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RESEARCH ARTICLE5. Selection of sub-messages related to clean milk production (M ) 51. Fat testing at home 15 48 177 1.32 VI2. Prevention of damage of teats77 161 2 2.31 V3. Right method of milking 203 25 12 2.79 I4. Usefulness of clean milkproduction 145 89 6 2.57 II5. Health symptoms fordecline in milk 132 84 24 2.45 IV6. Care to be taken aftermilking 117 117 6 2.46 III7. Cleaning before milking 206 19 15 2.79 IJ. Ind. Vet. Assoc., Kerala. 10 (1)DISCUSSIONIn the present study among nine main messagesbalanced feeding ranked highest in information needas compared to breeding (Rank II), Marketing (RankVI), Management of cattle shed (Rank VII) etc. Sincethe major farm operations of breeding, health careand marketing and finance require outside contact,the involvement of farm women was less. This mightbe the reason for the farm women to perceive thesemajor farm operations as the least preferred areas oftraining. Similar findings were reported by Manjusha(1990), Sheela and Swamy (1993), Prakash et. al.(1995) and Singh et. al. (2001). Due to constraints oftime and resource there was no other alternative thantone down the number of messages. Among breedingpractices time of insemination ranked first followedby heat symptoms, care during pregnancy, care durinparturition and calf care. Similar studies have beenreported by Durgga Rani and Subhadra, (2009) whoreported selection of breeds ranked first for bothknowledge and skill oriented training needs. Thefarm women might have perceived, selecting asuitable breed as one of the primary factors inachieving productivity in dairy animals. This findingis in line with those of Fulzele and Meena (1995) and36Raju et. al. (1999) who reported that selection ofbreed was a most needed area of training. Perhaps thefact that need assessment was done by a veterinarianprompted the respondents to pin point theirinformation needs in the form of specific diseaseslike Foot and mouth disease, wound treatment andcommon conditions like Tympany. Among submessagesrelated to farm management andaccounting information regarding credit facilitiesranked first. Capital is an important prerequisite forstarting a dairy farm. Limited or non-availability ofcapital among the respondents might be the reasonfor their highest preference for informationregarding credit facilities. Similar studies have beenreported by Jothilakshmi et. al. (2009). Breedidentification especially that of Murrah was rankedsecond among sub-messages related to managementand accounting perhaps because of awarenessamong farmers that such knowledge is mostimportant during purchase of animals. Similar tothese findings Fulzele and Meena (1995) reportedthat selection of breeds were considered as importantareas of training by farm women. Regarding healthcare, vaccination was ranked first for knowledgeneed. The farm women might have been interested toknow about the control and identification of