CHARACTERIZATION OF INDIGENOUS SHEEP HUSBANDRY PRACTICES IN WESTERN ZONE OF TIGRAY REGION, ETHIOPIA

The survey was conducted before the ignition of the war in Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia (before October 2020). The objective of the survey was to characterize the husbandry practices of three indigenous sheep populations. A total of 253 households were randomly involved in the face-to-face interview. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences software was used for data analysis. Illiterates (34 %) and respondents, who attended lower primary school (44 %), were the major categories of the respondents. A mean (± SD) flock size of 7.91 ± 11.4 Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU) of indigenous sheep of the three genotypes were kept under extensive husbandry practices, however, the indigenous sheep population (55 %) trend was at a decreasing state in the last ten years. There was lower mean flock size in Arado (11.72 ± 8.0) than in Begait (85.07 ± 90.1) and Rutanna (223.08 ± 170.5) sheep. The decreasing state of communal grazing area (97 %) resulted in seasonal feed scarcity (96 %) in the last five years. Hence, feed supplementation was in 74 % of the respondents done in the dry season. Animals of most respondents (71 %) go to water source to drink water. It was noted that most animals drank water once a day (63 %) in the dry season. It was also noted that sheep fattening (4 %) was a neglected activity. There were sheep production challenges (100 %) and opportunities (72 %). Diseases (86 %) and external parasites (80 %) were major constraints in sheep production. However, lack of veterinary service (78 % no service) centre was a critical challenge. Practices of own ram-ewe mating (68 %), own flock born rams (51 %), uncontrolled mating (66 %), pure breeding (86 %) and use of rams outside of their flocks (79 %) were practiced in the indigenous sheep populations. Unknown ram-to-ewe ratio (26.9 %) and a ratio of one-ram-to-all-ewes in a flock (29.6 %) were practiced. Ram castration (35 %) was practiced to improve carcass quality (32 %). Feed development, shift to modern husbandry practices, access to veterinary services, indigenous sheep conservation through utilization, control of inbreeding, ram-to-ewe ratio, fattening and castration should be of future attention of farmers and stakeholders.