Analysis of Sheep Production Systems: North Coastal Zone of Andhra Pradesh

Detailed survey was conducted to analyze the sheep production systems of North Coastal Zone of Andhra Pradesh. The study was conducted on 960 sheep farmers, 320 each from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts using stratified random sampling techniques (3 districts x 2 divisions x 4 mandals x 4 villages x 10 farmers = 960). The socioeconomic status of sheep farmers revealed that agriculture (69.06%) was main occupation and most of them belong to backward community (75.31%). The housing practices revealed that sheep were provided penning only during night time (88.75%). Sheep manure was stored by open method (88.02%). The mean grazing time (h) and grazing distance (km) of sheep was 8.48±0.06 and 6.02±0.17 in summer and 6.08±0.05 and 3.78±0.03 in other seasonal period of the year, respectively. Almost half of the farmers (47.39%) dewormed sheep at every 6 months interval. The sheep flocks were vaccinated mainly against Enterotoxaemia (87.60%) and foot and mouth disease (71.87%). The study on the reproductive performance of sheep indicated that the percent lambing, twinning and weaning were 81.33±0.26, 0.48±0.04 and 85.53±0.16, respectively. The mean age at first mating was 12.85±0.10 and 21.17±0.07 in ewes and rams, respectively. The mean body weight (kg) at weaning, 6 months, one year and above one year age were 8.96±0.14, 16.05±0.12, 20.39±0.16 and 26.31±0.15 for ewe lambs and 10.10±0.11, 15.48±0.09, 26.01±0.30 and 40.43±0.26, respectively for ram lambs. The study revealed existence of 16 traditional migratory tracts. The mean duration and distance of migration of the 16 sheep flocks were 181.25±0.63 days and 75.87±0.78 km, respectively. The major problems during migration included disease outbreaks (85.95%) and lack of veterinary facilities (83.81%).