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Develop technologies to produce value added

products to enhance the livelihood of shepherds in

Himachal Pradesh

Mentor: Dr. Prem Felix Siril Date: March 30 2014

Team Members:-

Suhail Hameed (B11080), Abhilash (B11001), Vinod Kumar (B11039), Prakhar Agarwal (B11071),

Kamal Kumar Raj (B11064), Antim Patel (B11005)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Figures …………………………………………………………………………….3

Chapter 1: Introduction …………………………………………………………………4

Chapter 2: Literature Review…………………………………………………………5

2.1 Site description…………………………………………………………………5

2.2 Livelihood of shepherds……………………………………………………6

2.3 Possible cause of migration………………………………………………7

2.4 Case Study………………………………………………………………………….8

Chapter 3: Methodology…………………………………………………………………..9

3.1 Establishing Base line……………………………………………………….9

3.2 Community development of solutions……………………………….9

3.3 Data Collection and analysis……………………………………………10

3.4 Project plan……………………………………………………………………….11

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………….11

Chapter 4: Field Trip 1…………………………………………………………..………….11

4.1 Site Description………………………………………………………………….13

4.1.1. Sheep Breeding Farm……………………………………………..14

4.1.2 Angora Breeding Farm……………………………………………15

4.2 Questionnaires……………………………………………………………………16

4.3 Observations………………………………………………………………………17

Chapter5: Field Trip 2…………………………………………………………..………….18

Chapter 6: Result and analysis…………………………………………………….24

6.1 livelihood of Shepherds………………………………………………….24

6.2 value added product from sheep……………………………………..24

6.3 social baseline………………………………………………………………….24

6.4 housing and shelter management…………………………………….25

Chapter 7: Recommendation…………………………………………………………..25

7.1 Technical feasibility-this would briefly include…….26

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Chapter 8: Conclusion …………………………………………………………..27

References ……………………………………………………………………………………….28

Table of Figures

Figure 2.1: Migration of different breeds of shepherds……………………6

Figure 3.1: Gantt chart for project plan…………………………………………..11

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Chapter 1: Introduction

The aim of our project is to develop technologies to produce value added products from sheep to

enhance the livelihood of shepherds in Himachal Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh has a sheep population of about 2.54 million, which comprise about 7% of the

industry across the country. It produces about 3.08 million kg of wool, 8.27% of the country's wool

production. Sheep rearing is a major supplementary agrarian activity in Himachal. It is estimated

that as many as 37% of the agrarian population is involved in some or the other form of sheep

rearing but still shepherds are not getting the enough money for their survival. Gaddis, the

pastoral group that is involved in sheep rearing, migrate between lower and higher altitude

regions of Himachal depending on seasons. This migratory sheep grazing is often accused by

environmentalists as one of the primary reasons for land erosion and the destruction of

biodiversity. Several government interventions over the years have not yet achieved any changes

in their migratory habits.

The goal of this project is to closely look at options to increase the income from sheep so that to

shepherds have a better way of living. Sheep are used mainly as a source of wool and meat. Sheep

are not milked usually in Himachal and there is scope to produce value added products from sheep

milk, such as cheese or yoghurt that have increased demand in India and abroad. Value added

dairy products from sheep can help the Gaddis earn more from their flock. The project also aims

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to compare the economic aspects of farm based sheep rearing with the present migratory

pastoring. Ultimate objective of the project is to propose technological, political and marketing

solutions to make the lives of shepherds better and to reduce the migratory grazing habit. The

assumption is that by increasing the production of wool and value added products from milk in

farm based pastoring will be a financially more beneficial so that the shepherds will be convinced

to shift to farm based rearing from the migratory grazing pattern.

Technological interventions may be required to introduce convenient and efficient way of taking

out wool and milking and also to produce value added products. Once they will start earning

profit, we can easily convince them for farm based grazing. Talk to them and make them

understand the causes of migratory grazing and why to move to higher altitudes if they can earn a

good amount of money by farm based grazing by staying at their homes.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Up-to now we have a strong foundation of our goals in project what is intended to work upon our

project. In this section we will explore more about the literature part of our project and actions

which had been taken by the government or any Non-Government Organization in order to

improve the livelihood of shepherds.

