PRESENT SCENARIO OF LIVESTOCK BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN THE NORTHERN PART OF BANGLADESH
Authors: Habib M. A. , Mahbubul M. , Ali M. Y. , Apu A. S. 
Published: July 2024

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Bangladesh has a rich heritage of livestock rearing. The management and breeding practices differ across the country. <strong>Objectives:</strong> To study the present scenario of breeding and management practices of livestock at northern Teesta river basin based Lalmonirhat district in Bangladesh. <strong>Methodology: </strong>Total 100 farmers were selected using random sampling technique from 5 upazilas of Lalmonirhat district during July to December, 2022. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 statistical package. <strong>Results: </strong>Results showed that most of the farmers (65%) at the northern part of Bangladesh were middle-aged, 41% of them completed secondary education, and their occupation was mainly agriculture (55%). About 37.78% of respondents supplied roadside grass as roughage to their livestock. Maximum number of respondents (60.24%) supplied hand mixed feed as a source of concentrate whereas 39.76% of respondents used commercial feed. 96% of farmers practiced artificial insemination to inseminate their cows and heifers while in goat nearly all respondent farmers (98.41%) practiced natural mating. Among the breeding companies, 41.41% farmers preferred semen from the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), followed by Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) (30.30%), Government (Department of Livestock Services (DLS) (22.22%), and others (6.07%). About 41.76% respondents used 50% Sahiwal - 50% local genotype bull to breed the cows whereas 23.08% respondents used 100% Sahiwal, 18.68% used 75% Holstein Friesian-25% local, 5.49% used 100% Holstein Friesian, 3.30% used 50% Holstein Friesian-50% Local and only 3.30% used 87.5% Holstein Friesian-12.5% Local genotype bull semen, respectively.<strong> </strong>On the other hand, most of the farmers (98.41%) chosen Black Bengal breeding buck during breeding and remaining used crossbred (Black Bengal Goat- Jamunapari) to breed their does. The actual price of bull semen from Govt. (DLS) was 30 Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) on average for all the breeds whereas, the price ranged 110-200 BDT depending on cattle breeds and bull/bucks Identification (ID) in different private enterprises. Farmers had to pay on an average<strong> </strong>181.18 BDT for DLS originated semen in addition to that BRAC Artificial Insemination (AI) workers took an average of 425.61 BDT from farmers to inseminate their cows. The average milk yield/d was 1.82±0.14, 3.35±0.40, and 2.74±0.27 liters for local, HF crossbred and Sahiwal crossbred respectively in that region. The prevalence of repeat breeding incidences was 13.74%, 14.21%, and 15.17%, for Local, Sahiwal crossbred, and Holstein Friesian crossbred genotypes respectively. The highest incidence of disease was found as Lumpy Skin Disease (14.67%) followed by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) (11.98%) and other parasitic and metabolic diseases. In the study area, it was found that maximum number of the respondents (95%) faced excessive feed price problem along with some other problems. <strong>Implications: </strong>Government intervention is necessary to improve the situation of livestock production in the country. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> This study showed the overall scenario of livestock production, breeding, and management in the northern part of Bangladesh which could be helpful for the govt., Non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and policymakers to take realistic steps for the improvement of livestock production in the northern part of Bangladesh.</p>