The study was conducted in the Nadia district of West Bengal which is considered as the native tract of Black Bengal goats. As per the All India Coordinated Research Project on Goat Improvement, West Bengal has about 11.50 millions of Black Bengal goats with 621 no. of goats per 1000 households (pcgoatcirg.icar.gov.in). Primary data has been collected from the farmers of Nadia district, which is having large population of pure Black Bengal goats. The goat keepers of this district rear Black Bengal goats for generations together; as a result of that sufficient number of respondents was available. Blocks namely Chakdah, Haringhata and Ranghat-I has been selected randomly for collection of primary data. From each block 50 farmers who were involved in Black Bengal goat farming for last 20 years were selected randomly which made the total number of respondents/ informants to 150 for the study.

A semi structured interview schedule was developed for collection of data. Some open ended questions were framed in the interview schedule to analyze the situation properly. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique was utilized for identification and documentation of the traditional practices followed by the farmers for health management of goats. ‘Effectiveness Index score’ was calculated for measuring the effectiveness of each traditional practice followed by the farmers to repress and/ or curing ailments commonly occurring in the Black Bengal goats. Effectiveness Index of each traditional practice used for treating health ailment of Black Bengal goats was calculated by using the methodology of ‘percentage mean score’ calculation as described by Mohammad et al. (2017). The detailed formula is given as follows:

ME = No. of respondent who feel the practice ‘Most Effective’

E = No. of respondent who feel the practice ‘Effective’

LE = No. of respondent who feel the practice ‘Least Effective’

TR = Total number of respondents

From the table no 1, it is evident that mainly women were taking care of goats, as in 128 households (85.33%) women used to perform daily routine activities related with goat farming. Similar findings were reported by Dossa et al. (2008), Oladele and Monkhei (2008) and Jaitnera et al. (2001). In 57.33% of the household male members owned the right of goats and took major decision pertaining to goat rearing and marketing. From the study it was revealed that, in only 14.67 percent of the households, male members were playing the major role for goat farming and involved in daily management of goats. On the contrary, in 57.33 percent of household, the ownership of goat is with the male member of the house. It suggests that, though women were performing the major roles in goat rearing and devoting majority of their time in the goat husbandry but ownership in significant cases lying with the male members of the family. Webb and Mamabolo (2004) also reported that the major decisions regarding the goat farming were taken by the husbands. Male dominance in decision making resulted in the tilting of balance in favour of male members with respect to ownership right of goat.

Black Bengal goat husbandry acts as regular source of income and liquid cash for the rural farmers. They used to rear female goats for kids. They used to sell male kids at high rates. Some farmers also purchase small male kids and sell them after one year which fetch them significant amount of profit. Goat rearing also helped the farmers during the period of emergency financial need. Majority (87.33%) of the respondents reared Black Bengal goats for income generation purpose (Table 1). Though 14 (9.33%) respondents reported that they reared the goats as the source of liquid cash during emergency financial needs. These livestock actually acted as source of liquid cash and gave the farmers financial support during the critical monetary situation. This suggests that, for sustainable livelihood security goats can be very useful for the small and marginal farmers. Tadesse et al. (2014), Bosman et al. (1997) also found that, income generation as the major purpose of keeping goats.

Some of the major ailments which are most commonly found in ‘Black Bengal’ goats vis-à-vis their traditional treatment followed by the farmers are reported in the table 2 along with ‘Effectiveness Index Score’. Locally available tree plants, herbs, materials etc. were used by the farmers for controlling and/or treating several common goat aliments. Bloat, PPR, FMD, Diarrhea etc were treated by the farmers by using their traditional knowledge. The farmers also usually used several traditional practices to control endo and ecto parasite infestation, ticks and maggots in goats. Bloat of goat is a very common ailment found in Black Bengal Goat. Locally available ajowan / bishop’s weed (Trachyspermum ammi), ginger (Zingiber officinale) and a pinch of salt mixture is fed to goat for treatment of bloat and the effectiveness of the treatment as perceived by the respondents was found to be as high as 90.44. Endo and ecto parasites were some of the major problems faced by the goat farmers and they were using traditional knowledge for controlling them and the farmers felt that traditional practice yielded good result which is evident from the fact that the ‘Effectiveness Index Score’ of practice was 87.33. Sometimes, farmers restrict goats for grazing to prevent ecto-parasite infestation. Similar type of recommendation was also made by Hassan et al. (2011). In the Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) disease sores were found in the mouth of goat and the farmers consider the disease as one of the serious ailments of goats found in the region. Farmers used turmeric (Curcuma longa) and garlic (Allium sativum) or borax for treatment of the disease and consider the practice as very effective in controlling the disease. Farmers usually used locally available leaves of plants like Mango (Mangifera indica), Malabar plum/Black plum/ Jamun (Syzygium cumini), Cotton tree/ Shimul (Bombax ceiba), Crown flower/ Akanda (Calotropis gigantea), Egyptian acacia/ Babul (Vachellia nilotica) for preparation of broth to treat Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). The farmers consider this traditional method can give good result which is evident from the fact that the practice got effectiveness index score of 89.78. In the remote areas where veterinary doctors were not easily available these treatments sometimes become lifesaver for goats. Moreover, all the materials/herbs used for the treatment of goats are locally available, low cost and gave good results in treatment of the ailments. For that reason, farmers used those herbs/ materials for treatment of goat ailments and passed on their traditional knowledge to next generation.