2.1 Site description

Sheep can be found in whole of Himachal Pradesh. A large number of pastoral community lives in

the hill areas of Kullu, Mandi, Manali and Dharamshala. But in Chamba region of Kangra district

has the maximum population of shepherds. The major regions of Himachal where sheep breeding

is common are shown in the Map (Figure 2.1). Shepherds have insufficient farm land having poor

fertility to provide food for sheep through the year. They have to migrate to upper Himalayan

regions in summer and to the planes in winter to find food for their flock. The supply of meat and

wool also takes place during such migration. Average wool production of sheep was 400-500 g per

clip and it is increasing as the breed gets improved. Wool production is presently 650-750 g per

clip. Average quality of the wool used to be 35-37 microns and currently it is 30-32 microns. Sheep

farming is much less organised and receives very poor attention from both state and central

governments. Vetenery services provided by the private and government sector for the sheep is

really inadequate. Even the is no service found for the breed improvement and the shepherd

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improves the breed by their own ram. There is no or very less subsidised feed provided for the

sheep by the government. Shepherds have to depend on their own land. Even there is no facility

found for sheep pen. Rs. 10,000 for each shepherd is the typical financial assistance from the

government for constructing the sheep pen. Almost all the shepherds do their own wool shearing

and sell it directly in the local market.

Figure.2.1 migration of different breeds of shepherds

2.2 Livelihood of Shepherds

In this section we would explore indiscriminately more about the sheep and it’s product of India as

well as in Himachal Pradesh. Peoples consume various products from the sheep which not only

improves the economic condition of the shepherds but also improves the economic condition of

the villages which they belongs to. These products include milk, wool, meat, skin and manure. Skin

of the sheep is very useful because sheep’s skin can be used to produce different types of leather.

Products of natural leather are highly valuable in India and abroad. Shephers sell raw skin in the

local village market. This mode of selling can cause be harmful to the environment and can cause

health hazards. The bacteria that grow on raw skin can further spread to live sheep and sometime

even human beings.

Shepherd sells raw wool mostly direct to the middlemen. Selling directly to wool industry may be

more profitable. The wool is used for produce various type of the products in industries. In

himachal the government intervenes in the wool market through a public sector co-operative

society called wolfed. Wool from himachali sheep’s is of modest quality. Selling wool is profitable

for the shepherds. Sheep’s are not generally milked in himachal partly due to taboos,

inconvenience and also due to the availability of milk from cows and buffaloes. Thus, milk which is

a recurring product goes almost completely waste in himachal.

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Other thing that shepherds do is to sell meat in market by killing them directly. In which there is

no prejudice by any community in India and further development of superior breeds for meat

production will have a great scope in the developing economy of India and also improve the

livelihood of the shepherds. Faeces of sheep is good manure which can be used to improve

fertilization of the land after that land could be more productive. Shepherds can sell this manure

to other farmers or they can use this manure for their own purpose. If we talk about Himachal

Pradesh’s shepherds due to hilly area of here manure does not play an important role to help

them economically, but in rest part of India and world this is helpful. Technological intervention

and marketing strategies may help the farmers to earn from sheep manure in himachal. The

structure of the lips of sheep’s helps to clean grains lost at harvest time and thus convert waste

feed into profitable products which helps farmers to utilize complete production from their farm.

2.3 possible cause of migration

Human migration based on seasons is common in agricultural circles. In many cases, humans along

with their cattle or sheep move to lower /higher elevations based on the seasons. A prime

example of this migration in our country is the Gaddi Shepherds.

Gaddi Shepherds are a pastoral group from Himachal Pradesh. Their economic activity revolves

around sheep rearing and agriculture. They move according to the variations in seasons i.e.

summer and winter. During winter season, they stay in lower range of Shiwaliks to provide

pastures to their animals. By April, when summer start, they go up in the Himalayas when snow

melts and the mountains are lush green. After summers end, by September, they again march

towards their lower base, i.e. Shiwaliks. Gaddi is a generic term used for all of the indigenous

population of the Bharmour area of Chamba district and some regions of Jammu and Kashmir. The

Gaddis include Brahman, Rajputs, Khatri, Thakur Rathi, Hali, Rihare and Dom.

