Care Management of Small Ruminant

Care & Management of Small Ruminants
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
❖ Kingdom Animalia - Animal
❖ Phylum Chordata - Vertebrates (back bone)
❖ Class Mammalia - Hairy & suckling their young ones
❖ Subclass - Eutheria - Females possessing placenta
❖ Order - Ungulata - Hoofed mammals
❖ Suborder/Order Artiodactyla - Even toed animals
❖ Section Pecora - True ruminants
❖ Family Bovidae - Hollow horned ruminants
❖ Sub family
Ovinae - Sheep
Caprinae - Goats
❖ Genus
Ovis - Domesticated and wild sheep
Capra - Domesticated and wild goat
❖ Species
Ovis aries - Domesticated sheep
Capra hircus - Domesticated goat
Sheep vs. Goat
Characteristics Sheep Goat

Tail Generally long, hanging Short, Thin and upright.
and fairly broad
Nature of horns Mostly homogenous Heterogeneous in nature
Tail glands (Male) Absent Present
Beard & Tassel (wattle) Rare Common
Suborbital (face) & Present Absent (only foot glands in male)
interdigital (foot) glands
Activity Walk shorter distance Bipedal stance & walk longer
distance
Feeding pattern Grazing less selective Browsing, more selective
Variety in feeds Preference is lesser Preference is greater
Dehydration in Faeces Relatively higher water loss Less water loss
Urine Less concentrated More concentrated
Water intake Higher Lower
Chromosome number 54 60
Length of oestrus cycle 16-17 days 19-21 days
Duration of oestrus 24-36 hours 34-38 hours
©Dr. Kumaresh Behera, Assistant Professor, LPM, CVSc & AH, OUAT, 9658412040 Page 1
Time of ovulation 25-30 hours after the onset 30-36 hours after the onset of
of oestrus oestrus
Sheep: typical grazing behaviour
❖ A strictly pastoral animal
❖ Close grazer due to philtrum or vertical fissure in upper lip: one half of lip can move
independently of the other
❖ Sharp incisor and tough dental pad: easy trimming of foliage
❖ Usually spares the growing tips and leave the stems
❖ If adequate pasture: travels 4-5 km
❖ Peak grazing time: morning & afternoon
❖ Resting pause for 2-3 hours
❖ Intensity of grazing: maximum near shelter and watering points
❖ Chews forage more thoroughly than cattle
❖ Can sustain under water scarcity
❖ Can selectively pick up forage with high water content
❖ Prefers clean and running water over stagnant water
❖ Other psycho-social behaviour
❖ Folding habit: Prefers to sit or rest on elevated places
❖ Gregariousness: Merino and Rambouillet intense, English breeds less
❖ Leader-Follower relationship: Can even follow a trained goat as leader
❖ Nervousness
❖ Timid: lack of ability to defend
Why goats
❖ Feeding habits
❖ Climate resilient
❖ Fecundity
❖ Low space requirement
❖ Easy management
❖ Less expenditure- low input cost
Returns on capital of up to 50% and recovery of 70% of retail price are possible in goat
farming
❖ Goat: a multi-purpose animal producing
Meat
Milk
Hide
Fibre
Manure
In hilly areas, also used for hauling light loads.
❖ Unlike large animals in commercial farm both male and female have equal values.
❖ Cheaper to maintain, easily available and have a friendly disposition.
❖ Very few demands of housing: hardly need separate housing and happily share their
homes with their owners or his other livestock.
❖ Can be raised by landless agricultural labourers, women and children because they can
thrive well on variety of leaves, shrubs, bushes, kitchen waste etc.
❖ Can fit well into mixed farming
❖ Capable of adapting to various agro-climatic conditions ranging from arid dry to cold
arid to hot humid. They can be raised in plains, hilly tracts, sandy zones and at high
altitudes.
❖ More tolerant to hot climate than other farm animals.
❖ Fewer ailments than other large animals.
❖ Increased digestibility of crude fibre and can produce even on poor quality roughages
❖ Goats give more production per unit of investment: smaller in size and have a younger
slaughter age.
❖ Goat meat has no religious taboo and is relished by all sections of society.
❖ Goat milk is cheap, wholesome, easily digestible and nutritious.
❖ Goat milk is finer than cow milk i.e. the fats and proteins are present in a finer state
and are more easily digestible, especially by children and invalids.
❖ Goat milk has lesser allergic problems than other species of livestock.
❖ Goat milk has higher buffering qualities and this enhances its value for patients
suffering from peptic ulcers, liver dysfunction, jaundice, biliary disorders and other
digestive problems.
❖ Goat milk has higher phosphate content, which is beneficial for vegetarian
communities.
❖ Goat milk has a higher content of B-complex vitamins.
❖ Goats can be milked as often as required, preventing milk storage problems and
refrigeration costs.
