Swadhina

Animal Care Training : A Report

Place: Dharmasala, Ghatsila

Date: 5^th -7^th July 2016

The first day began at 10:30 am with the registration of the participants. It was then time for an inaugural song. “Aguner Poroshmoni” – a famous song by Tagore was chosen as an inaugural song. Ms. Supta Mukherji, the Founder-Treasurer of Kolkata gave the inaugural speech over a tele-call from Kolkata. She welcomed all the women participants and highlighted the fact that welfare of every family depends on the welfare of the women of the family. Hence it is important for women to be self-reliant and animal rearing is one such avenue. 

Participants

A special training focussing on animal rearing, care and effective use of animal resources took place on 5^th – 7^th July 2016. Smriti Sarkar, Diptendu Mukherji from Kolkata; Laduram Mahato and Prabir Sarkar from Jharkhand were the main resource persons. Altogether 20 participants from various villages took part in this training.

Day One: 5^th July 2016

Introducing the training concept, Mr.Diptendu Mukherjee said that the training has been mainly organised for women participants, because it is the women who do animal rearing in most families. The basic objective of the training is to provide scope to women for income generation: both as animal rearers, as well as village vets. He said that, animal rearing is a viable income-generation option for families which have less land-based agriculture. However, it is not just important to rear animals but also rear animals in a more methodical and scientific process so as to reduce animal mortality. Proper animal care would ensure not just reduction in animal mortality but also improve animal produce – in terms of meat, milk, eggs etc.

Sharing the result of the group task

The first detailed session was on bird rearing and bird care. This was conducted by Smriti Sarkar. She gave a detailed explanation as to why bird rearing is a viable option for women. She gave a very detailed explanation on how to rear birds scientifically – their place of stay, ideal food for the birds, egg-laying spaces etc. This was followed by a very detailed discussion on several diseases and their cure – including vaccination. Fowl pox, worm infestation, blood dysentery, Duck plague, Duck cholera etc. The participants too asked questions on the various ways of treating the animals. The different vaccinations were discussed – BCRTV vaccine, F1 vaccine etc. The participants wer very pleased to know the different medicines to be administered in case of various diseases. Alongside the method of administration was also discussed in detail.

The session for the day came to a closure with a question-answer session with the participants.

Day Two: 6^th July 2016

The session for the day began at 9:00 am. The training focussed on goat rearing. Speaking on goat rearing Smriti Sarkar explained how goats can be reared quite easily by women. She explained the process by which goat-shed can be built within the household premises itself. It is easy to arrange food for goat, since they mostly depend on fresh, green grass from the vicinity. This was followed by a detailed discussion on goat diseases, goat treatment and cure. The importance of goat vaccination was also highlighted.

The participants were then divided into two groups. One group was led by Saswati Roy and the other group was led by Prabir Sarkar. The group discussions focussed on animal care techniques based on the study materials provided.

Certificate for the Participants

Post the group discussion, a representative from each group came forward to explain what they had discussed so far.

The following session focussed on details about goat vaccination and diseases. PPR,Foot and Mouth, Anthrax, Gastina etc were discussed in detail.

Following this a detailed discussion took place on the viability and different income generation possibilities through rearing of goats.

The post lunch session was on pig rearing. From pig rearing to diseases concerning pigs, including treatment – every detail was discussed.

This was followed by practical session on vaccination for the participants. The participants learnt how to administer vaccines for birds and animals through live demonstration and hands-on training.

Day Three: 7^th July 2016

The day began at 9:00 am with a recapitulation of the training so far. Following this, the participants were divided into four groups.  Each group was given an animal/bird to choose from : Goat, Pig, Hen, Duck. Each of the groups was then asked to prepare a poster on their respective animal/bird –highlighting atleast five benefits of rearing each of the animals. A representative from each group was then asked to explain their poster.It was interesting  to see the groups come up with very interesting points.

Tribal Dance : a part of the learning with joy

Following this the participants were each asked to write down their individual learning from the trainings and their overall experience. They then read out their writing.

The training concluded with the handing over of certificates to the participants.

The final touch was lent in the form of a song “Bhaduriar taney nachey mon” by the participants.

Impressions....                                       

Shankar Mahato:  This training was an enlightening process. I could learn a lot many things – bird rearing, goat rearing, pig rearing – and in detail. I’ve come to also know about Swadhina and how the organisation wishes to empower our women through education, health care and income generation.

Tapasi Sahis: I’ve been associated with Swadhina for a long time. For me it is interesting to learn new and scientific methods of animal rearing.  I wish to utilize this knowledge in an effective way in my field areas.

Golapi Tudu:  I loved this training. We have been rearing animals but never knew this much detail about rearing. I have enjoyed every bit of learning about rearing of hen, duck, pig, goat. This has provided me immense knowledge.

Panto Karmakar: I’ve never been to any residential trainings prior to this. I feel feel excited, having had the opportunity to learn many things.

Hiramoni Tudu: This gave me a very good opportunity to know about things that I hadn’t known earlier. So, I  learnt about treatment of animals reared at home.

Chandana Mahato: The training was very detailed. What was interesting for me, is the information about vaccines. I shall utilize the knowledge in treating animals in our village.

Practical session on Chicken Vaccination

Janki Hansda: I’ve always been interested about pig rearing and treatment of pigs, so this training was very important for me. It gave me a very good theoretical as well as practical exposure.

Sunita Kisku: Many of us have been doing animal rearing for a long time but we hardly know such details. There were many things I hadn’t ever thought of but now I’ve learnt so many things.

Sonamoni Tudu: I am very happy that I was selected for this training. I’ve never had the opportunity to participate in such trainings earlier. This would help me become economically empowered as well.

Pushing Injection: There is always a first time !

Sanjit Baskey: I am honoured to be a part of this training programme. I had very little  awareness about the different animal diseases. I not only wish to utlilize the training myself but also impart the awareness to others in near future.

Shyamal Tudu: This was an interesting training. Especially, learning about the medicines to be administered was very important for me. Often we learn about rearing but never about health care. Here we learnt each and every detail.

Kaleswar Kisku: The training was very interesting. We learnt so much about animal rearing.

Rani Tudu:  We have a lot animals in the village. They often die because we do not know how to take care of them. We cannot afford vets either. So this was really important for us. This would be very beneficial in future.

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