Livestock farming systems in the western Himalayan region are complex and generally based on traditional socio-economic considerations, mainly guided by available feed resources. Increasing awareness about environmental issues and preservation of the eco-system with minimum detrimental effects to future generations has led to great concern about the sustainability of agricultural production systems. The word "Changer" which belongs to Pahari dialect means a rough mountainous area with scarcity of water. It is a typical geographical area with undulating rough terrain, fragile geomorphy, scarce water availability during summers and high rainfall during the rainy season. The temperature range of the Changer area in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh varies from 1^oC to 44^oC. The area is connected with a network of roads, veterinary dispensaries, artificial insemination facilities, etc. The average land holding per household is to about 0.75 hectares (ha) which consists of some cultivable agricultural land with moderate slope, few moderately to highly steep hay lands and a little homestead area for vegetable production.

Hay lands in Changer are quite typical. In many cases, government lands have been encroached upon by the villagers. However, there are many community hay lands where most of the villagers enjoy the rights of grazing their animals. Due to hilly region and fragile ecology there are very little employment avenues, except in the government sector. Therefore, agriculture, animal husbandry and horticulture provide some addition to income although it is very meager due to small land holdings and lack of economical and sustainable practices. In this a survey has been carried out to evaluate the current system of animal husbandry practices including trends of livestock rearing, carrying capacity of grazing lands, fodder resources and impact of all these factors on sustainable livestock rearing, keeping in view the issues of eco-conservation and profitable production.

STUDY AREA AND METHODOLOGY
A total of seven villages forming a watershed unit were selected to carry out a preliminary survey where Indo-German Changer Eco-Development Project is intervening for ecological rehabilitation. Information regarding all the households, types of livestock reared and number of households rearing livestock was gathered through the tools of participatory social appraisal. Demographic information of the study area is given in Table 1.

Table 1. Demographic information of the study area
 
 

Village	Households	Households rearing livestock	Households rearing livestock (%)
Garyala	9	9	100
Kuthera	40	32	80
Lanot	96	60	66
Lahat	40	13	33
Guga	23	22	96
Dib	74	52	70
Gungri	48	39	81

The area of private hay lands was taken from revenue records at Panchayat level. For greater precision, uncultivated agricultural lands where grazing by the particular villagers’ livestock is practiced was ascertained through participatory appraisal and added to the area. The type and number of livestock reared by each household were also ascertained. A local non descript cow weighing about 150 kg was taken as one Standard Animal Unit (SAU). For the purpose of calculating the SAU, the average weight of crossbred cows, adult sheep, adult goats, bulls and buffaloes was taken as 300, 30, 30, 300 and 350 kg respectively.

RESSULTS AND DISCUSSION
On an average about 75 per cent households in study area are rearing different animals. The pressure in terms of SAU on grazing land of the total livestock population of the villages is given in Table 2.

Table 2. Pressure in terms of Standard Animal Units on grazing land
 
 

It has been observed that in almost all the villages the pressure on the grazing land is much higher than the recommended figure of 2 SAUs/ha (Katoch, 1996). The grazing lands in this region are undeveloped, overgrazed, contain poor quality grasses and are infested with weeds (Jithendran et al., 1998). However, villagers do not appear to attach due importance to aspects like carrying capacity, nutritional status, soil compaction and degradation due to unawareness. There is lack of awareness regarding low digestible crude protein, total digestive nutrients and mineral contents in various feeds. Feeding such poor diets results in infantile genitalia, late maturity, anemia, infertility and loss of production are found to be common problems which are generally due to feeding low quantity and poor quality feeds. A large number of such cases were found registered in veterinary institutions. The farmers were found to supplement the diet of only lactating animals with 0.5 to 1 kg concentrate. Very few farmers were found to feed the animals mineral mixture and salt. Stall feeding practices were common for only a limited period of time per day along with round the year grazing. During the period of shortage of green fodder i.e. in winter, tree leaves are fed to the livestock which comprise leaves of Grewia optiva, Bauhinia variegata, Ficus roxburgii, Bambusa arundinacea, Morus alba, Cederella toona, Atrocarpus lakoocha. Grewia optiva followed by Bambusa is considered the best fodder by the local villagers. However, though these have been found to be nutritious but are deficient in zinc (Khatta and Katoch, 1983). The feed availability to various livestocks in change area is given in chart 1.