Gaddi shepherds are not nomads. They have homes, substantial village houses, and they own land

which they or their family cultivate, their homeland is Gadderan, Bharmour tehsil, in the west of

Chamba district. It comprises the valleys of the upper Ravi and its tributary the Budil which form a

V meeting at Karamukhjust below Bharmour. These two rivers here run more or less east-west and

divide the Dholar Dhar range to the south from the Pir Pinjal to the north. Karamukh, the lowest

point, is 4,500 ft., the high peaks to the north over 19,000 ft. and the valley sides and high alps are

precipitous and inaccessible. The only road into Gadderan is from Chamba, 50 km of a narrow,

untarred, precipitous 'fairweather' road The country is surmounted by Mount Kailashl. 18,500 ft.,

the seat of Lord shiva and his consort Parvati. Gaddis are staunch Shaivites and wherever they may

wander, feel an unusually strong cultural and religious involvement with their homeland, also

referred to as Shivbhumi, the land of Shiva.

2.4 Case Study

Condition of shepherds in Himachal Pradesh is not fair enough. Government has taken many

actions to improve their livelihood and decrease migration of shepherds. But it does not have any

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positive impact on them particularly shepherds in villages of Himachal, the main reason for that

could be lack of awareness of shepherds, and also it is almost impossible to reach some place by

the people working towards this. There are currently total 5 sheep farms in Himachal Pradesh.

Northern part of India has 3.99 millions of sheep, which are around 9.64 of part population of

sheep present in India. Shepherds from northern area economically depend upon sheep’s

products like wool, meat. The ICAR started two All India Coordinated Research Projects on Sheep

for Fine Wool; one of centres is present at Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh). These projects aim at

evolving new fine wool breeds for different agro-climatic regions capable of producing 2.5 kg or

more greasy wool annually of 58-64s count, and new mutton breeds capable of attaining 30 kg

weight at 6 months under vigorous feeding conditions. A centrally sponsored scheme for

conservation of threatened breeds was started during Tenth Five Year Plan, which included

Bannur and Bonpala breeds of sheep. There is disqualification in grading of wool compared to the

ISI standard of wool.

Following table compares the wool produced in Himachal and ISI standard-

ISI standards:

≤ 34.4µ : A grade

34.4-37.0 µ : B grade

37.1-40.0 µ : C grade

≥ 40.0 µ : D grade Overall production in India is also less than compared to some developed countries.

India Advanced countries

Average annual wool production (kg) 0.7 5.4-6.7

Mutton (kg) 9.6 22.0

Lamb crop per 100 ewes 60-70 120-140

Sheep production in different part of India:

Sl.

No

.

Particulars Northern

temperate

North-western

arid & semi-arid

Southern

Peninsular Eastern

1 States

J&K,

Himachal

Pradesh

and hilly

regions of

UP

P&H, plains of

UP,

Rajasthan, Gujar

at-and (MP)

Maharashtra,

AP,

Karnataka, TN &

Kerala

Bihar, W.B., Orissa,

Assam and other

eastern states

2 Population

(millions) 3.99 15.42 19.64 4.87

3 Population (%) 9.64 40.25 40.2 9.96

4 Wool

production 4.52 28.12 8.6 1.76

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(million kg)

5 Wool

production (%) 12.33 64 28 3.67

6

Meat

production

(million kg)

12.72 49.15 62.59 15.54

7

Skin

production

(million kg)

2.82 10.88 13.86 3.44

Chapter 3: Methodology

Our goal is to improve the economic conditions of migrating shepherds of Himachal Pradesh. To

accomplish this goal we will meet the following objectives:

1. Assess baseline economy for regional shepherd’s groups.

2. Create market plan for the value added sheep products in Himachal.

3. Estimate economic benefits and improvements in dairy products of sheep.

Chapter three will cover the methodology to achieve these objectives and will be performed in

two parts. In first part we will establish a base line through observations, literature review and

other resources. In second part we will interact with the community through oen to one meeting

with shepherds. Finally possible solutions and recommendations will be made.