❖ Goat manure is 2.5 times richer in nitrogen and phosphoric acid than cow manure.
Sheep and Goat population (in million)

Species 1951 1956 1961 1966 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2003 2007 2012 2019
Sheep 39.1 39.3 40.2 42.4 40.0 41.0 48.8 45.7 50.8 57.5 61.5 71.6 65.1 74.3
Goat 47.2 55.4 60.9 64.6 67.5 75.6 95.3 110.2 115.3 122.7 124.4 140.5 135.2 148.9
Care during Peri-partum EWES/DOES
❖ The pregnant ewes should not be handled frequently.
❖ Steaming up: Extra feed during the later part of pregnancy (3-4 weeks before
parturition) for the condition of the pre-parturient ewes which will help in improving
milk production of ewes and birth weight and growth of lambs.
❖ Inadequate & poor nutrition may result in pregnancy toxaemia, abortion and
premature birth of weak lambs.
❖ Ewe/doe in advanced stage of pregnancy should be kept in a separate lambing
corrals/Lambing box/kidding box or shed 4-6 days before parturition and maximum
comfort like soft clean bedding & individual lambing pen should be provided.
❖ The ewe/doe should be protected from chilly weather condition.
❖ Foetal Development
❖ In the last month, weight of foetus doubles
❖ During this period: individual variation in birth weight develops
❖ Steaming up: most vital
Signs of Parturition
They may
❖ Lie down stretching hind legs and stand erratically
❖ Paw the ground
❖ Grinding of teeth
❖ Act out of sync with normal flock patterns
❖ Udder will quickly fill out
❖ Swelling of vulva
❖ Lambing usually early morning or evening
Care at lambing/kidding
❖ Vigilant eye should be kept for dystokia or difficult birth.
❖ Maiden ewes in poor condition or small-framed ewes mated to big rams generally
have dystokia and will have to be assisted.
❖ Newborn lambs after being licked by the mother generally stand on their leg and start
seeking for teats & suckle milk.
❖ If they are not able to do so after sufficient time, provide help to them in suckling
colostrums, the first milk, which is very essential for health and survivability of lambs.
❖ The new born should be protected from cold, wind and rain.
❖ Artificial milk feeding or arrangement of foster mother should be done for disowned
or orphan lambs.
❖ Goats can serve as excellent foster mother, but ewes which have lost their lambs early
after birth may also be utilized.
❖ Allow the newborn to be tied with the dam 24 hours in the first week
❖ If twinning / triplets: smaller kid (a.k.a RUNT) should get proper nourishment.
❖ Provide creep feed (good quality hay with or without concentrate mixture) to suckling
lambs in addition to suckling of milk form tenth day to weaning age.
❖ If possible, make available green leguminous fodders or fresh tree leaves to lambs to
nibble during sucking period after 2nd week.
❖ Weaning after 2-3 months
Care of lambs/kids
❖ The lambs should be taken care to the maximum extend during early period of life for
better survival and growth.
❖ Kids stand up on their legs immediately after birth.
Cleaning mucus from nostrils and body by a soft cloth to prevent from catching
cold & pneumonia
❖ If unable to suckle, guidance to get the teats or assisted milk feeding.
Examine the udders for blindness of teats or mastitis.
Intake sufficient colostrum within 1 hour after birth for disease resistance; max.
wait up to 4 hr, else artificially feed
50-100 ml colostrum sufficient in the first take
Ensure proper suckling of lambs.
Take care of indifferent mothers and arrange suckling of lambs by restraining
such type of ewes.
❖ If it does not void the first faeces (meconium), give 1 teaspoonful castor oil mixed with
milk curd for early defecation and prevention of E. coli
❖ Disinfecting navels
Navel of a newborn: a possible route for infectious agents
Cut navel cord 1-2” away from body
To avoid infections, navel stumps should be disinfected soon after birth.
The navel area can be sprayed or dipped with an antiseptic solution such as
Gentle Iodine (1% iodine), Betadine®, or Chlorhexidine.
❖ The lambs/kids should not be handled too frequently immediately after birth and let
the dams lick and recognize them properly.
❖ First 1-2 hours after birth: vital period for establishment of bond between newborn &
the mother
❖ Dam should be kept in a calm place without disturbance from stray dogs and other
animals.
❖ Expulsion of fetal membrane within 3-4 hours of lambing
❖ Allow newborns to be with their mother all the 24 hours for first week or so.
❖ Feed sufficient quantity of good quality hay and concentrate to the lactating ewes for
meeting nutritional requirements for early lactation.
❖ Provide plenty of clean fresh drinking water as the lactating ewes drink surprisingly
higher amount of water during lactation.
