Economic Output of Different Sheep Breeds in High Altitude Regions of Kashmir Himalayas

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the existing productive and economic traits of indigenous and crossbred sheep such as Kashmiri Merino and Corriedale in terms of age at first lambing, birth weight of lamb, weaning weight, live weight gain of newborn lamb, body weight at 1% year, weight at 2^nd year and fleece weight in different agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Pulwama district, as these aspects have a profound influence on the efficiency of mutton and wool production. For this study, a total of 75 sheep of different breeds such as local, Kashmir Merino and Corriedale were selected randomly from three agro-ecological regions of Pulwama district i.e., Valley floor, Karewas and Kandi regions. A significant difference was found within age at first lambing, birth weight of lamb, live weight gain of a newborn lamb, weaning period, fleece weight, body weight at 1^st year and weight at 2^nd year (p&%60;0.01). It was observed that the productive and economic efficiency of exotic species, mainly Corriedale and Kashmiri Marino, remain at the top followed by local/indigenous breeds. The study concludes that crossbred sheep perform better than the indigenous sheep breeds as far as mutton and wool potentialities in the study area are concerned. It also reflects that due to the robust launching of livestock hybridisation programme in the study area, the rearers have been rapidly replacing indigenous breeds with crossbreeding species in order to meet the growing demand of the population for mutton and wool.