Production Objectives, Reproductive Performance and Selection Criteria of Indigenous Sheep Types in Meket and Gidan Districts, North Wollo Zone, Ethiopia

This study was aimed to generate comprehensive information on production objectives, reproductive performance and selection criteria of indigenous sheep types under farmer’s management condition in Meket and Gidan districts, North Wollo Zone. Ethiopia. Multistage purposive sampling was employed based on the potential of sheep production. Accordingly 6 rural kebeles (3 from each district) were considered purposively. About 240 households (120 from each district) were used for household survey. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 16.0 2007) was used to analyze data. The main objectives of keeping sheep were for income generation followed by meat consumption across the districts compared. Sexual maturity age of Meket ram was 9.04 months whereas Gidan ram was 8.51 months. The average age at first lambing, lambing interval and lifetime lamb crop of Meket Sheep were 16.04 months, 9.14 months and 8.92 lambs, respectively. The corresponding values for Gidan Sheep were 15.57 months, 8.66 months and 9.77 lambs, respectively. Color, growth character and appearance were the most important traits considered by farmers to select breeding rams in both study districts. Ages at first sexual maturity, color, lamb growth and pedigree were the most important trait in choosing of breeding ewes in Meket district. Whereas Ages at first sexual maturity, color, tail type/length and pedigree were the most important trait in choosing of breeding ewes in Gidan district. Therefore, this finding was put baseline for understanding about production objective, Reproductive performance and selection criteria of Sheep and serve as a base for designing a sustainable breeding programme and selection strategies in the study area.