Compartmentalization
❖ An ordinary partition for lambed ewe/doe
❖ Made of wooden planks/bamboo strips
❖ For acceptance of the neonate by the dam
❖ Once accepted by the dam, sometimes the neonate may be separated with a basket
Nest Box for New Born Lambs/Kids
❖ Ideal warmth and clean environment to the newly born lams and kids especially in
winter
❖ Wooden slatted floor to quickly drain urine and dung
❖ 4 feet length, 3 feet width, 4 feet height at the centre with the curved top
❖ Nest box is mounted on a 1.5 feet height wooden frame with a ramp and door
❖ Compartmental Lamb/Kid Milk Feeder
❖ Designed to feed milk to 2 lambs/kids at a time and to ensure that the right quantity of
milk is available to each
❖ Very useful for hand raising abandoned, weak or newborn lamb/kid
❖ The compartments ensure the quantity of milk fed by each lamb/kid.
❖ Made up of two individual plastic boxes fitted with removable teat made up of latex
❖ The compartments are mounted on a metallic frame with sand and clamp in a view to
either place the feeder at desired height and location or to simply clamp the feeder to a
frame at a desired height.
❖ Each compartment can hold up to 4 litres of milk.
❖ Dimension: 30 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm
❖ Fixed in any convenient location.
❖ Up to two lambs/kids can be fed milk at a time.
Fostering
❖ Fostering/mothering process is performed in case of
Struggling/weak lambs
Optimize flock performance: desirable to mother a weak lamb, from a
twin/triplet, onto a ewe with a single lamb
Death of ewe
Disowning of lamb
❖ Considerations before fostering a lamb
Ewes’ milk production
Physical condition of the ewe
Udder health
Condition and emergency of the situation
Ewe behaviour
The bond between a ewe and her lambs is very strong and once this bond is
established ewes do not accept other lambs easily.
The sheep or goat can only properly feed two young so any other young must
be fostered.
❖ How to mother a lamb
❖ Wet Fostering: Using afterbirth
Most common way
The foster lamb is smothered in the foster mothers afterbirth immediately after
she has given birth.
The aim is to suppress the foster lambs’ natural smell, and replace it with that of
the foster mothers.
Major drawback: catch the ewe just before she is giving birth, or immediately
afterwards.
❖ Skinning of dead lambs: A sheep in sheep’s clothing or Grafting lambs
If the ewe’s natural offspring has died during or shortly after birth, its skin can
be used to foster another lamb.
Skin the dead lamb and carefully attach the skin over the alien lamb. If the
mother accepts the foster, the skin can be taken off after a few days.
❖ Enclosure
Placing an ewe and alien lamb in an enclosure with limited space for around
four days
Limited success rate, but a strong & enthusiastic lamb will eventually succeed,
& the ewe will give up resisting.
Head restraint
Placing the ewe in head restraints for around four days.
Stressful to the ewe
❖ Foster crates
Clean water and good quality roughage are always available and that
concentrates were fed at least twice daily where the ewe can reach them.
The foster mother can be tied up by the head in a small pen or shed and the
orphan left with her.
Critical points in kid rearing
❖ Most susceptible age: 1- 30/45 days
❖ Colostrum & milk feeding
❖ Supplementation of Vitamin C, E and Selenium during advanced pregnancy period
❖ Feeding and nourishment by the mother
❖ Protection against cold
❖ Hygienic shelter
❖ Goats are feared about cold and water. So take extra care in rainy and winter season.
Otherwise they may caught by Pneumonia.
❖ Never let the rain water enter inside the house.
Kid rearing practices
❖ No weaning: keeping kids with the doe
❖ Weaning after colostrum feeding and artificial/manual feeding
❖ Weaning after 2-3 weeks and artificial/manual feeding
❖ Weaning after 60-90 days and artificial/manual feeding
Identification
❖ Dyeing
❖ Ear tagging
❖ Ear tattooing
Controlling Lamb/Kid Mortality
❖ Proper feeding of ewes/does
Maintenance of body condition
Ensuring steady gain during last 2 months
Avoid overfeeding / over-conditioning
Gradual ascendance of conditioning
Mineral blocks or salt licks provision
❖ Hygienic shelter
Particularly important in intensive system
Lambing coral/kidding pen hygiene esp. for E. coli
Separate housing and grazing
Replacement of bedding materials weekly
Avoid overcrowding
❖ Preventive vaccination
Vaccination against: Enterotoxaemia etc.
