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Indigenous breeding practices of the farmers and the livestock production system form the bases for designing community-based breeding programs. The aim of this study was to characterize production system and examine breeding practices of the indigenous goat farmers in Hai district in Northern Tanzania to determine their relevance in establishing a community-based breeding program in the area. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in which information was collected from 160 households randomly selected from 6 villages. Average household herd was 29.2 goats with majority keeping less than 20 goats. Major reasons for keeping goats were income generation, meat and milk production. Controlled mating was practiced mainly using apron and castration. Castration was practiced using traditional methods to control breeding and improve meat quality. Farmers in the study area had large goat flocks and a small buck to doe ratio. Farmers do not have a good understanding of inbreeding and its negative effects but practise other good breeding methods which could impact the productivity of their animals. Diseases and feed shortages were the main constraints to production. Opportunities exist for a community-based breeding program to genetically improve goat productivity.

A structured questionnaire, own-flock ranking experiment, and group discussions were undertaken to assess goat breeding practices and to identify traits of interest for genetic improvement of indigenous goats. Four pastoral villages in Ethiopia, namely, Jarso, Mesoya, Eleweya, and Dharito were selected based on their goat production potential, accessibility, and suitability to implement community-based breeding programs. A survey and flock ranking experiment involving 70 households and 199 goats were used. In flock ranking experiment, goat owners were asked to choose the first three superior and the worst doe within their own flock. They were also asked to provide their reason for ranking the animals. In addition, data on size traits, kid growth, kid survival, reproduction traits, and milk yield were recorded for each doe. Data obtained from questionnaire, flock ranking, and measurements were subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Large variation was observed between top and last ranked does in most of the traits and price, for example, in body weight (33.6 ± 0.88 vs. 25.2 ± 0.93 kg), doe's kid survival (92.1 ± 4.01 vs. 59.6 ± 4.48%) and doe's price (1367 ± 46.5 vs. 833 ± 46.9 (US$1 = 28.4 Ethiopian Birr) Ethiopian Birr). Mobility is practiced with a defined and known pattern; therefore, recruitment of mobile enumerators for data recording would assist in implementation of breeding programs. Breeding objective should emphasize mothering ability (kid growth and survival), milk yield of does, and coat color in all areas. Due to its good correlation with other traits like kid growth and pre-weaning kid survival, considering milk yield alone as selection criteria or giving more weight for milk yield in the breeding program could generate better genetic benefit. Setting-up breeding program should be based on full participation and context of pastoralists.

Ethiopia has a large and diverse population of small ruminants, which contribute substantially to the livelihood and income of the rural poor and the country at large. However, the sector faces a number of challenges. Productivity per animal and flock offtake are both very low. Reasons attributed for the apparent low productivity are as follows: absence of appropriate breeding programmes, lack of technical capacity, inadequate and poor-quality feeds, diseases leading to high lamb mortality, and underdeveloped markets in terms of infrastructure and information. Historically, sheep and goats have received little policy or investment attention. Genetic improvement of small ruminants could contribute to bridging the productivity gap. In the past, the government of Ethiopia has placed much emphasis on importing exotic genetics and cross-breeding with local stock as a strategy for genetic improvement. However, this has not led to a significant productivity improvement and the programmes have generally been unsustainable. Currently, there is a change in approach and a recognition of the need to focus genetic improvement efforts on the local genetic resources that are well adapted to the diverse agro-ecologies and production environments in the country. Community-based breeding programmes (CBBPs), which focus on indigenous stock and consider farmers' needs, views, decisions and active participation, from inception through to implementation, have been identified as programmes of choice. The Ethiopian government and the private sector need to invest in strategic areas around CBBPs to make the programme work for the poor and be sustainable in low-input systems., (© 2019 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

