The Department of Animal Husbandry has come into existence as an independent department on 16 Nov. 1949 with the appointment of  Lieutenant Colonel Amin Chand Aggarwal as its 1st Director. Department has  intricate network of 1367 Veterinary Hospitals & 1489 Dispensaries across the state to look after the health of Livestock and help boosting the production and upgrading the socio-economic status of the Livestock owner.

Livestock rearing is an important sub-sector under agriculture and allied activities. It contributes over one third GVA to agriculture and is the second largest contributor to agricultural GVA. This sector has witnessed a growth from 36.99% in 2020-21 to 38.64% in 2021-22 of Agriculture GVA. This sub-sector plays a significant role to generate alternative source of income and full/part-time employment for rural households of Punjab.

Milk production was highest source of income generation which contributed 91.6% to the total average monthly receipt from farming of animals. As per the Livestock Census 2019, Punjab has 1.3% share of India’s total Livestock population. Share of Buffaloes was largest (57.4%) in total Livestock population, followed by Crossbred cattle and Indigenous cattle. The share of crossbred cattle increased to 29.3 % in 2019  in comparison to 25.4% in 2012. It reveals that share of higher productivity animals is rising in the State. According to Departmental Integrated Sample Survey, Punjab has the highest per capita milk availability 1281 grams per day (provisional) in the country.

Livestock rearing is a very critical component of integrated farming, conservation of agriculture as well as diversification in agriculture. These sub-sectoral operations are not only essential for adding nutritious food ingredients to human diets, they are also required for chemical-free management of soil and environmental health. The activities have been identified to be pivotal in increasing farmer’s income and avoid distress suicides in the wake of crop failure. A close coordination is needed between Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries Department and Health and Welfare Organizations for achieving the goal of  ‘One Health’. Animal Husbandry Department achieved various goals of improving the Genetic potential of  Livestock  and providing efficient and effective health cover to the Livestock and entrepreneurship development in collaboration with various stakeholders and the Government of India.