Pattern of Pricing of Dairy Cattle and Buffaloes in Tamil Nadu, India

Dairy cattle and buffalo marketing in India is highly unorganized and their market prices are negotiated with hidden secret codes in livestock markets. In this context, the present study was carried out with the objective of identifying the pattern of sales of dairy animals and to ascertain the pricing of dairy cattle and buffaloes based on their age, breed and yield. Primary data were collected from 525 dairy cattle and buffalo farmers from seven randomly selected districts in the state of Tamil Nadu located in Southern India. The data were analysed through frequency, arithmetic mean, percentages and standard deviation. Majority of the dairy farmers sold their animals through middlemen and the rest sold their animals equally at their farm gate and shandies (livestock markets). The major reason for selling of animal was to meet out family expenditure and about one-third of the dairy farmers sold because of culling. The price of dairy animals differed between the species (cattle and buffaloes), age (number of calvings), presence of calf, sex of the calf, milk yield and health status of the animals. Scientific price fixation need to be implemented so as to regulate the dairy cattle and buffalo marketing.