Demonstration of Maize-Nougcake Concentrate Based Sheep Fattening in Horro District, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

This activity was conducted in Horro district of western Oromia, Ethiopia with the objective of popularizing proven sheep fattening technology. The study sites were Leku and Gitilo kebeles where community based sheep breeding project is underway. The rams to be fattened were weighed; body condition was recorded, de-wormed and sprayed against internal and external parasites. Initial price of the rams was estimated by a panel of three price informed estimators. The rams were supplemented with 400 g/h/day concentrate composed of 49.5% Noug cake, 49.5% ground maize, 1% salt for 90 days fattening period. The mean initial weight, final weight, initial price and selling prices of the rams were 21.05 kg, 28.51 kg, 517 birr and 1577.5 birr, respectively. Total body weight gain (TWG) of the rams on average was 7.5 kg over the fattening period with a range of 4.5-13.5 kg. The average daily gain (ADG) for the fattening period was 83.3 g/h/ day. The difference between initial and final body weight (7.5 kg) and initial and final body condition (1.7 kg) were statistically significant (p=0.00) and (p=.04), respectively. On average, a net return of birr 456.7 was accrued to the farmers from sale of the fattened rams. An increase in input price by 10%, keeping the price of fattened rams constant would result in marginal return of 1.6 and a net return of 396 birr. The technology is still profitable on the face of the expected escalation in input prices. The escalation is counteracted by the current attractive sale price of fattened rams. It is thus important to go for further scaling up in areas where there is access to these inputs.