Also provides immunity to neonates at birth
❖ Help lamb/kid feed itself
Important in lamb disowning condition
Proper colostrum feeding
Clean water availability (24x7)
Crutching of the udder area for better access of lamb
Artificial feeding: last resort
Special care for twinners (peripartum and neonatal care)
❖ Protect lamb/kid from exposure
Proximity of neonates to the dam: best safeguard
Proper shelter, space and bedding materials
Proper ventilation
❖ Watch for unfit ewe/doe mothers
Wool blindness
Teat with cuts or mastitis
Blind teat
❖ Control predators
❖ Watch for diseases
Castration
❖ Male kids not required for breeding to be castrated ideally at 1 month or latest by
weaning
❖ Advantages:
To prevent meat taint- especially if kids are slaughtered after more than four
months of age
Better quality meat than entire males
Castrates grow relatively faster than entire males
To prevent indiscriminant breeding
To use the castrate in estrus detection
Castrates are easier to manage than entire males
Docking
❖ Shortening/cutting of tail
❖ Objectives:
Improves the health and welfare
Prevents fecal matter from accumulating on the tail and hindquarters
Greatly reduces fly strike (wool maggots)
Makes it easier to observe the ewe's udder and detect potential problems
Buyers discriminate against tailed lambs, since having a tail lowers the dressing
percent (yield) and removal of the tail during processing requires extra labor
❖ Age: 2nd week or at the time of castration latest by 6th week
Methods:
Banding/Elastrator
Electrical
Emasculator
Mechanical
Docking and Castration
❖ Often done at the same time on animals that are just a few days old
❖ Castration is the process of removing the testicles to prevent the development of
aggressive behaviors.
❖ Pain management at castration involves a device ("Numnuts") which delivers a local
anaesthetic at the same time as the elastrator ring is applied.
Precautions
❖ Should be performed during cold season
❖ Strictly avoid rainy season for fear of fly problems.
❖ Should be rested for few days in clean and comfortable pens.
❖ Always give a tetanus shot to lambs
Burdizzo method
❖ Severs or crushes the cords and associated blood vessels leading to the testicles
❖ This stops the blood circulation to the testicles so that they degenerate within the
scrotum.
❖ Bloodless method of castration
❖ When using this method, be sure that both cords are severed or crushed
Open or Surgical Method
❖ Scrotum is opened and testicles are removed, aseptically and the wound is treated
with antiseptics.
❖ In young animals, the cord may be cut as savagely off
❖ In case of mature animals, the cord should be twisted before severing it.
Banding/Elastrator Method
❖ Easiest method
❖ Apply a rubber ring/ band to the tail using an elastrator tool.
❖ Bloodless method of tail docking
❖ The band cuts off the blood supply to the tail, causing the tail to fall off in 7 to 10 days.
❖ Banding causes some pain to the lamb, but the pain is short-lived.
❖ Pain can be reduced if a clamp is applied across the tail immediately distal to the ring
or use of a local anesthetic, such as lidocaine.
❖ Preferred age: at least 1 day old, in 1st week
❖ A strong and tight rubber ring placed around the cord at an early age of calf.
❖ This creates constant pressure and the testicles are atrophied and absorbed and the
ring drops down.
❖ Elastrator rings are very painful to the animal and so it is not usually recommended.
Emasculator/Emasculotome docking
❖ Used for docking
❖ Metal instrument crushing the tail as it is cut off
❖ The crushing helps to seal the wound and thus decrease the amount of bleeding.
❖ The emasculator should be left on the tail for approximately 30 seconds to help prevent
bleeding.
❖ Some emasculators also include heat, which cauterizes the tail stump as the tail is cut
off.
❖ The wound from an emasculator typically takes longer to heal than other methods.
Electrical docking
❖ An electric docking iron cuts and cauterizes the tail simultaneously
❖ Most humane method of tail docking
❖ It can be used on older lambs.
❖ Much safer for most lambs
❖ Work similar to a pair of large scissors, except they are electrically heated
❖ Severing of tail and cauterization of wound
Mechanical cutting
❖ Tails can also be cut off using a knife; however, this technique is not recommended
because it can cause excessive bleeding.
❖ Place the blade of the knife on the underside of the tail and cut the tail off in one slice.
❖ Be prepared to treat with blood stop powder.
❖ Oblique cut across blood vessels
Burdizzo and Knife
❖ Best method for docking older lambs having fat tails
❖ Burdizzo crushes the tail, cutting off the blood supply.
❖ With the Burdizzo still in place, a knife is then used to cut the tail completely off below
the crush.
❖ Burdizzo closes the wound together and limits the amount of bleeding.
❖ It should be left on the tail at least 20 to 30 seconds before it is removed.
❖ Carefully remove it, else the wound will gain reopen
How long?
❖ Tail stub (dock) be left long enough to cover the ewe's vulva and ram's anus
❖ Ultra-short tail docking may contribute to the incidence of vaginal prolapse &
carcinoma of the vulva.
❖ Recommended site: just below the point of where the web (caudal fold) ends
underneath the tail
Weaning & Care of Weaners
❖ The management of weaners plays an important part in good sheep husbandry.
❖ The following steps are important in proper care and management of weaners.
Weaning should preferably be done at 90 days, although in breeds with low
milk production or where re-breeding is desired it can be done around 60 days.
