Industrial training report on livestock production and management carried out at National Semi- Arid resources Resaech Institute (NaSARR1) in Serere district.

Abstract

The training was conducted at National Semi-Arid Resources Research Institute, in Serere district. This was aimed at equipping the student with knowledge, skills and hands on experience on various activities conducted at the institute farm. NaSARRI is a PARI mandated to undertake research for semi-arid production system in areas of seed research production and product management together with animal traction, pasture and range management. It is located 27km south west of Soroti city in Igola parish and stands on over 1700 acres of land. During the training, several activities were conducted both theoretically and practically. Some of them were conducted daily, weekly, and monthly and they include the following; disease diagnosis and treatment, weighing of animals, spraying, castration, pregnancy diagnosis, recording, census, health inspection among others. The training led to the attainment of various skills including skills in weighing and weight estimation, disease diagnosis and treatment, diagnosis, recording and record keeping, proper acaricides mixing and spraying among others. However, various challenges were encountered during the training and includes, inadequate pastures for the animals, faulty fences, over milking by the herdsmen, among others. It was of great impact for me to carry out my training at NaSARRI because of the skills and experience I wined from various sections and activities conducted. To overcome the above challenges, I would recommend the following to be put in place pasture conservation to be put in place to ensure pastures are available to animals even during the dry season, stopping of over milking by the herdsmen among others.