The study was conducted to determine feed intake, digestibility, and body weight (BW) change of Washera sheep fed on desho grass and natural pasture hay as a basal diet and supplemented with concentrate mixtures. Twenty-five intact male sheeps with body weight of 19.4 ± 1.89 kg (mean ± SD) were used in randomized complete block design. The dietary treatments were 100% natural pasture hay (NPH) (T1), 75% NPH + 25% desho grass hay (DGH) (T2), 50% NPH + 50% DGH (T3), 25% NPH + 75% DGH (T4), and 100% DGH (T5). Equal amount of concentrate mixture (CM) (300 g DM/day/h) was supplemented in all of the five treatments. The result of laboratory chemical analysis revealed that the CP content of the basal diets increased with increased proportion of desho grass hay inclusion in the treatments at the expense of natural pasture hay. Total DM, OM, CP, NDF, and ADF intake and digestibility was significant (P < 0.05) and in the increasing order of T1 < T2 < T3 < T4 < T5. The average daily body weight gain (ADG) of experimental sheep was significantly (P < 0.05) higher as proportion of desho grass increased from 0 to 100% in the basal diet. The result indicated that desho grass can be used as a basal diet for local sheep with better performance than natural pasture hay-based diets.

Breeding programmes described as community-based (CBBP) typically relate to low-input systems with farmers having a common interest to improve and share their genetic resources. CBBPs are more frequent with keepers of small ruminants, in particular smallholders of local breeds, than with cattle, pigs or chickens with which farmers may have easier access to alternative programmes. Constraints that limit the adoption of conventional breeding technologies in low-input systems cover a range of organizational and technical aspects. The analysis of 8 CBBPs located in countries of Latin-America, Africa and Asia highlights the importance of bottom-up approaches and involvement of local institutions in the planning and implementation stages. The analysis also reveals a high dependence of these programmes on organizational, technical and financial support. Completely self-sustained CBBPs seem to be difficult to realize. There is a need to implement and document formal socio-economic evaluations of CBBPs to provide governments and other development agencies with the information necessary for creating sustainable CBBPs at larger scales., (© 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

A simulation study was conducted to optimize a cooperative village-based sheep breeding scheme for Menz sheep of Ethiopia. Genetic gains and profits were estimated under nine levels of farmers' participation and three scenarios of controlled breeding achieved in the breeding programme, as well as under three cooperative flock sizes, ewe to ram mating ratios and durations of ram use for breeding. Under fully controlled breeding, that is, when there is no gene flow between participating (P) and non-participating (NP) flocks, profits ranged from Birr 36.9 at 90% of participation to Birr 21.3 at 10% of participation. However, genetic progress was not affected adversely. When there was gene flow from the NP to P flocks, profits declined from Birr 28.6 to Birr -3.7 as participation declined from 90 to 10%. Under the two-way gene flow model (i.e. when P and NP flocks are herded mixed in communal grazing areas), NP flocks benefited from the genetic gain achieved in the P flocks, but the benefits declined sharply when participation declined beyond 60%. Our results indicate that a cooperative breeding group can be established with as low as 600 breeding ewes mated at a ratio of 45 ewes to one ram, and the rams being used for breeding for a period of two years. This study showed that farmer cooperation is crucial to effect genetic improvement under smallholder low-input sheep farming systems., (© 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)

Village- and central nucleus-based schemes were simulated and evaluated for their relative bio-economic efficiencies, using Ethiopia's Menz sheep as example. The schemes were: village-based 2-tier (Scheme-1) and 1-tier (Scheme-2) cooperative village breeding schemes, dispersed village-based nuclei scheme (Scheme-3), conventional 2-tier central nucleus-based scheme (Scheme-4), and schemes linking a central nucleus and village multiplier nuclei with selection in central nucleus (Scheme-5) or in both central and village nuclei (Scheme-6). Among village-based schemes, Scheme-1 gave the highest genetic progress, while Scheme-2 was economically the most efficient with genetic gain in the breeding objective of Birr 5.6 and a profit of Birr 37.2/ewe/year. The central nucleus schemes were more efficient than the village schemes. Scheme-4 was the most efficient with genetic gain in the breeding objective of Birr 13.5 and a profit of Birr 71.2, but is operationally more difficult as it requires a very large central nucleus. The choice between village and central nucleus-based schemes would depend on local conditions (availability of infrastructure, logistics and technical knowhow and support). Linking central nucleus with village-based nuclei (Scheme-6) would be a feasible option to overcome the operational difficulties of the conventional central nucleus scheme. If a village-based breeding program is envisaged as should be the 1st step in most low-input systems, then Scheme-2 is the most efficient. To scale out to an entire Menz breed level, Scheme-3 would be recommended., (© 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)