Basic milestones for commercial meat animals
❖ Birth weight
❖ Age to attain 16 kg body weight
❖ Age and weight for slaughter
❖ Typical carcass weight preferred is 8-10 kg which gives tender meat from animals of
two teeth.
❖ This two teeth phenomenon is important as far as meat quality is concern for its
tenderness and juiciness.
Feeding management
❖ Indian goats are not efficient milk producers and never support the growth potential of
kids.
❖ The following periods are important ones to consider
Males and females one month before mating: Flushing
Females in the final month of pregnancy: Steaming up
Females in the first two months of lactation: Challenge feeding
Growing lambs/kids especially after weaning
❖ Supplementary feeding & good clean pasture for growing weaners should be
provided.
❖ Weaned lambs should be drenched against gastro-intestinal parasites by first moth and
vaccinated against enterotoxaemia and sheep pox.
❖ Weaners should not be grazed on poor burry and thorny types of pasture since it could
cause skin irritation, injury to the eyes and dame to wool.
❖ They should be protected against vagaries of climate and predation.
Healthcare Management
Deworming
❖ To remove endoparasites
❖ Before breeding the doe should be dewormed.
❖ Kids should be dewormed at 1 month of age.
❖ Deworming in every 3 months interval
❖ Anthelmintic choice: as per fecoscopy (fecal examination)
❖ Does in early pregnancy (up to 2 months) or even in advance gestation should not be
dewormed to avoid abortion.
Dipping
❖ Reasons
To remove waste materials and dung from the fleece, prior to shearing
To eradicate ectoparasites
To prevent spread of “sheep scab”
To wart off attacks by blowflies resulting in maggots.
Dipping is done usually twice a year i.e once before shearing and a second time
when the fleece has grown long
❖ Precautions before dipping
Do not dip ewes in advanced pregnancy to avoid abortion.
Always offer water before dipping so that sheep will not drink the dip
Always rest sheep before dipping
Do not dip sick animals.
Dip about 2-3 weeks after shearing when the there is sufficient fleece
Dipping should preferably be completed before noon.
Allow sheep in a draining pen for sometimes before turning them out on the
pasture.
Chooses a day is possible when the weather is not too hot.
Methods of Dipping
The hand bath used for small flocks. Each sheep is lifted into the bath and
turned over on its back.
The swim bath: this is used for large flocks of sheep.
The sheep are allowed to swim through and walk up the ramp into the drying
pen.
Sheep dips: the active agents used are
❖ Sulphur
❖ Arsenic
❖ D.D.T. and
❖ Carbolic acid etc
The quantity of dip depends upon the length of the fleece.
Pouring: means pouring a small quantity of dip into parts of the fleece along the
back, sides and belly.
❖ Smearing: An ointment with a basis of tar and grease is smeared over the skin of the
sheep to destroy parasites.
❖ Crutching: Means removing soiled and dung – stained wool by hand shears from the
crutch of the sheep (perineal and inguinal regions).
❖ Jetting: Is a method adopted in foreign countries in which the sheep are made to run
through a race or “shedder” in which is fixed a pipe which plays a jet of water into the
lower part of the abdomen and the crutch.
Vaccination schedule
Diseases Repeat vaccination
First Injection Booster Injection
Peste-des-Petitis At 3 months of age Not required Every 3 years
Ruminants (PPR)
Foot & Mouth Disease At 3-4 months of 3-4 weeks after 1st Every 6/12 month
(FMD) age Injection interval
Goat Pox (GP)/ Sheep At 3-4 months of 3-4 weeks after 1st Every 12 month
Pox age Injection interval
Enterotoxaemia (ET) At 3-4 months of 3-4 weeks after 1st Every 6/12 month
age Injection interval*
Haemorrhagic At 3-4 months of 3-4 weeks after 1st Every 6/12 month
Septicaemia (HS) age Injection (2 doses at interval
1 month interval)
❖ Kids are naturally protected from diseases up to 3 months by proper feeding of
colostrum immediately after birth.
❖ For optimum benefits of vaccination, deworm your animals at least 15 days before
vaccination
Hoof Trimming
❖ Required if maintained under intensive system
❖ To prevent lameness as untrimmed feet can get deformed
❖ Trimming once in six months
❖ Adequate care while trimming
First cut off any bent over portion of the hoof
Then cut from the heel towards the toe
Sight of pink colouration: nearing the blood supply and should not go any
deeper
Labour requirements
❖ For every 100+5 breeder unit maintained under inrensive farming, one pair of
residential labour is required
❖ Each labour working hours are counted as 6 hours per day (max 8 hours)
❖ In open grazing system no. of labourers required:
For sheep @ one for every 50 sheep
In case of goats @ 2 per every 50 goat
Shearing
❖ Process by which woolen fleece of a sheep is cut off
❖ Shearer: person who removes the sheep's wool
❖ Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year
❖ Normally shorn prior to lambing
❖ No shearing during cold climate / winters
❖ Most often in spring
❖ Fine wooled sheep are shorn short
❖ Coarse wooled breeds are shorn such that one inch wool is left in the skin for
protection.
