A study was conducted in seven East Indian states, viz. Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam and eastern UP, to understand the livestock production and management systems for making strategies for the improving livestock production scenario in the region. The data were collected from two districts from each state and from each district twenty-five (25) farmers were selected. Information was collected farmer‘s socio-economic status like, family size, education, land holding, animal status (types of animals, strength, production), feeding system (feeds and fodder availability, sources of feed, feeding methods), health status (types of diseases, symptoms and vaccination mode), breeding methods, assistance needs (subsidy, loan, animals, training) and satisfaction with animal and production aspects through pretested survey instrument specially developed for the purpose. It was found that family size varied from 5.31 (West Bengal) to 9.48 (Eastern UP) and most head of families were educated having more than 0.5ha agriculture land. Majority (70.86%) of the farmers were not able to spare agriculture land for fodder production. A large number of farmers in Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had non-descript (ND) cows. However, majority of farmers surveyed in Bihar and eastern UP had crossbred (CB) cow. Average milk production (kg/d), lactation length (m) and dry period (m) amongst animals of eastern region for ND cows 2.48, 7.71, and 6.66, for CB cows 7.20, 9.08, and 3.85 and for buffaloes 5.54, 8.56, and 6.93, respectively. The farmers followed their own feeding practices and offered self-produced feeds. Majority of the farmers of the region reported Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) as a major concern and were not satisfied with their animals and production. On the basis of this study it can be concluded that livestock farmers of eastern region of India are in great need of improved breeds, they also require capacity building and training on balance feeding and general management practices for better and sustainable animal production.
