author(s)
Ashaq Manzoor, HM Khan, Tahir Nazir, Anees Ahmad Shah, Towseef Akram, Insha Afzal and Asra Khursheed

abstract
The survey was conducted to study the socio-economic profile of sheep rearers in all the 6 tehsils (Anantnag, Bijbehara, Dooru, Pahalgam, Shangus and Kokernag) of district Anantnag in Kashmir valley. A total of 37 villages with 370 respondents were surveyed through a pre-structured questionnaire and face to face interview of these respondents. Results revealed that majority of respondents had joint type (55.68%), medium sized (6-9) families (66.22%), agriculture as primary occupation (45.41%), land holdings of marginal type (11.60±0.30 kanals/0.59 hectare), income of Rs. 11,000-20,000/ month (46.49%), age above 40 years (88.66%), illiteracy (44.06%), sheep rearing experience above 10 years (81.07%), women involvement (67.30%), flock strength (38.73±0.47), 0-2 cattle (88.38%) and goats (13.25% vs. 16.18%). It is concluded that illiterate, lower income group, middle aged, marginal land holders having joint and medium size families with agriculture as primary and sheep farming as secondary occupation with significant involvement of women in sheep rearing practice.