❖ Sheep are shown once or twice a year depending on the climatic factors as well as the
breed involved.
❖ Two methods of shearing are
Along the sheep: sheep moves
Around the sheep: Shearer moves
❖ First shear the fleece which consists of sitting the sheep upon its buttocks and starting
at the throat clipping down over the breast and belly to the udder.
❖ Wool removal
Mustering of animals
Inspection
Possibly treatment for parasites such as lice
Shearing by professional shearers
Shearing first the belly wool
Usually takes 2-3 minutes, depending on the size and condition of the sheep
Release of the shorn sheep and removal from the board
Sheep & Goat Breeding
Reproductive Parameters
• Normal heat period in ewes: 6-48 hours (avg 24 hours)
• Normal oestrous cycle: 16-19 days (avg 17 d)
• Ewes: Heat after lambing usually about 2 months.
• Ovulation: 24-30 hours after the onset of estrus.
• Conception is most likely when breeding occurs late in the heat period.
• Pregnancy period: avg 147 days (144-152 days).
• Ewes: sexual maturity at 8-10 months of age, and rams 6-8 M
Breeding Season
• Breed throughout the year
• Rams of temperate breeds if not protected from high temperature, high humidity and
high solar radiation will not produce good quality semen during hot dry and hot
humid seasons.
• Breeding cycle is affected by hours of daylight in temperate breeds.
• They breed with declining day length.
• Sheep bred in different seasons depending upon the availability of feed.
– Major breeding season: Autumn breeding- July to October, or immediately after
the onset of monsoon; Better nutrition
– Minor breeding season: Spring breeding- March-April; when they are grazed on
stubble in the harvested fields with flushing
• The breeding should be arranged in a manner that the lambs are dropped when plenty
of vegetation is available and weather conditions are mild.
• Factors affecting breeding season
– Availability of feed resources
– Physical environmental condition
• Conditions prevailing both at breeding and lambing, though the consideration would
be more in case of lambing as extremes of weather will more seriously affect lamb
survival.
Puberty in Goats
• Larger breeds: late puberty
– Jamunapari: 15-18 months
– Barbari: 9-10 months
– Jakharana: 16-18 months
– Marwari: 12-13 months
– Smaller breeds:
– Black Bengal: 9-10 months
Preparation of Female
• Flushing
– Improving the condition of ewe before mating
– Feeding of extra concentrate to ewes prior to onset of breeding season, normally
3 or 4 weeks before breeding.
– Effect of flushing:
• Increase incident of oestrous
• Increases the ovulation rate of ewes, more nos. twins & triplets
• Decreases early embryonic mortality by strengthening fetal membrane
integrity
• Increases the lambing rate by 10 to 20%
– Flushing will have effect only if the ewes were in declining phase of nutritional
availability.
– Rate: supplementing 250 g of conc. daily or 500 g of good quality legume hay
per head
– Avoid over-conditioning
Preparation Begore Mating
• Dagging
– Ewes sometimes are not bred because wool or dags prevent the ram from
making satisfactory copulation, thus dagging makes service by the ram more
certain.
– The ram is also trimmed around the sheath.
• Eyeing
– Removal of excess wool around the eyes
– To prevent wool blindness in some breeds
• Crutching
– Removal of wool around the perennial region and base of the tail of an ewe
– Facilitates better mating.
Preparation of male
• Marking the ram
– For the sake of identification of ewes which have been bred
– Paste (Lamp black / Venetian red + linseed oil) applied in the brisket of ram
area at least once a week.
– When the ram mounts the ewe, she will be marked on the rump (Marked ewes=
Mated ewes)
– Helps to record the date of mating and also to remove them from the breeding
flock.
– Colour of the dye to be changed every 16-18 days to discover the repeaters
• Raddle/raddling
– Another method of Marking of ewe by ram
– Raddle: a ram harness containing crayon, which is rubbed on the ewe’s rump
when mating takes place to leave a colour mark
– The process of allowing the ram to run along with raddle is termed as raddling.
• Ringing
– Removal of wool at the region of penis
– This process makes it easier for the ram to have proper mating.
