Abstract:
this study was conducted in Adiyo and telo districts of Kaffa Zone, south Western Peoples
regional state (sWePrs) of ethiopia with the aim of evaluating the performance of bonga
sheep under farmer’s management conditions. to this end, the farmers who have ewes were
registered and 200 respondents were randomly selected. the study revealed that both
participant and non-participant farmers have been rearing sheep for the purpose of income
generation, followed by saving, social value, meat and wealth in decreasing order. the current
study also revealed that disease and parasites are the major constraints for both groups,
followed by predator and shortage of fodder. lambing interval (li) was 9.4 ± 0.18 months, days
open (dO) were 20.2 ± 0.13 days and liter size (ls) was 1.4 ± 0.04, and lambing interval (li) was
shorter (8.5 ± 0.22 months) in community based breeding program (cbbP) participants than in
non-participants (10.5 ± 0.28 months). the birth, weaning and six month weight were 3.8 ± 0.06,
16.0 ± 0.10 and 27.8 ± 0.33 kg. the preweaning average daily weight gain and postweaning
average daily weight gain were 136.0 and 133.0 ± 0.02 g/day respectively. both participants
and non-participants’ reproductive and growth performances have shown a remarkable
progression. in conclusion, engagement of farmer in cbbP improved lambing interval, birth
weight, weaning weight, six month weight, pre-weaning weight average daily gain, and post
weaning average daily gain of bonga sheep. Hence, cbbP strategy is likely to be important to
attain the designed benefit from sheep production in the area.
