Breeding practices and trait preferences of smallholder farmers for indigenous sheep in the northwest highlands of Ethiopia: Inputs to design a breeding program

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify breeding practices and trait preferences for indigenous sheep in three districts (Estie, Farta and Lay Gayient) located in the northwest highlands of Ethiopia. Questionnaire survey and choice experiment methods were used to collect data from 370 smallholder farmers. Respondents were selected randomly among smallholder farmers who own sheep in the aforementioned districts. A generalized multinomial logit model was employed to examine preferences for sheep attributes, while descriptive statistics and index values were computed to describe sheep breeding practices. Having the highest index value of 0.36, income generation was ranked as the primary reason for keeping sheep, followed by meat and manure sources. The average flock size per smallholder farmer was 10.21 sheep. The majority of the smallholder farmers (91%) have the experience of selecting breeding rams and ewes within their own flock using diverse criteria. Given the highest index value of 0.34, body size was ranked as a primary ram and ewe selection criteria, followed by coat color. Furthermore, choice modeling results revealed that tail type, body size, coat color, growth rate, horn and ear size have shown significant influences on smallholder farmers' preference for breeding rams (P<0.01). The part-worth utility coefficients were positive for all ram attributes except ear size. For breeding ewes, mothering ability, coat color, body size, lambing interval, growth rate, tail type and litter size have shown significant effects on choice preferences of smallholder farmers (P<0.05). Moreover, significant scale heterogeneity was observed among respondents for ewe attributes (P<0.001). Overall, the results implied that sheep breeding objectives suitable for the northwest highlands of the country can be derived from traits such as linear body measurement, weight and survival at different ages, and lambing intervals. However, selection decisions at the smallholder level should not only be based on estimated breeding values of traits included in the breeding objective but instead, incorporate ways to address farmers' preference for qualitative traits.

Livestock Keepers’ Attitudes: Keystone of Effective Community-Based Breeding Programs

“…Both groups seem to have diversified their interests. In addition, the present study demonstrates how quantitative survey methods to investigate attitudes of respondents in rural communities can yield valuable data in contrast to what some have suggested [63][64][65][66]. Careful adaptation of the research instruments to local conditions is essential [35].…”

Breeding Practices and Traits Preferences of Goat Keepers at Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipality, South Africa: Implication for the Design of Breeding Programs

“…It is vital to consider the reasons of keeping goats before designing the breeding program since the importance of farmers' attributes to the multipurpose use of goats recommends that CBBPs might have a good probability of achievement in the studied communities. Valuing indigenous information is important to ensure the sustainability of a breeding program planned to be implemented at the community level (Abebe et al, 2020). As expected, the majority of goat keepers in the studied communities have been practicing natural mating system due to lack of arti cial insemination knowledge.…”

“…(Mahlobo, 2016). A small number of animals per household could be problematic for selection during breeding and might increase inbreeding and reduce genetic gain (Abebe et al, 2020). Therefore, the goat keepers with a small number of goats must establish collaboration with other goat keepers to create a large breeding herd for sustainable use of genetic resources.…”

Husbandry practices and phenotypic characterization of indigenous sheep types in Gurage Zone, Southern Ethiopia

“…The preference of big body size and fast growth rate as the preferred attributes, since the main purpose of keeping sheep was for cash source. The animals with big size are highly demanded in market and fetch good local market prices (Abebe et al, 2020;Abera et al, 2014). For ram selection, farmers target was not only for breeding purpose but also they take into account the traits that affect the market value.…”