Breeding Policy for Sheep
• Major breeding objectives
– Apparel wool
– Carpet wool
– Mutton
– Pelt
– Milk/ dairy type
– Apparel wool
• Greasy fleece weight: Scoured fleece yield, Average fibre diameter, Staple length,
Colour, Lustre, Uniformly fine fibres
• Carpet wool: Greasy fleece weight, Scoured fleece yield, Average fibre diameter, % of
heterophytic & completely medullated fibre, Staple length, Colour and Lustre
• Mutton: Live weight gain, Feed efficiency, Carcass yield & quality, Reproductive
performance, Lamb survival, kg of lamb / ewe / year
• Pelt: Pelt size, Colour, Pelt quality: strength and elasticity; Ornamentation: type &
tightness of curls, Lustre
• Dairy: Lactation yield, Lactation length, Milk composition
Selection of Breed
• As per breeding objective (demand of the area / market)
• Suited to specific topographic condition
• High genetic profile: pedigree
• Prefer to purchase from organized farm / flock
• Initiate with a small flock
• Selection and Culling- most important
• Cull / sell animals with slow growth rate
Purchase of new animals
• Start with a modest number of 2 to 3 breeding males, 40 to 50 breeding females and
followers.
• Breeding male should be true to breed and preferably 1 to 2 years of age.
• In the field flocks, it is difficult to determine the age accurately and thus dentition
pattern can be used.
• Usually 2 teeth (nearly 1 year of age) rams should be purchased for breeding purpose.
• Female stock should be young, preferably with milk teeth or maximum with 2
permanent teeth (1 year).
• Pregnant females if any, should be given preference.
• Followers, i.e. lambs of both sexes can be purchased to build up the flock
• Due care with regards to several aspects must be taken while purchasing the animals.
• All the animals as discussed earlier should be healthy.
• It is always good to have someone who is expert and had experience of purchasing
animals earlier.
• For breeding male, testes should be checked for deformities if any.
• Hooves of the animals should also be checked for infection especially in the rainy
season.
• Animals should be free from any observable disorder, ectoparasites, blindness,
lameness, body mange or any other major deformity etc.
• While purchasing females, their udder and teat should be checked physically for
mastitis etc.
SELECTION OF EWE FOR BREEDING
• Age (indigenous breeds): should be 18-24 months depending upon their body
condition.
• Breeding too young/poorly conditioned ewes: result in more weakling and thus
results in higher lamb loss.
• Ewes should be mated only when they reach 70% of the average adult body weight.
– A long preferably low set body
– Roomy/wide hind quarter
– Well-formed pliable udder
– Active foraging habit
– Good mothering instinct
• Ewes with poor milking capacity, broken mouth, blind teat and meaty udder should
be disqualified form the breeding programme.
Selection of doe
• Not related to the breeding buck
• Excellent on conformation with a well developed body which displays the particular
breed characteristics
• For meat goats the rectangular conformation of the "blocky" meat animal should be
apparent.
• The dairy animal should display the wedge shaped conformation typical of a good
dairy animal.
• She should be a twinner (in order to pass on the twin trait)
• She should be of a good temperament, particularly for dairy goats.
• Docility and good mothering ability are good features.
• She should be a good milker; for dairy goats records of performance of the dam can
give information about milking ability.
• Udder should be
– Soft to the touch: any hardness is a sign the doe has had previous problems
most likely with mastitis.
– Two functional teats.
• Good strong legs: Weak or bent hind legs will make the goat unable to feed on good
browse.
Selection of ram for breeding
• When there is more than one ram with a flock of ewes, larger & older rams dominate
the smaller, younger ones.
• Rams, which are strangers, are aggressive and fight to decide which is strongest.
• They may seriously injure one another unless put in a confined place
• Breeding ram should be in good body condition, masculine, legs should be stronger &
free from defects.
• The animal should be examined thoroughly for presence of both the testicle intact in
the scrotum.
• Libido (sex drive)
– A ram's desire to mate.
– It is regulated by the release of testosterone, produced by specialized cells in the
testes.
– Libido: most important
– Poor libido: due to poor feeding, extreme heat stress or ill-health.
• Rutting/Tupping
– Rams may fight during the rut to determine which individuals may mate with
ewes
Breeding Soundness Examination

• The primary objective is to determine whether a replacement or working buck has the
ability, under the circumstances in which it will be used, to successfully mount,
intromit the penis into the vagina, and ejaculate semen of sufficient quality to achieve
an acceptable pregnancy rate when bred to a certain number of fertile does in a short
breeding period.
• The breeding soundness examination must evaluate physical soundness and structural
defects that could affect the ability to mount and serve, as well as libido and semen
quality.
• Bucks should pass a breeding soundness and a genetic merit evaluation before being
used, and the test should be repeated at least once a year at the beginning of the
mating season.
• The genetic merit evaluation should examine production records of all available
daughters, including cases of possible genetic defects.
• Breeding soundness examinations
• Done at least 6–8 weeks before the onset of the breeding season, to allow time for
resolution of temporary problems or purchase of new animals if necessary.
• Scrotal circumference
– Width of the testicles at the widest point
– Increased scrotal circumference: increased ejaculate volume and sperm motility
– Good indication of a ram's breeding ability (Sperm production)
– Scrotal circumference varies with season & body condition, but should be at its
maximum peak during breeding season.