3.1 Establishing the Base Line

Our first objective is to establish a base line for the region we are working in. We will establish

base line by gathering information in the following areas:

1. Economic output of sheep

2. Dairy products (sheep): quality and uniqueness.

3. Cause of migration.

4. Estimate per capita income and life standard of shepherd.

In first component of baseline involves an evaluation of the sheep usage for economic benefits.

The next component reviews the uniqueness and quality of the dairy products of sheep. Example-

Sheep milk is rich in platelets. The next component reviews the possible cause of migrations and

other alternatives. In the last component we will include the family income and expenditure

capacity of the shepherds.

For completing our objective we need understanding of the common life of the shepherds. We will

need to communicate with local animal department officer or any supervisor in this field. We will

visit sheep farms and try to develop a comparative study between non-farm and farm sheep on

different parameters. Parameters can be social, economic or ecological. We will survey the

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condition of the sheep farms and record our observations. Observations wilth details of any

information we find relevant will be documented. Photographic documentation of important

location and farms will be done for future reference. We will analyse the data and try to find their

solutions according to their income. We will annotate all data to correspond with its sampling

location.

Part of the baseline assessment is to understand current practices of the shepherds and their impacts on their economy. We will do this by creating a survey, which will pose questions about their different use of sheep. We will determine specific questions and details after engineering equipment’s for dairy products. It will also be important that we record precautions taken to prevent livestock from disease and other infections.

3.2 Community development of solution

After completing the rapid assessment of the community base line we will evaluate our collection.

We will combine result of interviews and observations, so that we can review all factors. We will

use historical data available to compare or combine with our data. And we will discuss the

solutions provided by some organization or community before.

We will discuss possible solutions with local leaders and officials in order to major their feasibility.

Meeting with local leaders and officials will add a review to our findings and observations

collected in baseline evaluation. With the help of local leaders we will design potential solutions.

3.3 Data collection and analysis

We will have a number of field trips and also have informal interviews near Kamand. During this

field trips we will collect data about farms, income details of farmers, their marketing strategies

and investment methods. And then we will move towards finding solution to related problems and

the ways to make more money with available resources. At last we will give our recommendations

and solutions with help of the data collected.

3.4 Project plan

The tentative schedule for our time with this project is shown in figure below. First we will meet

some shepherds near Kamand in order to get more information their life and problems they are

dealing with. Then in parallel we will try to find some solutions to their problems. In between we

will have a field trip to meet large groups of shepherds and visit farms. We will collect some data

about the strength of groups, farms, income and sell market. Then we will analyse this data and

try to find out how these parameters depends on location and strength of sheep. And we will also

try to find out alternatives to increase in income. In order to do it we will meet some officials in

Himachal. At last we will do our final analysis.

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Figure 3.1 Gantt chart for project plan

Conclusion

Shepherds are important part of our Indian society, but shepherd especially in Himachal are victim

of lack of education and information for better life.

According to drawing change according to conditions is the most vital element for survival but

shepherds in Himachal are facing difficulty to change themselves with ecological and economic

problems.

We will try to analyse the different problems of shepherds. We will try to figure out some practical

solutions to their problems. We will also focus on other uses of sheep and its products.

We will also try to investigate the role of government and society for their survival. We will try to

find alternate grazing for sheep.

We will try to provide them potential solutions to their problems.

4. Field Trip 1

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This farm is located in Nagwain, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. This farm is around 30 years old and

working effectively since then.

4.1 Site Description

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There are about 15 members working daily in this farm including manager, doctors and workers.

There are two sections in the farm:

Sheep breeding farm

Angora rabbit farm

4.1.1 Sheep breeding farm

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The purpose of this farm is to provide male sheep to other farms and shepherds. There are about

100 male sheep are there estimated 1 male sheep per 50 female sheep’s.

Two breeds of sheep have been providing: Rambouillet, Russian Marion

There wastes have been used to grow green powder. This green powder is a cure for infections in

the sheep. They grow some crop to feed sheep’s along with the sheep farming. They have dipping

tanks to provide medical cure for sheep. In this process, they mix some medicines in the tank and

then sheep’s being dipped in those tanks.

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Mainly in the month of April and September, Shepherds take male sheep for meeting from the

farm and they can collect suggestions regarding sheep’s diseases.

