Sheep Rearing

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