On perusal of table 3, it is revealed that, majority of the farmers (84%) did not posses any breeding bucks. In the study area it was found that very limited number of respondents kept breeding bucks. Farmers who were rearing more than 10 animals used to keep breeding bucks. These bucks were kept by the owners for breeding purposes of their own animals but also for breeding of other farmer’s doe on payment basis. During the informal discussion with the farmer it was revealed that generally ₹ 100/- is being charged for per service. If the doe not become pregnant after the first service then the doe is again serviced free of cost after 15–21 days. The penetration of Artificial Insemination (AI) of goats in the study area was very less and only 1.33 percent of the respondents followed the technique for breeding purposes. Majority of the farmers (69.33%) did not have any kind of preference in terms of sex of kids. The main reason of preferring female kids by the respondents was that, these kids can be used for increasing the flock size whereas; the male kids were preferred as the demand of male goats, especially the castrated male goats were very high for its meat quality. Though the frequency of respondents (17.33%) who preferred the female kids was slightly high than the farmers (13.33%) who preferred male goats, as they believed the female goats can generate sustainable income through their off-springs.

Majority of the farmers (82.67%) were rearing goats in semi intensive system. Due to poor financial condition, majority of the farmers could not afford the cost of intensive system and as a result of that they prefer semi-intensive system of goat rearing. Jana et al. (2014) also reported from their study conducted at Burdwan district of West Bengal, that majority (90%) farmers were rearing Black Bengal goats by following semi intensive system and the reason behind non-adoption of intensive system of rearing might be the initial high cost involvement and lack of knowledge about scientific goat rearing. Farmers followed open grazing for their animals during summer season for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. Around one fourth of the respondents (26.67%) were having separate goat shed but 62.67 percent of the respondents reared their animals in the close confinement of their household; though 8.67 percent of the respondents kept Black Bengal goats at the cattle shed. Majority of the farmers were utilizing close confinement of their household for keeping their animals. As Black Bengal goats are generally sensitive to temperature fluctuation, hence their owner used to keep them in their household. Majority of the farmers were not having separate goat house. They were keeping their animals in separate arrangement due to lack of economic ability. This finding was in the line of Singh et al. (2010); Singh et al. (2013); Ekambaram et al. (2011). Overwhelming majority of the respondents (90.67 %) provided bedding material and wind shield during the harsh winter season and only 9.33 percent of the respondents could not arranged either separate bedding material or windshield or both, though they used other precautionary measures like tying old cloths or gunny bags around the animals during harsh winter season.

Farmers used to take care of feeding of their goats seriously. In West Bengal the major crop produced is rice, for that reason the paddy straw was readily available to the farmers and they were using those straw as goat feed. Farmers were also feeding several tree leaves like mango, jackfruit banyan etc. along with other grasses like doob grass (Cynodon dactylon), Para grass (Brachiaria mutica), Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) etc. Only 4 % of farmers could not afford feeding concentrate but majority of the farmers fed their animals with concentrate (Table 3). Concentrates, tree leaves and green grass was fed to animals by 48.67 percent of the Black Bengal goat farmers whereas, 47.33 percent of the respondents provided Paddy straw and Concentrates to their goats. All the farmers provided drinking water daily. The source of water provided to the animals was from well, pond, tube well and tubewell and pond both, though majority of the farmers (40.00 percent) provided water from tubewell to their goats. As tubewell was easily available in the study area, farmers used to give water to their animals from that source. Nandi et al., 2011 in their study also reported that, the major sources of water for Black Bengal goats were pond, well and tubewell.