SHEEP REARING
Sheep rearing
With over 60 million sheep, India stands third in the sheep population in the world next
only to China and Australia. Reared as free range or under a shed sheep rearing
constitute an important livelihood in rural India.
Sheep rearing is a very important
component in dry land farming system. With very low investments it can be converted into
a profitable venture for small and marginal farmers and landless labourers.
Rearing of sheep and goats play an important
role in the economy of India in general and
sustainable livelihood of the poor people of rainfed
agro-ecosystem in particular. Sheep are
raised mainly for meat, milk and skin. They
provide a flexible financial reserve during bad
crop years for rural population.
With the
availability of synthetic wool and the quality of
wool from several varieties of sheep in India
being coarse, the sheep are now being reared
mostly for their meat. However, the fleece can
be used in wool insulation and extracting
lanolin, the water-proof, fatty substance found
naturally in sheep's wool and used as a base for
innumerable cosmetics and other products.
Other products from sheep include sheep skin
(used in making clothing, footwear, etc.), tallow
(used in making soaps and candles), sheep bone and cartilage (used to furnish carved items), lamb intestines
(formed into surgical sutures, strings for musical instruments), etc.
Sheep is found in most parts of
India. marwari breed in north
western region and decaani breed
in peninsular India are present in
large numbers. Other important
breeds found in peninsular India
include - Bellary, Nellore, Mandya,
hassan, Mecheri, Kilakarsal,
Vembur, Coimbatore, Nilgiri,
ramnad white, madras red, Tiruchy
black and Kenguri. The adult
females (ewes) reach maturity at
six to eight months of age and the
adult males (rams) at four to six
months. The gestation period is
about 5 months and generally one
lamb is born per delivery.
The
Central Sheep Breeding Farm,
Hissar is producing acclimatized,
exotic/cross bred superior quality rams. Sheep/goat rearing contributes about Rs.240 million per annum to the rural economy. Together they produce 0.7 million tone of meat which is about 15 per cent of the total meat production in
the country. About 5 million families in India are engaged in various activities relating to sheep/goat rearing. This
activity provides gainful employment of 184 to 437 man days per year depending on the size of the flock. The meat
industry in India is growing at about 5 per cent. Sheep has not kept pace with this growth, which is largely contributed
by poultry. 
Though the number of sheep has been increasing, the goats are increasing much more. However goats
are considered harmful for the environment and are not encouraged by the government. Goats graze till the tip of the
plant and regeneration becomes difficult. Also they graze almost all the species causing widespread destruction.
Wool production in the country is stagnant at around 45 million kg per annum. Of this only 4 million is fine wool. The demand for fine wool is around 40 million kg per annum. The efforts to improve the production of fine quality wool
have mostly failed.
Sheep becomes highly stressed when separated from the flock. Therefore the time between separation from the flock
and getting butchered should be minimal to avoid loss due to stress. To cope with this a flock is sold not individual
sheep. This means the shepherd has to take the entire flock to the market and return with unsold sheep and face
costs of transport. Interactions with traditional shepherds indicated that the minimum size of the flock retained during
high stress period is 20 (18 ewes and 2 rams). But the schemes implemented by the government and NGOs for
providing sheep seem to ignore this fact. Sheep rearing is labour intensive. At least one person is required to take
care throughout the year. Therefore the non poor have evolved a system of offloading the burden to the poor. For
instance, poor borrow 10 sheep from the rich and rear them for 3 years and the flock grows to 50. The owner is given
25 sheep and the rest belongs to the shepherd. If there is an epidemic the remaining sheep are equally shared
between the owner and shepherd. In all other cases the loss is borne by the shepherd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MOtzMFsSvw