4.1.2 Angora rabbit farm

Angora is very beautiful specie of rabbit. They are present in number of 50 in the farm. Quality

wool is being obtained from this specie. Due to low humidity of this specie, the cost of the

production is more. The maintenance of this specie is costly so it can mainly be found only in the

farm.

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4.2 Questionnaires

Causes of migration:

Because of the lack of grass for grazing.

Can’t use gardens for grazing because of the chemicals used in garden.

Average income of Shepherds:

They are selling wool at Rs. 70-90 per kg.

Meat rate: Rs. 300 per kg

The average income of a shepherd per 35 sheep’s is around Rs. 3-4 lakhs per annum.

Causes of cheap rate of wool:

No scientific methods have been used for obtaining wools causes degradation in the

quality of wool.

Uses of wools of sheep’s:

To make warm clothes and blanket.

Tennis Balls

Other possible Uses:

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Skin of sheep is used for making leather product.

Milk, but in Himachal Pradesh sheep is only used for wool and meet.

The basic problems faced by the shepherds:

Migration due to lake of resources available for grazing at one place.

Danger of wild animals

Increasing population of human beings:

Possible Uses of waste of sheep:

Only for green agriculture.

Government Schemes for shepherds:

Kendriya Bhed Palak Bima Yojana

Sheep Breeders Insurance Scheme

Free vaccination for sheep’s and free male sheep are provided.

Why sheep milk can’t be used as daily products?

The sheep milk is only sufficient for their children in currently used breeds and it can’t be

used for milk products.

4.3 Observations

There is no any technical solution of taking out wool from the sheep’s.

Wool rates are very cheap but their products are very expensive due to no pre-processing of wool

and most of the wool is exported to US mills. About 90% of the wool used by U.S. mills is used as

apparel wool in the production of worsted and woollen fabrics.1

1 http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/ansc442/semprojs/2004/uses/wool.htm

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5 Field Trip 2

We have already visited the sheep farm in our 1st field trip therefore this time we decided to go to

meet the shepherds in person. We talked to some local people about where we can find the

shepherds so that we can ask some questions about their livelihood.

As summer has started, we knew they would be at higher altitudes. We found that during this

time many shepherds pasture their sheep in Klath, Manali.

When we reached Manali, it was raining and the temperature was quite low. From Manali we took

another bus to Klath. There we found few very small tents. It was around 5 PM and when we

approached to tents we saw they were making food for the night. We asked them about the

sheep’s then they said they are over the mountains and were about to reach.

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We move forward and saw the sheep’s coming. We took some pictures before interviewing them

as they were trying to group them together.

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When they were done with the sheep’s, we started our interview. One good thing happened that

they were from the Katula, Mandi. They already knew about our college and seemed very

comfortable talking to us.

5.1 Education

Rearing sheep’s was there family tradition. They didn’t do the much of schooling. They believe

that after their father they will come in this business. Many of them were just 5th standard pass.

5.2 Migratory Pattern

During winter they stay in lower regions to pasture their sheep’s. When summer starts they go up

to the mountains when snow melts and sheep’s get lush green grass.

5.3 Sales and Marketing

They have about 400-500 sheep’s. They use them to get wool and meat. Sometimes they have to

sell them for money.

5.3.1 Wool

Sheep’s have been mostly used to take out the wools from them. As they do not have any

proper machine to cut the wool, some farm people visit them and cut the wools. They

charge about 8-10 Rupees per sheep. They also try to cut the wool by own but it takes too

much time and labor to do this. Each sheep gives 1-1.5 kilogram of wool. Wool extraction

happens 2-3 times per year. These wools they sell to private contractors at 80 to 100

Rupees per kilogram.

5.3.2 Meat

Sheep meat is very costly but it is a onetime profit. They sell their sheep’s only when they

need urgent money or they want to decrease the number of sheep’s. Depending on the

size of sheep and market they get 30,000-40,000 Rupees per sheep.

5.3.3 Milk

When we asked them about milk, they get surprised and said we don’t use them for milks.

When we told them about the benefits of sheep milk they said they have no idea about

that. Due to lack of information most of the shepherds don’t use sheep’s for milk.

5.4 Income

They said that depending on the market they get about 50,000-70,000 per annum for 400-500

numbers of sheep’s.