At the end of winters and during early summer the availability of green fodder is even more scarce. During this period the livestock are reared solely on hay straw and crop residues. The rearing of such animals entails huge labour to the farmer and results in disappointment because of poor returns. The animals that are able to conceive, yield very little milk. However, for the farmers who are satisfied with such uneconomical yields, the up gradation of local cattle with exotic blood (Jersey and Red Sindhi breeds) carries no meaning in the absence of improved feeding practices. Such crossbreds have become common place in the Changer area. However, for such crossbreds, absence of integrated package of practices, their greater susceptibility to diseases, inability to adjust to native environment and consequent infertility or sterility has resulted in a sense of dissatisfaction amongst the farmers. Such substandard feeding practices have also caused anoestrous and failure of artificial insemination services resulting in general non acceptance of this technique by the farmers. Though the farmer is spending little on such animals, as he gets very output, such animals are causing ecological imbalance in the community land eco-system by overgrazing selective species of grasses resulting in depletion of vegetative cover, spread of weeds, soil erosion and loss of top layer of fertile soil with far reaching implications for the future. The survey has also revealed that pressure is more on the grazing lands which are inhabited by poor landless villagers dependant on community lands particularly in Dib, Gungri and Guga villages. However, in the villages inhabited by rich land owning farmers, the pressure is less. These people are rearing less number of animals due to other occupations outside the village. There is decrease in grazing area, and grazing by unproductive animals has added to increased pressure on limited land resources.

Chart 1. Livestock feed availability round the year
 
 

CONCLUSION
On the basis of this survey, it is concluded that research priority should be to improve the digestibility of crop residues, straws and stovers using chemical and microbiological techniques that can be adopted by marginal and small farmers. The wasteland development programmes for fodder production also need to be strengthened. Uncontrolled overgrazing by livestock leading to degradation and deforestation needs to be checked. For sustainability, emphasis must be given to develop pastures, forages, and fodder and fodder-crop systems to provide continuous and sustainable feed resources round the year. It must be kept in mind that without pre-requisites of sustainability for future animal production, sustainable rural society will remain a distant dream. Therefore, application of any animal production system in a particular geographical area must conform to the framework of sustainability and should be ecologically, technically and economically viable.

From this study it can be concluded that in Changer or similar areas elsewhere in Himachal Pradesh, animal husbandry practices can become economical and sustainable only if serious attention is paid to research on increased forage production, development of grazing lands and feeding management based on appropriate technology adaptable by the farmers. The intervention of Indo-German Changer Eco-Development Project, Palampur is a step in this direction to bring sustainability in this sector and in Changer area of Kangra as a whole

Acknowledgement
The author thanks the Director, IGCDEP, Palampur, for providing necessary facilities to carry out the survey.

REFERENCES
Jithendran, K.P; Sharma, O.P; Dawra, R.K; Makkar, H.P.S and Singh, B. (1998). Survey on animal husbandry practices, bottlenecks in animal production and strategies for improvement. A profile of selected villages in Himachal Pradesh. ENVIS Bulletin- Himalayan Ecology and Development. Vol.6(2):6-13
Katoch, B.S. (1995). Carrying capacity of certain pastures in Kangra Distt- a report. Department of Animal Nutrition, HPKV, Palampur, HP.
Khatta,V. and Katoch, B.S. (1983). Nutrient composition of some fodder tree leaves available in sub mountainous region of Himachal Pradesh. Indian Forester. 109:1