OBSERVATION ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SMALL HOLDER SHEEP AND GOAT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN OLD BAUCHI STATE

Abstract

The study examines the characteristics of small holder sheep and goat management practices under traditional system of production in the old Bauchi state (now Bauchi and Gombe States).The sampled areas fell within the northern Guinea Savannah. A total of 450 households spread over the states from 30 villages were drawn. The study was restricted to only livestock owners that kept goats or and sheep at the time of sampling. The ownership distribution skewed in favor of goats and the mean flock sizes per household were 6.9% and 14.2% for sheep and goats respectively, About 60.2% of the stock owners kept goats alone, another 29.3% kept sheep and the remaining 118.5X, kept both sheep and goats. Over 75 X of the respondents acquired their foundation stock from the open market. Most of the respondents expressed their desire and willingness to increase their herd size with more farmers wishing to expand sheep herd khan goats. Feeds (69.3%) and Ill-health (89.6 X,) were the most frequent mentioned as the main limiting factors affecting livestock production. PPR is the most devastating disease of sheep and goats. Agricultural by-products like groundnuts haulms, cowpea hay and husk, cereal offal, cut forages and browses were the main sources of feeds. The results indicate that domestic small ruminant production could be greatly improved by making available supplementary feeds and drugs at subsidized rate by the government in conjunction with sound livestock extension services.