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5.5 Problem during Migration

1. They spend nights in very small tents, horrible conditions. During bad weather or cold they

suffer a lot.

2. During migration, sometimes they lose their sheep’s.

3. Someone takes them away by stealing.

4. One they were very mad about was the checking of permit at check post. Police takes bribe

to pass them. These permits are issued by governments depending on the no of sheep’s to

shepherds and they renew it every year. But to get these permits is not easy for new

shepherds and police take advantage of that.

5.6 Families

Family members switch during the period of 2-3 months. A group of 10-12 shepherds work

together mostly the family members. They send their children to schools but can’t afford for

further studies. They were pretty much told to continue their family tradition by the society.

5.7 Expectations from Government of India

1. They want the cancellation of old permits who are no longer rearing the sheep’s.

2. Easy process to get the new permit.

3. Security from Police when they move to any new region.

4. Some government schemes for making profit from sheep’s.

5. There are some fake permits being issued to some people and they are making money

without paying to government, they want the checking of permits.

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6. Results and Analysis

The results and analysis of our field trips are presented in this chapter. We divided our baseline

assessment into three sections: Livelihood of shepherds, value added products from sheep and

Social baseline. In each section we have represented the result form farms we surveyed. Baseline includes interview responses and problems faced by shepherds in society. In our trips we first evaluated one sheep farm at nagwain, then we interviewed small shepherds at kamand and we interviewed gaddi shepherds at manali.

6.1 Livelihood of shepherds

Life of shepherds is miserable in many aspects like migration, medical facilities, social security and

cooperation. They migrate from one place to place another through the year facing many challenges

like cold, rain etc. They don’t get proper medical facilities during migration and also due to far

flung areas. These shepherds also suffer from stealing of sheep during migration. From interviews

we also came to know that there is no quick emergency help during any quarrel among groups of

shepherds. There is not much cooperation of other social communities with sheep community.

Shepherds are incompetent with the modern era, lacking behind in terms of basic education and

scientific knowledge in sheep farming.

6.2 Value Added Products from sheep

As result of interviews shepherds never used sheep milk for any purpose because they did not

know any of properties of it. We introduced them new breeds of sheep those were better at both

milk and wool with making them aware of qualities of sheep milk.

The wool from sheep is usually extracted manually and hence there is always some loss .This wool

is then traded into local markets which offer low rates as these markets don’t have modern

machinery to process hence their processing of wool is uneconomical. Government should set up

some factories for processing of wool to make it more beneficial for shepherds.

Due to migration they are unable to utilize waste product from sheep. Instead of this if all

shepherds stay at some particular places during migration, and then the waste can be collected

from those places at specific time period. This wasted can be used for gobar gas plants and

agriculture.

6.3 Social Baseline

The social life of shepherds is diffirent than the people living in cities they usually live far away

from cities .they usually wear traditional clothes.We draw these resuts from interviews which we

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held at villages nearby to Manali and Kamand . We also interviewed Amit shahand his team mates

at sheep farm in nagwain. We also interviewed gaddi shepherds at Manali and Kamand.

6.4 Housing and Shelter Management

Normally sheep do not require elaborate housing facilities but minimum provisions will definitely

increase productivity, especially protection against inclement weather conditions (sun, rain and

winds) and predation. Shed could be provided with gunny bags or temporary or removable

protections made of thatching material and bamboos.

7 Recommendations

We already have done 2 field trips. One of them to the sheep farm and second one to meet

gaddi shepherds in himachal . Our observations from both field trips were quite different. Our

primary goal was to observe the livelihood of the shepherd but some other occupations and

government’s help can enhance their livelihood. By observing both the field trips we got some key

points which are described below:

Generally Shepherd don’t keep rabbits (i.e angora). Angora’s wool has very high price in

market (1400-1500 rs per k.g) in comparison to sheep (70-90 rs k.g). Shepherd can extract

wool 2-3 times in a year from rabbit. Every rabbit can give around 500-600 g wool which

cost upto 700-800 rs, while sheep wool’s cost upto 250-300 rs for 3-4 k.g. but angora

requires special atmosphere and food which is quit hard and expansive in comparison to

sheep.

