Livestock accounts for about 40% of global agricultural production, with emerging countries accounting for 20% of the total (FAO, 2021). India has 536.76 million animals, producing 10.25 million tonnes of meat and 239.30 million tonnes of milk, according to the country’s 21^st livestock census (BAHS, 2024). The meat of goats (Rs. 22,625 crores), milk (Rs. 9,564 crores), skin (Rs. 1491 crores), manure (Rs. 1,535 crores) and other products (Rs. 3,360 crores) account for 8.4% of India’s livestock GDP, or Rs. 38,590 crores (Lata and Mondal, 2021). In India, goats provide roughly 3.36 percent of all milk (8.04 million tonnes) and 15.50 percent of all meat (1.59 million tonnes) (BAHS, 2024).
       
Rajasthan is the country’s goat capital, home to 20.84 million goats, or 14% of the total goat population. A total of 3.10 million goat milk and 0.09 million chevon were reported to be produced in Rajasthan in 2022-23 (BAHS, 2023). Rajasthan is the home tracts of Sirohi, Marwari and Jhakrana. Three new goat breeds have been registered recently. They are Sojat, Karauli and Gujri and they are primarily located in the districts of Pali, Karauli, Sikar and Jaipur in Rajasthan, respectively. Because of the lack of knowledge about goat breed characteristics, goat genetic resources (genetic dilution and replacement) may be underutilized and exploited (Bedarda et al., 2019).
       
Despite being a large to medium-sized, multipurpose native, the Totapuri goat is primarily used for meat. It is because of their parrot-shaped nasal bridge that the goats are known as “Totapuri.” Primarily white with a small amount of black and brown admixture makes up the dominating color’s bicolor pattern. Totapuri goats are known for being prolific and having a higher chance of twinning. The current study was undertaken for identifying and characterizing the goats that are found in Rajasthan’s Alwar, Dausa and Karauli districts, which are well-known by Totapuri. Totapuri goats’ efficient and sustainable use will benefit from breed-specific characterization.

Source of data   
       
The data used in present study came from the flocks of Totapuri goats kept by goat farmers in the Rajasthani districts of Alwar, Dausa and Karauli. The research area was situated in the western region of India, with latitudes and longitudes of 27.5530°N and 76.6346°E, 26.5050°N and 7.0268°E, 26.8997°N and 76.3324°E, respectively. latitude and longitude generally written in ranges Its climate was classified as semi-arid. Data on around 3080 goats was collected between June 2023 to August 2024.
 
Collection of data
 
In Rajasthan’s rural districts of Alwar, Dausa and Karauli, data were gathered at the doorsteps of farmers. There were two subdistricts covered in each district. A minimum of five villages were covered for data collection in each subdistrict (Table 1).


 
Selection of survey area
 
The Totapuri goat was mostly found in the districts of Alwar, Dausa and Karauli, which were purposefully chosen from the 33 districts of Rajasthan State. Based on the largest number of Totapuri goats, two tehsils were chosen for the current study from each identified district. Therefore, the investigation was conducted in six tehsils. The table lists the names of the chosen tehsils from the designated districts. A complete list of all the villages from the selected tehsils where the Totapuri goats were reared by the farmers was prepared with the help of personnel of department of Animal Husbandry. From the resulting list, a minimum of five villages were chosen from each tehsil based on the greatest number of Totapuri goats raised by the farmers. Consequently, 42 localities in all were chosen for the current study. The table lists the chosen village’s name.
 
Feeding and management
 
The feeding and management system were documented during the study using field-level data from the goat owner or farmer (survey proforma). Information were gathered from several farmers and goat owners regarding grazing patterns, the availability of dry and green fodder, concentrate feeding, oil cake and supplemental feeding (Annexure).

Number of goat
 
Details of districts, sex, households and age group wise distribution of goats studied were presented in Table 2.


 
The grazing time of totapuri goats
 
A total of 68 Totapuri goat keepers, representing 71.57% of respondents, reported grazing their goats for 6-9 hours daily (Table 3). In line with the current findings, the majority of goat rearers (93.75%) sent their Sojat and Karauli goats, respectively, for more than five hours of grazing each day, according to Bagri (2022) and Kumar (2023). The current findings are also consistent with those of Dar et al., (2016), who found that in the Banaskantha region of north Gujarat, the majority of goat keepers (90.83%) sent their animals out to graze for more than five hours every day.  The climate, the availability of pasture and the customary husbandry methods used in each district can all have an impact on the variance in grazing time.


 
Grazing land
 
The survey on ownership of grazing land was conducted and presented in Table 4. A total of 84 goat keepers constituting 90.38%, graze their goats on community land.


       
Similar to the current study, the majority of Sojat goat keepers (95.00%) used community land, Bagri (2022). Additionally, according to Kumar (2023), 95.62 per cent of respondents grazed Karauli goats on community land. According to Khadda et al., (2018), the majority of Pantja goat keepers in the Tarai region of Uttarakhand (95.97%) grazed on community land. According to Kumar et al., (2016), in the northwestern semi-arid region of Rajasthan, 90.0% of goat farmers graze their animals on community land.
       
Factors including land ownership patterns, availability of land, access to community grazing grounds and local land use rules may all have an impact on the diversity in grazing land usage.
 
Practice of migration of totapuri goats
 
Understanding the breakdown of goat keepers who migrated and those who do not, as well as other information like the migration duration, migration causes and migration routes indicated in Table 5, was part of the practice migration. It was shown that 94 goat keepers, or 98.94 per cent, do not migrate. The fact implies that migration may not be a widespread activity among Totapuri goat keepers. The fact that there was no movement during the designated time frame, causes, or routes further suggests that Totapuri goat farming techniques are localized and immobile.


