent of dairy farmers practised hand method of milking and none of the dairy farmers practised machine milking. Majority 55 per cent and 70 percent of respondents' practised full hand milking and wet hand milking habits respectively. Majority of respondents practised suckling of a calf to induce milk letdown. None of the respondents practised concentrate feeding along with massage of udder, and use of oxytocin injection for milk ejection in case of death of calf milk let down practices. Around 82.50% of farmers milking the animals at the same place of tethering in the byre. Most (67.50%) of the respondents milking the animal at dirty milking environment. All respondents (100%) followed two times milking, and a majority (67.5%) of them completed milking in 5-7 minutes. Majority of respondents did not practice straining of milk. The majority (77.5%) of respondents dried the animal by complete cessation of milking followed by intermittent milking. None of the respondents followed teat dipping after milking.