Livestock in general and dairying in particular play a vital role in the Indian economy. Diseases and parasites are serious constraints affecting dairy cattle production. Mastitis, the inflammatory condition of the udder is considered as one of the most costly disease affecting dairy cows. For effective mastitis control, farmers' perceptions of disease risk, different control measures to practise and the inherent benefits associated with available disease control options are important criteria in adoption decisions. Therefore, this study was conducted with an objective to assess the farmers’ knowledge and perceptions on clinical bovine mastitis control measures in the study area. Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu was randomly selected for the present study. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. In total, 120 farmer’s having dairy cows were chosen again randomly. Relevant data were collected from the chosen respondents through personal interview using a pre-tested interview schedule. The results of the study showed that 100 per cent of the respondents knew that keeping Milkman’s hands clean with clipped nails would prevent the occurrence of clinical mastitis whereas only few (4.1%) knew that the dry cow therapy, proper maintenance of milking machine and balanced nutrition indeed effectively control the clinical mastitis. The data showed that the level of education had positive correlation with the awareness level. The respondents who belonged to both backward class and most backward class knew more number of disease control measures than the respondents belonging to scheduled class. Livestock rearing experience had direct positive correlation with the awareness level. Attending livestock related training programme had profound positive effect on knowledge levels of respondents. To bridge the gap between the perception and reality, the planners should increase the awareness level of the farmer’s to minimise the avoidable loss due to the mastitis. The awareness level can be improved by enhanced educational status of farmers, conducting more awareness programmes through mass Medias in prime time and conducting more number of livestock rearing and disease control training programmes at the village level.
