The current state and future outlook for development of sheep breeding in Ukraine

Abstract

Our research aimed to analyse the current state of the sheep industry in Ukraine, to highlight the geographical location of genetic resources, to describe the state of the breeding work, and to form the proposals for the development of this branch in the future. The date from the State register of breeding farms for 2005-2019 and statistical reporting were used for analysis. It is shown that Ukraine has good natural and climatic preconditions, as well as customer demands for the development of the sheep industry. In addition to the domestic market, it is necessary to look for opportunities to enter foreign markets. Over the last 15 years, the sheep industry in Ukraine has undergone significant changes: the form of ownership has changed, the number of livestock has decreased and the breed composition of sheep has changed. At present time, there are 0.7 million sheep in Ukraine, 26.7 thousand are registered like breeding animals belonging to 10 breeds. Breeding work in the sheep industry in Ukraine does not meet modern requirements: the total number of breeding stock of 26.7 thousand is insufficient for production needs. The number of farms engaged in sheep breeding has critically decreased. The situation is critical for such breeds as the Latvian dark-headed, Ukrainian mountain Carpathian and Sokilska. There is no organized breeding workin Ukraine regarding many popular breeds of sheep, which are popular among producers and are already available in the country. Ukrainian mountain Carpathian and Sokilska breeds belong to local breeds, but due to the lack of organized selection work they may be lost. The largest number of sheep is concentrated in the south and west of the country, where the climatic conditions are favourable for this branch in the past. The leaders in terms of numbers are Odesa and Transcarpathia, Chernivtsi and Zaporizhia regions. Breeding pedigree animals are concentrated in Odesa and Kherson oblasts. The most numerous breeds are the Askanian meat-wool breed with crossbred wool and the Askanian Karakul breed. Taking into consideration the big potential of the sheep breeding, it is proposed to perform some steps to stimulate its development in Ukraine. To improve the sheep industry in Ukraine it is necessary to implement a set of measures, in particular: to extend the system of state support to the sheep industry; to promote the construction of slaughterhouses, including the use of the slaughter system HALAL; to assist in finding new markets for fattened animals or meat in abroad, especially in countries with Muslim population; to use state support mechanisms to facilitate breeding work; to allow to keep registers of breeding animals by producer associations and other interested organizations; to simplify the procedure for registration of production facilities for the production of local cheeses and other products; to impose a duty on the export of adult animals not for breeding purposes. The implementation of these measures will promote the development of sheep breeding in Ukraine and will serve as a basis for the production of a sufficient amount of high-quality food products and the preservation of traditional food preferences of different regions of the country. Key words: sheep breeding, breed, local breed type.