Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

A field survey of Junagadh district was conducted to collect the information on housing management practices followed by Gir cattle owners and data were ascertained from randomly selected 320 Gir cattle owners through personal interview with the help of structured interview schedule. The present study revealed that majority of the Gir cattle owners (63.75%) provided conventional type of houses. Majority (63.75%) kept their animals inside the shed during day as well as night; 47.81% of animal sheds were nearby to the dwelling of the Gir cattle owners. Majority of the animal houses (67.50%) were oriented in east-west direction and 95.62% of the Gir cattle owners followed single row system of housing. About 93.12, 89.38 and 97.81% of the Gir cattle owners had adequate floor space, light and ventilation, respectively in their animal sheds. Majority of the respondents (87.5%) had earthen floors and only 20.31% of the Gir cattle owners provided slope in floors towards backwards; 88.44% of Gir cattle owners used cemented type pillars. About 78.44% of the Gir cattle owners had single slope type of roof. All the Gir cattle owners provided manger; 64.38% had pucca type manger and 92.19% of animal sheds had no provision of pucca drainage facility for slurry. Majority (59.06%) of the Gir cattle owners provided bedding material on floor during winter season and 60% Gir cattle owners adopted measures to protect their animals from extreme weather conditions.