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Small Ruminants Form Starter Guide

Want to start your own business of Goat or/and Sheep forming? One should know the basics and requirements forthat. In this short article, we’ll try to discuss some of the very important aspects and factors, one should knowbefore starting a sheep or goat form (especially in Pakistan).

So, let’s start with…

Sheep or Goat?At present, there are 55 million goats and 35 million sheep in Pakistan. Goat industry is developing very fast ascompared to that of Sheep in our country. This may be due to one or more of the following reasons:

Dual Purpose: The goats are grown for meat aswell as for milk purposes.

Taste Development: The meat of goat isconsidered tastier as compared to that of sheep.

Sacrificial Purposes: Mail goats are preferred forsacrificial purposes. This increases theirconsumption.

So, in my opinion, there are more chances ofdevelopment and more benefits for you in goat formingas compared to sheep forming in Pakistan. But, oneshould choose any of them on the basis of his localconsumption and other factors.

Selection of BreedAs we have decided our field, now we should choose the proper breed, which gives us maximum output, leadingto maximum benefits. Here are few tips telling us “How to Select a Suitable Breed?” The most important “tip” is the breed should be local. Why so? There is long list of answers. But, we’ve enlistedonly some of them;

Superior Animals of that breed will be availablelocally.

Local men (staff) will be available, having theknowledge of that breed.

There will be no problems in adapting the localenvironment.

There will be resistance against local diseases.

Their feed resources will be easily and locallyavailable.

Marketing will be easy.

Low costs of transportation of animals.

Number two, the breed should have our desired characteristics. If not available, desired characteristics can beproduced by cross breeding. For example, in Pakistan, Salt Range is a breed of sheep, found in attock andadjacent areas. It has white colour, which is considered good. So, it is a desired trait. It has short ear, preventingtheir injury from bushes. So, it is also a desired characteristic. But, it has short stature, allowing it to climbing themountains easily, and hanging tail, which remains it alive without food for longer period. These characteristics arenot required for forming. In contrast, there is an Afghani breed, known as “Balkhi”. It has big stature and tailtucked. But, it has brown colour and long ears. By cross breeding these two breeds, we get a hybrid of our desiredcharacteristics i.e. white in colour, with short ear, big stature and tail tucked sheep. So, if we use the mail of“Balkhi” with the females of “Salt Range”, we can get maximum output. Similarly, there is a goat breed in RYK (Rahim Yar Khan), known as “ Beetle” or “Kali Makhi Cheeni” locally. Thisis a very good breed, but have black colour. So, the desired white colour is obtained by cross breeding it withanother breed, known as “Kamori”. At International level, “Saanen” is considered as best goat breed for milk production, while “Boer” is considered tobe best goat breed for meat purposes.

Some Common Sheep Breeds of Punjab

Lohi It has a small piece of meat with its ear. So, it is locally called “Perkanni” It is found in the areas ofJhang, Sargodha and Khoshab.

Kajli It has black eyes, ear tips and muzzle and parrot nose (a ridge is present between nostrils)

Thalli It is found in the Thal desert, it has large and very beautiful stature.

SaltRange

Found in attock, white colour, short ear, short stature, hanging tail

Karakul Found in Black and Brown colour in Rakharewala

Selection of Feedstuff

Feedstuff is selected according to the breed. Shrubs likeMulberry (Morus nigra), Jharber (Ziziphus nummularia),Kikar (Prosopis juliflora) and Thorless Opuntia (17-18%protein) are preferably raised for the goats. The sheep likegrazing. So, grasses are grown for them like Mott grass,Rhi Grass, Rhode grass etc. A goat usually consumes 5 kgfodder and ½ kg concentrate per day, producing average1.5 offspring per year with milk.

ManagementManagement is also a very important factor, which mayincrease or decrease the profit. It includes multiple thingssuch as number and placement of water troughs, mangersand feed-supplement stands, their shapes and otherparameters. For example, for goats or sheep, the bottomof the manger should be 0.5 to 1 foot raised above theground. Its width should be 1 foot at the bottom and 1.5feet at the upper surface.

HousingThis is another important parameter. Housing should beproper to get maximum output from the animals and toavoid many problems. First of all, the form area should besomewhat raised above the surrounding area to avoid theaccumulation of water. The proper area should be providedaccording to the requirement of animals. In case of smallruminants, usually 15 covered area is required per animal(In large ruminants, it is 80 per animal) and the uncoveredarea should be double than the covered area. If, the placeis shorter than that of the requirements of animals, it maycause stress, ammonia toxicity and many other problems.The covered area should have a sloped roof to increasethe shaded place and to avoid the accumulation of wateron the roof. There should be proper ventilation to avoidammonia toxicity.

HealthThe vaccination of the animals should be scheduled and implicated properly.

MarketingIf you have links in market, you can increase your profit multiple times. Animals can be exported, if you are runninga large form, or you may form your own small butcheries to increase your profit. Join different former associationsto increase your market.

Last Words… Give your 100%

Like any other field, if you doesn’t give your full attention to your animals, theywill give you nothing. So, give maximum and then, be ready to get maximum.