Presented by Gemeda Duguma (OARI Bako Agricultural Research Center) at the Africa-RISING Quick Feed Project Inception Workshop, Addis Ababa, 7-8 May 2012
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Horro sheep and production system in Horro areas of Ethiopia
1. HORRO SHEEP AND PRODUCTION
SYSTEM IN HORRO AREAS OF
ETHIOPIA
Gemeda Duguma
Bako Agricultural Research Center
OARI
Africa-RISING Quick Feed Project Inception Workshop, Addis Ababa, 7-8 May 2012
2. OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
05/07/12
Introduction
Description of Horro sheep
Workshop_07-08 May 2012
USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
Production system in Horro area (Home tract of
the Horro sheep)
Interventions made so far and major bottlenecks
Improvement options
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3. INTRODUCTION
05/07/12
Sheep is the second most important livestock species
in Ethiopia
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USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
The country possesses ≈ 26 million head of sheep
Ethiopia’s great variation in climate & topography
represents a good reservoir of sheep genotypes
Diverse sheep breeds and ecotypes are kept in
different regions and ecologies – from the
mountainous highlands to the arid pastoral lowland
areas
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4. INTRODUCTION
05/07/12
Few of them have been studied and
characterized – only nine sheep breeds have
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USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
identified by phenotypic and molecular
characterization methods
Horro sheep is one of the nine sheep breeds
identified & is situated in western Ethiopia
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5. HORRO SHEEP - HABITAT
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Most dominant sheep breed in western
Ethiopia
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USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
Widely distributed:
Parts of west Shewa zone
Wollega (East, West, Qellam and Horro
Guduru Wollega zones)
Jimma and Ill-Ababora zones
These areas approximately lie within:
35° - 38°E, and
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6° - 10°N
6. HORRO SHEEP - HABITAT
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Altitudes of the region
range from 1400-2400m
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Population – estimated
at 3 million
Horro sheep are reared
by about 6.9 million
people
Horro breed lives at the
Home tract is believed to fringes of trypanosome
be Horro district – where infested areas - degree of
the ICARDA-ILRI-BOKU trypanotolerance not
CBSB project is operating
studied 6
7. BREED DESCRIPTION – COAT COLOR
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Horro sheep – almost uniform in color (mostly solid
tan / light brown)
There are also creamy white, dark brown, black or
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USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
spotted
The body is covered with short smooth hair
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Both males and females are hornless
10. BREED DESCRIPTION –
REPRODUCTION PERFORMANCE
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Horro sheep – the most prolific breed
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Attributes Indigenous sheep breeds
Afar Bonga Horro Menz
Number of lambings 3.45±0.08 3.56±0.09 3.90±0.10 3.59±0.09
Twining 0.17±0.03 1.13±0.08 1.29±0.09 ‡
Number born 3.61±0.09 4.71±0.15 5.22±0.18 3.59±0.09
Number weaned 2.83±0.10 4.53±0.15 4.71±0.17 3.02±0.10
‡ ewes are single bearers
N.B.: Information taken from owners on mature ewes (ILRI-
ICARDA-BOKU CBSBP)
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11. PRODUCTION SYSTEM IN HORRO
AREAS
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Wet, humid
Located in Horro Guduru Wollega
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zone,Oromia regional state – western
Ethiopia
315km from Addis Ababa to the west
Based on an ILRI classification of
recommendation domains within Africa
(Omolo et al 2009):
Horro is located in an area mainly
characterized as having high
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agricultural potential
12. PRODUCTION SYSTEM…
Mixed crop-livestock production is the
05/07/12
predominant production system in the areas
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13. MAJOR LS AND CROPS
RAISED/GROWN
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Cattle, sheep, horses, chicken, goats, mule,
donkeys, etc.
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Average sheep possession about 12 head /house
hold
Major crops grown in the area: wheat, barley,
faba bean, field pea, maize, etc.
Average landholding in the area – about 2ha of
which > 88% used for crop production
Sheep – the second most important LS species in
the area
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14. SHEEP BREEDING MANAGEMENT
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Breeding – uncontrolled
Breeding rams – selected from within
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Critical shortage of breeding rams in the area
(1:72) - male lambs are sold at as early as three
to four months of age
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15. WHY SELL MALES EARLY?
