Livestock in Bundelkhand region occupies a prominent position contributing significantly to the livelihood, mitigation of risks and distress of the farmers. Dairy production is an important component in the entire region with greater focus on the buff alo rearing of milk cattle rearing. The study was conducted purposively in Bundelkhand region, which comprises of Uttar Pradesh (7 districts) and Madhya Pradesh (6 districts). Two districts from each state viz. Lalitpur and Banda from Uttar Pradesh, whereas, Datia and Damoh from Madhya Pradesh were selected. Then, two blocks from each district were selected randomly. Two villages from each block and 20 respondents from each village were randomly selected; thus, making the total sample size of 320 respondents for the study. It was observed that 59.68 per cent of the respondents belonged to a middle aged group (36 to 50 years) followed by category of old age group (Above 50 years) and young (up to 35 years) which accounts for 25.94 per cent and 14.38 per cent, respectively. It was revealed that most (69.69%) of the respondents fell under the medium category (2.2 to 9.76 litre milk per day) of milk production, followed by 15.94 per cent and 14.37 per cent belonged to high (>9.76 litre milk per day) and low (<2.2 litre milk per day) categories, respectively. In case of large farmers, most (43.33%) of the respondents were diversifying their livelihood at high level. Education, land holding, annual income and extension contact had positive and highly significant relationship with livelihood diversification at 1 per cent level of significance.

Keyword: Bundelkhand; Livelihood; Dairy; Diversifi cation; Livestock.