Begait Sheep Production Systems and Breeding Practices of Smallholder Farmers in Tigrai, Ethiopia

Reconnaissance tour, focus group discussion and semi-structured interview were used to generate the dataset from 144 randomly selected small holder Begait sheep owners in two districts of Tigrai region, namely Tahtayadyabo and Kaftahumera, Ethiopia. The study was made to understand Begait sheep production systems: breeding practices, breeding objectives, and constraints to develop breeding strategies for Begait sheep smallholder farmers in the two districts of Tigrai regional state. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of SPSS 2010. The study area was characterized by mixed crop-livestock system where farmers livelihood depends on both crop and livestock production, and most farmers in the study area keep sheep primarily as source of income. The mean (±SE) overall livestock holding per households are 55.69 ±4.88 sheep, 28.36 ±2.43 goats, 9.23 ±1.05 cattle, 9.87 ±1.08 poultry, 1.33±0.11 donkeys, 0.14 ±0.02 camels, and 0.39 ±0.19 honey bee. The main feed sources for sheep in the area were crop residue (index =0.38), range land (index =0.31), hay (index =0.16), and natural pasture (index =0.14) (what is the difference between range land and natural pasture?). The majority of the farmers (77.78 %) shelter their sheep in separate housing during the night to prevent from thefts and predators. Even though controlled breeding poorly practiced in the study area, 99.31% and 87.50 % of the respondents practiced selection for breeding male and females respectively. Color, body size, facial profile, libido and tail size were the - traits of choice in selecting Begait rams for breeding across the two districts. Milk yield, body size, color, tail size and facial profile were traits used in selecting future Begait breeding ewes. Disease, feed and water shortage, limitation of grazing land, predator and market demand were identified production constraints to utilize the potential of Begait sheep breed that need special attention in designing breeding and effective management strategy.