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for immediate cash income, fear of theft and
predation
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mature rams are unmanageable and wander
away for mating
Borrowing rams is very common among the
communities (i.e. owners cooperate with no
hesitation even to those individuals who sell
theirs very early) 15
16. MARKETING
05/07/12
Producers sale their animals:
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at farm gate, nearby/distant markets
whenever there is an immediate need for cash
High price differences between them
High number of middlemen, less bargaining
power and thus small producer margins
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17. Intervention by ICARDA, ILRI, BOKU & the national
and regional research systems - 2007
Alternative breeding plans & implementation (ICARDA-ILRI-
BOKU)
05/07/12
• Production system study
• Choice experiments
• Own-flock ranking
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• Group-animal ranking
• Weighted ranks
• 3 objective traits
• 4 alternative scenarios (% ram
selected and use time)
Presented to communities for decision
• Base-line information
•Animal identification (ear-tag)
• Recording and monitoring
•Ram screening and selection 17
18. SHEEP BREEDING MANAGEMENT –
(ICARDA-ILRI-BOKU CBSBP
MEMBERS)
05/07/12
No shortage of breeding rams – by creating revolving fund
with the seed money provided by the project
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Ewes are mostly served by selected rams
Number of marketed lambs has increased
System of breeding rams exchange has improved
Huge demand to be a member of the project 18
Record and record keeping have gradually improved
(enumerators)
19. BOTTLENECKS - ICARDA-ILRI-
BOKU CBSBP
05/07/12
Unable to scale-up/scale-out the improvement
program to wider areas - does have its own
influence on genetic improvement and marketing
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of more uniform animals at a time
Lack of uniformity among young rams presented
for selection (eg. age differences)
Production of uniform animals for market
Matching of lambing with feed availability and
market
Organizing project members into cooperative
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20. BOTTLENECKS…
05/07/12
Having legally functioning breeding cooperatives
is important to coordinate and perform
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community-level collective actions like:
exchange of breeding rams,
culling of non-selected rams,
joint procurement of medicaments, supplementary feeds
to condition/fatten non-selected rams before marketing
and marketing of such animals, etc.
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21. MAJOR FEED RESOURCES – HORRO
AREAS
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1) Natural pasture Two types of grazing
(grazing) lands prevail in the
area: communal and
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2) Crop residues
the private
3) Fallow land
The communal
4) Crop aftermath, and
grazing area is:
5) Hay from natural The most commonly
pasture exploited and depleted
type - because all
livestock species found
in the area are kept on
it throughout the year
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22. MAJOR FEED…
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Communal grazing lands – Baqal (left) and Iggu (right)
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23. MAJOR FEED …
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The communal grazing area is neither protected nor
given any sort of management.
It is decreasing in size & pasture production from
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USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
time to time:
population pressure – newly emerging households forced to
settle on it
animals are kept on it particularly during peak seasons to
minimize labor demand for herding
still others do so in order to defer their private pasture
land for later use
various health problems are common – due to different
species /herds / flocks mix
most communal grazing areas are swampy bottom lands –
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hard to find a sheep with an unaffected liver
24. MAJOR FEED …
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The private grazing Crop residues & crop
land: aftermaths:
huge potential (ample feed
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USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
the most protected
and well managed ) – if properly conserved,
pasture land quality is enhanced &
compared to the utilized
communal grazing less intervention in the
sheep and horses do area of conservation &
not have access to utilization of these feed
such type of land resources
commonly used for
milking cows and oxen
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25. PERIODS OF CRITICAL FEED
SHORTAGE
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July to September: wet season
most areas are covered with crops - animals are
restricted indoor lest they damage crop fields
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USAID Quick Feed Project_Inception
though grass is available it is contaminated with feces
due to the large size of animals standing on it for a
longer time each day and hence animals refuse to graze
April to May: dry season where there is shortage of feed
availability
If properly conserved, crop
residues like wheat, barely,
teff, faba bean and field pea
straws can be used during
this season as 25
supplementary feeds
26. IMPROVEMENT OPTIONS
05/07/12
Oestrus synchronization
Cooperative formation
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Market linkage
Conservation and enhancing quality of crop residues
Harvesting and conserving pastures /grasses during time
of ‘plenty’
Reduction of flock size in some cases and focus on
productivity rather than mere number –
genetic improvement (eg. ILRI-ICARDA-BOKU CBSB)
Establishing backyard forage production
Devising intervention mechanisms for the improvement of
communal grazing areas
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28. FLOCK STRUCTURE
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Aged=older sheep above 5 yr of age; 4PPT=full-mouthed sheep; 3PPT=sheep with 3
pairs of permanent incisors; 2PPT=sheep with 2 pairs of permanent incisors; 28
1PPT=sheep with 1 pair of permanent incisor; 0PPT=sheep with milk teeth