 
Feeding practices of totapuri goats
 
The distribution of Totapuri goat keepers based on the feeding practices they follow, as depicted in the Table 6. Majority of the total farmers of three districts were following semistall feeding (83.16%) wherein goats are grazed for part of the day and supplemented with feed in stalls.


       
Bagri (2022) found that the majority of Sojat goat rearers (78.75%) used a semi-stall feeding strategy, which was comparable to the current study. According to Kumar (2023), the majority of goat farmers in Karauli (75.62%) used a semi-stall feeding technique. According to Khadda et al., (2018), the majority of Pantja goat keepers in the Tarai region of Uttarakhand (65.58%) used a semi-stall feeding technique. The least popular method was stall feeding, probably because it requires more labour and had greater associated expenses. The majority of Totapuri goat keepers used semi-stall feeding, which was the most common technique, perhaps as a result of the local conditions that encouraged it.

Kind of concentrate offered by respondent
 
Kind of concentrate offered by Totapuri goat keepers to their goats depicted in Table 7. The mixture of grains (Barley, Maize, Sorghum (Jowar/Great millet), Wheat and Pennisetum glaucum (Pearl millet/Bajra)) was the most commonly offered concentrate across all three districts (91.58%).


       
This mix was likely favoured due to its balanced nutritional profile, providing essential proteins, carbohydrates and other nutrients that support goat health, growth and productivity.
 
Concentrate feeding
 
Based on the concentrate feeding that was provided to goats, the distribution of Totapuri goat keepers was shown in Table 8. The survey’s findings indicate that the majority of Totapuri goat keepers in Alwar, Dausa and Karauli (90.53%) offer concentrate feed to all of their goats make the meaningful sentence.  Among the different types, mustard oil cake was the most commonly used, with an average of 87.36% of farmers across the three districts supplementing their goats with it.


       
Bagri (2022) revealed that 87.50 per cent of Sojat respondents engaged in concentrate feeding, which was comparable to the current study. According to Kumar (2023), 92.50 per cent of respondents who offered concentrate feeding to the Karauli goats. In contrast to the current study, Kakraliya et al., (2022) found that the majority of goat keepers in Rajasthan’s Sirohi region (63.75%) did not provide concentrate to their animals.
       
Concentrate feeding reflected the common perception among farmers that such supplements improve the overall productivity and health of goat herds. Mustard oil cake, being rich in protein and other essential nutrients, served as a valuable dietary addition (Kumar et al., 2002). Its widespread use also indicates that it was both accessible and affordable for most farmers in the study areas.
 
Type of feed and fodder offered to kids after birth
 
The sort of feed and fodder that respondents often given to newborns shown in Table 9. Kids between the ages of 11 and 20 days were fed green fodder by 53 goat keepers, or 55.78% of the total. Understanding the distribution of goat keepers who used various feeding techniques in the three  districts (Alwar, Dausa and Karauli) is necessary to comprehend the feeding procedures used by Totapuri goat keepers. This information was shown in Table 10. The majority of goat keepers followed a mixed method of green fodder feeding, with chaffed and unchaffed fodder offered together, a practice reported by 91.30% of respondents. While the use of specific concentrate-feeding techniques varied across regions, the soaked + boiled method was the most widely adopted, followed by 83.15% of the goat keepers.




       
Unlike the current study, Kumar (2023) found that 56.00% of farmers did not chaff green fodder, while 44.00% of Karauli goat farmers did so before giving it to their goats. Most Sojat goat farmers (59.38%) did not chaffed green fodder, according to Bagri (2022). Khadda et al., (2018) found that among Pantja goat keepers in the Tarai region of Uttarakhand, only 38.57 per cent of respondents chaffed dry hay and 27.38 per cent of respondents never do so. Conversely, Kumawat (2016) also found that in the Jobner region of district Jaipur, Rajasthan, the majority of goat caretakers (48.00%) never chaff dry food.
 
Time of concentrate feeding
 
Table 11 presents the distribution of Totapuri goat keepers according to the time of concentrate feeding. Among them, 31 (39.63%) provided concentrates only in the morning, 23 (24.22%) only in the evening and 41 (43.15%) both in the morning and evening. Feeding schedules are often shaped by management routines, labor availability and perceptions of optimal feeding practices. In larger flocks or under intensive systems, twice-daily concentrate feeding helps maintain a consistent nutrient supply and supports better productivity.


 
Mineral mixture feeding
 
The percentage of goat keepers in the three districts (Alwar, Dausa and Karauli) that feed their goats mineral mixtures is shown in Table 12. In all three regions, 65.26% of goat keepers provided mineral mixtures, according to the overall trend. The majority of goat keepers in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan (85.00%) fed their goats a mineral mixture, according to Lavania et al., (2014), which was consistent with the current findings.


       
Contrary to the current study, Bagri (2022) found that 95.0% of Sojat goat keepers did not feed mineral mixture, maybe as a result of their ignorance of the field. According to Kumar (2023), 97.50 per cent of goat keepers in Karauli did not feed mineral mixture. According to Kumar et al., (2016), in the northwest semi-arid region of Rajasthan, just 2.50% of goat keepers fed their animals a mineral mixture. The prevalence of mineral combination supplementation suggested that Totapuri goat keepers were generally aware of and had adopted mineral supplementing procedures.

This study provides critical insights into the management practices and economic significance of Totapuri goats in Rajasthan. Key findings highlight the predominance of semi-stall feeding, extensive grazing and mineral supplementation, underscoring effective yet traditional husbandry methods.
       
Despite these positive aspects, gaps remain in genetic documentation, nutritional optimization and systematic breeding programmes. Addressing these gaps through genetic characterization, performance evaluation and structured breeding initiatives is crucial for sustainable improvement. Future research should focus on genetic markers and breed standardization to harness the full potential of Totapuri goats.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.