Assessment of Sheep Fattening Practices around Chalia District West Shoa Zone

The study was conducted in Chalia district with the objectives to understand farmers' sheep fattening practices, and identify the opportunities and challenges of sheep fattening practices. The study area was stratified into two groups based on agro- ecology in the district (highland and midland) with an average altitude of 2870 to 1387 meters above sea level respectively. Four kebeles were selected purposively from these agro-ecologies. A total of 160 households (HHs) were selected randomly that is forty from each kebeles (two kebeles from highland and two kebeles from midland). Each HHs was interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire. General issues related to sheep fattening practices, opportunities and challenges were obtained through group discussion with key informants. Data analyses were carried out using both SPSS software and excel index method. The major crop residues grown by farmers in the study area are teff straw, wheat straw, barely straw, bean and pea haulms, Linseed residue and maize stover in the order of their abundance or farmers participation. Three months of feeding of fattening sheep was reported by majority of HHs. The reported major constraints for sheep fattening practice in the study area in the order of importance were feed shortage, disease and parasite, capital, market, and house. Keywords: Agro ecology, Sheep, fattening.