ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Cattle Tattle
Samares Kumar Das (samcau.d1@gmail.com) is Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary and
Animal Husbandry Extension, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Central
Agricultural University, Selesih, Aizawl, Mizoram, India.
After graduating with a bachelors degree in veterinary science and animal husbandry, fuelled by a
passion for rural life, I opted for extension education as a major discipline for my masters degree
course. To be sure, though, there were other reasons to do sosuch as a lack of interest in the job
of a veterinary surgeon. However, when I ended the course at the Indian Veterinary Research
Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh, I felt an urge to serve people who live in the countryside and for
whom animal husbandry is a way of life.
I started disseminating the science of veterinary and animal husbandry, adopting the philosophy
and principles of extension education to change the behaviour (knowledge, attitude and
skill) of livestock keepers. Helping people help themselves shape their behaviour in a desirable
direction is the basic tenet of extension education. From university extension in the 19th century
as an educational movement, extension education has evolved to agricultural extension in the
20th century as a means to increase agricultural production.
Whenever a client visited me at the dispensary or whenever I dropped in on a farmer, there was
always an exchange of ideas, views, information, intelligence and news. Knowledge of low-cost
technology was disseminated effortlessly. For example, feeding cattle with paddy straw is a usual
practice in rural Bengal. If a farmer did not chop up the straw and add common salt to the water,
he was told to do so, and, if possible, add molasses as well into the cattle feed. Not only did this
practice help reduce the wastage of straw and increase the palatability and nutritive value of the
feed, but the farmer was also heartened with the new information he had obtainedall with little
effort.
There are innumerable such examples of knowledge transfer, but bringing about a change in
attitude is the most difficult task. Different methods have to be employed. Take, for example, the
adoption of artificial insemination (AI) in cattle. Only the principle of seeing is believing can
change the reluctance to adopt AI. If a farmer sees the benefits of rearing cross-bred animals in his
own neighbourhood, he will readily adopt AI.
Changing skills, however, is not as difficult. The principle of learning by doing is the best tool.
In rural Bengal, where basic veterinary services are still unavailable and largely inaccessible, a
farmer can get his animal injected at the dispensary the first time around. But if he does not learn
how to administer intra-muscular injections, he will have to depend on somebody.
Though para-vets are employed at the level of the village council (panchayat) for delivering first-aid
and AI at the doorstep, as in the case of the village-level workers of the community development
programme of the early 1950s, these services are rarely available in times of need. Clients have to
be taught the basic skills of veterinary practice and animal husbandry to enable them to function
confidently and independently.
Unfortunately, however, I did not continue as a vet since I left to become an assistant professor at
the only agricultural university in India under the central governmentthe Central Agricultural

ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

University, Imphal, Manipur. The new position entailed a three-pronged responsibility of teaching,
research and extension. Unlike the previous job, there were fewer opportunities for direct contact
with livestock keepers. Thankfully, the new job brought in new clients in the form of students.
However, my mind remained restless, and I went on to publish my PhD thesis, Life in the
Sundarbans: A Participatory Rural Appraisal, in 2012, and the next year, edited the autobiography
of the renowned crop scientist, Ratikanta Maiti. I went on to write handbooks and textbooks on
veterinary science and animal husbandry, participated in conferences, got involved in the
publication of a quarterly journal, and, above all, began advocating science through drawing.
In one sketch, a general truth of life is expressed in a folk-rhyme: Clever shop-keeper/Invites
street-goer/Come brother/Smoke bidi/Go thereafter. It sums up an intelligent business tip: dont
misbehave with customers, always be friendly with them. Inviting a passer-by for a smoke is a
customary way of showing hospitality in rural Bengal.
This folk-rhyme exists perhaps best in the memory of my mother, Kalpana Das, who is now 75 years
old. Nearly 60 years ago, when she was travelling with her father to visit her elder sister, who was
residing at Barrackpore, a suburb of Calcutta, she saw a minstrel singing on the railway platform.
Among the many folk-rhymes he sang, the one quoted above is the only one my mother remembers
to date. I translated it from Bengali into English and drew a representative sketch, which I started
showing to the bachelors degree students in my class on entrepreneurship. I plan to sketch other
folk-rhymes as well, depending on the memory of old rural folk who are the living treasure troves of
rhymes, songs and adages.
Bringing science to the doorstep of the common man should be a universal goal. Research and
development are intertwined, just as knowledge and university-generated innovation are of no use
if they are not disseminated. Drawing and sketching are effective means of popularising science.