Vol. 9, Special Issue 2, Part A (2025)

A study was conducted on milking and calve rearing management practices of crossbred dairy cattle in Khasi and Jaintia Hill districts of Meghalaya. The main aim of the study was to analyze the present milking and calve rearing management practices adopted by the farmers in the two districts. The interview schedule was developed, and the data was collected randomly from two districts, Khasi hill (60 farmers) and Jaintia hill (60 farmers). The data collected were primary data includes various types and methods of both milking and rearing of calves. The software used for analysis were IBM SPSS Statistics Version 26 and Microsoft Excel. No farmers used machine milking and all the farmers (100.00%) followed stripping method of hand milking and also they milked (100.00%) their cow twice daily. All farmers (100.00%) dry their cow for 3 months or less and also followed colostrum feeding for calves less than 3 hours after birth (100.00%) and 77.50 percent fed them colostrum three times daily. Majority of the farmers (52.50%) practices by letting the calves suck one quarter or one teat of the cow’s udder at the time of colostrum feeding. Majority of the calves were weaned (51.67%) at the age of 3-8 month and dewormed (54.17%) at 3-4 months of age. The study concluded that for better performance and production of the dairy farm, the modern way of milking and scientific calf management practice need to be adopted by the farmers in the Khasi and Jaintia Hill Districts of Meghalaya.