Department 
of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Extension Education, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana organized a one-week training course on Goat Farming. Dr. Rajesh Kasrija and Dr. Arunbeer Singh, coordinated this training. A total of 16 trainees (including one woman) from Punjab and adjoining states had participated in this training programme. The mixed group of rural youth, goat farmers and educated persons, indicated that these days farmers were becoming more aware of doing goat farming business on scientific lines. The trainees were given theoretical as well as practical knowledge about starting the venture in goat farming. The important topics included practical, social and economic importance of goat farming, breeds of goats, housing plan, breeding techniques, feed management, shed designs, weather management, vaccination protocols, diseases and their prevention, economics of goat farming etc.
Special practical exposure visits were organised to acquaint the trainees about value addition of meat as well as milk products and daily farm routines. A special visit to the Punjab Agricultural University
was organized and farmers were shown the Integrated Farming System designed by the institute. Farmers were made aware of this intervention of combining more than one venture and using waste material from one venture into another, thus, reducing the expenditure. In the model, agriculture was combined with horticulture, goat farming, fish farming and dairy farming.
The concluding session of the training was chaired by Dr. P. S. Brar, Director of Extension Education, GADVASU, Ludhiana. He informed that there is ample scope of goat farming in the state as the demand of goat milk and meat products is ever increasing. He stressed that the farmer should go for value addition of goat products. They should rear goats of high genetic merit and that too on scientific lines.
Dr. R.K. Sharma, HoD advised farmers to remain in close contact with the university experts through mobile numbers of Tele-Advisory Centre 62832-58834 and 62832-97919.
