CARE AND MANAGEMENT

OF DRAUGHT ANIMALS

PRITAM ROY
22-P-ES-01
 INTRODUCTION
 Draught animals, people, and engines now supply the power for
crop cultivation, transport, harvesting, and processing in any
agricultural production system. There are 70 million drought
animals in India. Drought animals plough over 65% of our
country's land (Singh, 2013).

 In most underdeveloped nations, draught animal power is a stable

and popular source of energy. Cattle produce around 70% of total
drought animal power, while other species contribute less: buffalo
(29%), camel (0.54%), horse and pony (0.43%), donkey (0.51%),
mule (0.10%), and yak and mithun (0.11%). (Singh, 2013).
Today's animal traction farmers confront several restraints such as
excessive draught, inadequate harness design, forced quick
ploughshare wear, and a variety of other equipment.
 DRAUGHT ANIMALS
 Draught animals are those that labour with and for humans for
subsistence and a living. Horses, donkeys, mules, camels, and
llamas are the most generally thought of draught animals, although
water buffalo, sheep, goats, elephants, pigs, and dogs also work
with and for people and can be considered as draught animals..

 A working animal is a domesticated animal that is kept by

humans and trained to perform activities. They might be family
members, such as guide or service dogs, or they can be creatures
trained specifically for a profession, such as logging elephants.
They can also be used to produce milk, which requires human
training to get the animal to cooperate.
 DRAUGHTABILITY
 Draught=work, Ability=capacity so working capacity of animal is known as
draught ability of animal.

 Work in the strict sense of “force x distance through which the force is moved” is
done by animals only under certain circumstances like (1) walking uphill (2)
pulling against some external force.

 However , the term work has a more practical definition in the case of animals
draught; It consist of “all activities which require an increase in energy expenditure
 DRAUGHTABILITY
 Animals' work performance may be quantified by assessing their ability to
create power source, which generates slightly more power than what is actually
measured as tractive power since some of it is utilised in self-propulsion. The
tractive power, measured in watts, is the rate at which work is done and is
determined using the following formula:

Tractive power(W)=draught(N) X speed(m/s)

FEEDING MANAGEMENT OF DRAUGHT
ANIMALS
 A drought animal should be in good physical condition. According to a study
conducted in 1995, animal sickness was a major impediment to the utilisation of
draught animals in agriculture and other industries (Starkey et. al., 1995).

 Animals must be kept free of damage, sickness, and hazardous parasites in order
to work optimally. Vaccines and therapy should be administered on a regular
basis, both preventive and curative. Draught animals need to be fed in the right
amount and quality to perform successfully. Adequate feed and water are required
not only for healthy physical condition, but also to supply the energy and other
necessities for their full potential.
 FEEDING MANAGEMENT OF DRAUGHT
ANIMALS
 The four primary categories of nutrients : vitamins,
minerals, proteins, and energy-are necessary for
development, pregnancy, and lactation.

 Due to lack of knowledge about the maintenance

requirements of draught oxen differ from those of
cattle kept for other purposes, we normally supply
some extra nutrients to drought animals needed for
labour.
VITAMINS MINERAL, PROTEIN AND ENERGY
REQUIREMENTS OF DRAUGHT ANIMALS
 Working animals don't appear to have any discernible additional vitamin and mineral
needs beyond those met by the more food required to meet their higher energy demands.
The weather in India is hot and muggy.

 Drought-affected animals need enough minerals and vitamins for healthy growth and
metabolic function. Depending on the quantity of minerals and vitamins present in the
soil, feed, and fodder, varying amounts may be needed.

 Animals require extra salt in extremely hot regions to replace what they lose via sweat.
Animals living in drought have lower requirements for protein, just like they do for
vitamins and minerals. Exercise doesn't seem to have much of an impact on male urinary
nitrogen excretion.
 VITAMINS MINERAL, PROTEIN AND ENERGY
REQUIREMENTS OF DRAUGHT ANIMALS

 Any nitrogen balance decline is not significant enough to have a nutritional impact.
There is therefore little need for additional protein while working. An underfed animal's
bodily reserves will be released to meet its energy needs, which will also result in the
release of enough excess protein.

 Energy is the most crucial requirement for draught animals. Energy is mostly needed by
ruminant animals for the following activities: maintenance, growth, fattening,
pregnancy, lactation, and work.
 VITAMINS MINERAL, PROTEIN AND ENERGY
REQUIREMENTS OF DRAUGHT ANIMALS

 We are unable to directly determine how much energy an animal expends while
working in the field. However, we may determine these requirements using a variety
of techniques. The data required to get these estimates can be summed up as follows:

Energy used for work = energy for walking + energy for carrying loads + energy
for pulling loads + energy for walking uphill
MANAGEMENTAL PRACTICES FOR DROUGHT
ANIMALS

BREEDING IMPROVEMENT
 Improvement in a breeding programme is mostly based on either draft-and-beef or
draft-and-milk. So the farmers could not get the full benefits of breeding improvements
for draught capacity. Hence, we should take into account the criteria for milk and beef
in order to improve drought power. In Asian nations, crossbreeding of dairy or meat
cattle is uncommon.

 Similar cross-breeding programmes were started in China and the Philippines for was
swamp, Murrah, and NilIi-Ravi for draught, meat, and milk. Chantalakhana (l983)
described how the performance of crossbred animals was assessed in rural settings. The
crossbred male animals are less productive economically than the native drought
animals.
 IMPROVING DESIGN OF EQUIPMENT
 Animal strength can sometimes be lost by up to 50% due to poor design during
droughts, forcing the creatures to exert themselves beyond their physical limits.
According to O'Neil & Kemp (1989) and Wilson (2003), using inappropriate equipment
and harnessing animals for work causes pain to the animals and has a negative impact
on their welfare. This results in an accelerated heart rate and altered behaviour,
including vocalisation Therefore, vocalisation is a simple sighn of an animal's welfare.

 Any discomfort or negative feelings activate the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA),

which raises the levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone
(ACTH) in the blood.
 DRAUGHT ANIMAL WELFARE

Animal 'well-being' is directly related to welfare. The five animal freedoms are
enumerated as follows :
 Freedom from starvation or physical discomfort
 Freedom from thermal or physical discomfort
 Freedom from fear or distress
 Freedom from pain, injury or discomfort
 Freedom to express most normal, socially acceptable patterns of behavior..
 DRAUGHT ANIMAL WELFARE
 Drought animals are kept in poor quality pastures, straw, and crop leftovers in our
Indian conditions. Animals are fed a low-maintenance diet during the non-working
season. As a result, animals become weak, and when put to work during the working
season, they are unable to bear a typical burden.

 For drought animals we should provide sufficient feed.We must give proper health
care as well as fast veterinarian services. We should use well-suited and fitted work
equipment to avoid injuries while on the job.

 Allow for adequate rest and avoid overtraining. Modern surgical equipment and
treatment should follow. All drought animal care laws must be followed in order to
provide proper care. Preventing imprisonment in insufficient stalls and other
comparable situations. Public awareness and education programs for animal welfare
are being developed.