Due to severe summer conditions, goats are suffering from a wide variety of conditions, the most important being diarrhoea. This diarrhoea could be due to ingestion of toxic materials including tree leaves or due to amphistomiasis. The latter is a diseased condition caused by a two-mouthed trematode. Abortions have also been noticed in some parts of the state.
Department of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana has organized one week training programme on Goat Farming under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav from 06 06.2022 to 10.06.2022. The participants were specifically trained to keep their goats healthy all throughout the year Dr. Rajesh Kasrija and Dr Y.S. Jadoun, coordinated this training programme. A total of 25 trainees including one woman from different parts of Punjab as well as Haryana have participated in this training programme. The training group comprised of rural youth, goat farmers and educated persons (graduate and postgraduate), thereby, clearly indicating that these days the farmer has understood the need and importance of goat rearing on scientific lines. The trainees were given theoretical as well as practical knowledge about starting new venture in goat farming. The important topics included significance of goat farming in this part of the country, important breeds of goats available in northern 
India, breeding techniques and governmental policies, ideal housing management for all categories of goats, fodders meant for goats, feeding practices and feed formulations, vaccination protocols, diseases and their prevention and economics of goat farming etc,
Special exposure visits of practical importance were organised to acquaint the trainees about value addition of meat as well as milk products and daily farm routines at the Goat Farm. A special visit to the Integrated Farming System (IFS) unit available in Punjab Agricultural University campus was also organized. Farmers were told about various interventions of combining more than one venture and using waste material of one venture into another, thus, reducing the expenditure and getting more benefits from the available land resources.
Goat trainees along with a few more progressive farmers of the state had an interactive session with worthy Vice-Chancellor of the University. During this session, various issues and problems faced by goat farming community ware discussed at large.
The concluding session of the training was chaired by Dr. P.S. Brar, Director of Extension Education. He encouraged the farmers in selecting this venture and doing it on scientific lines. He motivated them to go for value addition of goat milk and meat for getting maximum benefits from this enterprise.
Dr. R.K. Sharma, Prof-cum-Head, Department of Veterinary Animal Husbandry Extension Education advised farmers to follow scientific goat farming practices and advised them to have proper planning in connection to land, breeding and balanced feeding and giving more stress on use of Indigenous herbal preparations rather than heavy doses of antibiotics. Farmers can contact the university experts through Pashu Palak Tele Advisory helpline numbers (62832-58834 and 62832-97919) of the University that remain functional from 09:00 am to 5:00 pm on all working days. Certificates were also provided to the successful trainees.
