A BRIEF ANALYSIS ABOUT SHEEP FARMING OF KARNATAKA

COMMERCE

In India sheep are seen mainly in arid and semiarid agro-climatic zones Maximum sheep population is seen in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. There are 42 recognized breeds of sheep in our country. A few breeds also exist in higher altitudes like Jammu and Kashmir and produce fine carpet wool of apparel quality. Sheep doesn’t require expensive housing and reared in a simple shelter with minimum ventilation. Sheep rearing can become more profitable by adapting modern latest technologies of management, scientific breeding, feeding, and culling and disease management. According to 2012, Livestock Census there are 65 million sheep in our country and Karnataka has 7million sheep. Tumkur district has highest population of sheep with 10.68lakh while Udupi district has the lowest number of sheep. In general sheep rearing is very less in the areas of high rainfall, deep forest, water logging and Malnad area. Sheep rearing can be taken on intensive management system with good protective measures in rainfall areas, in lands where agriculture cannot be taken due to barren lands, desert, hilly regions, uncultivated fallow lands etc. Sheep rearing does not require special knowledge or high investment and all the family members can be involved in sheep rearing. Sheep must be fast growing with high feed conversion ability and should have capacity to attain 18-20 kg liveweight at 6 months of age. Ewes should have good mothering ability and nurse the young ones to prevent early mortality. Sheep should have a capacity to produce twining and the ewe should have a good mothering ability characters. If slaughtered at 6 months of age the meat should be soft and have a good flavor and the minimum dressing percentage should be 45-50 percentage and it should be tasty to consume.

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