All Shepherds in himachal sell the wool directly to some company in low price ,after

cleaning the wool it could be sold in more than double price, but this required initial

investment to buy some equipment for this. They can also build some handicraft wool

product which could be sold in market at high prices and this is directly beneficial to

shepherds.

There is corruption in issuing permit from government site. Peoples who have permits

from a long time but from past two -three years they don’t keep any sheep, so they sell

their permit to others. Government should cancel all old permits and issue new permit

according to the strength of sheep’s.

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7.1 Technical Feasibility - This would briefly include

(a) Nearness of the selected area to veterinary aid, breeding cover and wool collection centre and

the financing bank's branch.

(b) Availability of good quality animals in nearby livestock markets. The distribution of sheep

breeds in India are given in Annexure IV-a, while the wool production and quality in IV-b.

(c) Source of training facilities. The major institutions providing training in Sheep farming are given

in Annexure V.

(d) Availability of good grazing ground / lands.

(e) Availability of green/dry fodder, concentrate feed, medicines etc.

(f) Availability of veterinary aid / breeding centres and marketing facilities near the scheme area.

8 conclusion

Shepherd community is one of the most ancient community of Himachal Pradesh. In the past

few months we have met them and tried to understand them from scientific and technical point of

view.

Like other factors in India here also the main problem is lack of education and awareness, there

are currently only five shepherd farms and farms are in bad condition. There is huge

communication and awareness gap between shepherd and government officials. Shepherds are

exploited in the market too. Companies in kullu buy wool at very low cost from shepherds and sell

at very high price. Government had also ignored the problem of this community.

According to Darwin theory, change is necessary for any community but here there is no change of

breeding and life style, so the number of shepherd are continuously decreasing every year.

Shepherds follow traditional method for wool extraction. This method takes large time and low

yield. From our calculation modern equipment can increase wool yield up to 10 %.

In farms there is very poor management of waste and feed. If they setup bio gas plant for the

waste of sheep then they can produce 60-70% w/v from waste of sheep. We suggest sheep farms

should not be limited to provide ram or vaccination instead they can be used for sheep farming.

From this way shepherds and government can make more money by division of labor. New

government scheme should be introduced to promote farm based sheep farming.

We came across a very shocking experience in manali. Shepherd shared information with us on

the condition that their name should not be disclosed. They were misguided that if their name is

disclosed then their permit will be canceled. Education is very necessary for self-empowerment.

We concluded that there should be technological advancement in wool extraction and wool

filtering. Government should seriously introduce scheme for their education and economic

benefits. Sheep farms should consume their resources efficiently and effectively. Bio gas plant will

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prove to be a better step in this process.

References

A Collection of Articles, News, Photos and Videos on Goat and Sheep Farming

http://goatandsheepfarming.blogspot.in/

Migratory System of Goat and Sheep Rearing in Himachal Pradesh – India http://www.fao.org/ag/aGP/aGPC/doc/PUBLICAT/Tapafon3/32.doc Himachal Pradesh corporative wool procurement and marketing federation limited

http://admis.hp.nic.in/himachal/woolfed/ Sify news, do shepherds really like to migrate? http://www.sify.com/news/himachal-shepherds-begin-annual-winter-migration-news-national-jjvnufcbgci.html Qfever disease in from sheep to men http://www.cdc.gov/qfever/ Management Basics for Sheep Owners http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/sheep-management-basics.aspx

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/sheep-raising-zmaz74zhol.aspx

Ecological changes in Himalayas

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/mountain-minorities-and-ecological-

change-himalayas

Sheep grazing image used as cover picture for this report

http://www.samuelwilson.me/post/58424465909/sheeps-in-himachal-pradesh

Seasonal migration in Gaddis of Himachal Pradesh

http://eksparsh.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/seasonal-human-migration-gaddis-of-himachal-

pradesh/

Housing for sheep http://www.sheep101.info/201/housing.html

How sheep is used http://www.sheep101.info/products.html

Uses of the wool of sheep

http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/ansc442/semprojs/2004/uses/wool.htm

Uses of sheep skin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheepskin

Government Schemes for shepherds

http://woolboard.nic.in/download/model_for_sheep_breeders_scheme.doc

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