• Testes tone
– Oval and cool to the touch (heat may indicate a possible infection)
– Smooth, regular outline and a slightly turgid, resilient texture
– Testes should be firm.
– Soft texture of testes may be due to season, age, a congenital defect or
subsequent to injury or infection, Temporary heat stress, under-nutrition
• Lesions or abnormalities of the testes and epididymis
– Lesions of the epididymis are relatively common in rams
– Usually due to congenital abnormalities or bacterial infections
– There is no effective treatment
– Palpation of the head of the epididymis is particularly important in
homozygous polled bucks, because sperm granulomas, as a result of blind
efferent tubules, are strongly correlated with the homozygous polled condition.
• Penis and prepuce
– Examined while semen is being collected
– Penis and prepuce should not be adhered together.
– The skin of the prepuce should be thin and pliable, without inflammatory or
proliferative lesions.
– The penis should be free of hematomas, sores or cuts, or genetic problems such
as hipospadias (incompletely formed penis and sheath).
– Pizzle (the thin process at the end of the penis) should be examined to make
sure that no urinary stones are lodged there.
• Semen evaluation
– Lab tests: Semen volume, individual motility, mass motility etc.
– Elimination of a buck suspicious of subfertility should be based on at least two
examinations of ejaculates.
Other Considerations
• Prior to mating vaccination and deworming
• If stallfed: hoof trimming to be done before breeding
• Young males can be put in to experienced older ewes and older rams to younger ewes
will help in better mating.
• Proper performance and breeding record keeping
• Avoid inbreeding
– The sire & dam of the males & females to be verified so that they are not closely
related to each other.
– Normally in farmers flock the males should be replaced or exchanged once in
two years to avoid inbreeding.
Selecting breeding bucks and rams
• Conformation: buck/ram should be big, well-developed with
– Broad back
– Good length and depth of the body
– Good rib cage
– Muscular hind and forequarters
• Health condition:
– Disease free
– Animals with bad breath should not be selected as they may have problem in
teeth which may later reflect in their libido.
• Age:
– 1 to 2 years of age should be selected for breeding
– Central pair of permanent incisors signifies that the animal’s age is one year.
– If there will be two pairs of incisors, it signifies that animal’s age is two years.
• Buck/ram should not be kept for breeding for more than 3 years and replace the buck
before 3 years, so that inbreeding can be prevented.
• The maximum age limit for breeding buck/ram is 8 years approximately and it should
be culled thereafter.
Breeding management
• Purchase healthty, vaccinated and purebred anima;s
• Age of mating (1-1.5 years doe and 1.5-2 years buck)
• Mating ratio- Female: Male 20-25:1
• Season of mating (April-June, Oct-Nov)
• Avoid inbreeding
• Genetic slippage (GxE interaction) Genetic slippage- goat of another region may not
perform superiorly in spite of superior germplasm
MATING RATIO
• Ratio of male to female for mating
• In temperate zone: 1: 40-50.
• Extensive husbandry: chance of undernourishment, ratio is curtailed to 1: 25-30.
• In India the rams are usually turned out in the flock during mating season @ 2-3% of
the ewes all through day and night under optimum breeding conditions.
• Younger male: mating ratio to be reduced to 1: 30
• In oestrous synchronized ewes (progesterone inserts), mating ratios of ≤1:10 are
recommended
• When vasectomised rams have been introduced prior to mating, resulting in a degree
of synchronisation, fewer ewes per ram are recommended
Estrous Cycle
• Estrous cycle:
– In ewes- 17 days (range 14-19 days)
– In does- 19-21 days (range 17-24 days)
– 8-10% animals may have shorter cycle of 6-10 days
• These intervals may be 1-2 days shorter in young animals.
• Estrus/signs of estrus
• Estrus is the fertile period when the female allows the male to mate
• Estrous period lasts
– 24-36 hours in ewes
– 34-38 hours in does
• Ewes and does with multiple ovulations show longer heat than those with only one
ovum shed.
• Ovulation: 24-36 hours after onset of estrus
• Twinning rate: higher in matured than primipara
• Time between onset of estrus and ovulation decreases as the breeding season advances
• Length of estrus & no. of twin ovulation: highest by the middle of breeding season
• Generally ewes do not show visible signs of estrous if a ram is not present.
• When a ram is present, the ewe in heat will exhibit mating behaviour by rubbing
against the ram, circling him, sniffing his genitalia and wagging her tail.
• The signs of estrous are much more marked in the doe than in the ewe.
Estrus Signs
• Tail wagging
• Frequent bleating
• Mounting other animal
• Reddening (Rubefaction) & swelling (tumefaction) of vulva
• Discharge from vulva (clear at the beginning, gradually becomes translucent)
• Seeking male: Walks restlessly along the perimeter of her enclosure, searching for a
way to reach the buck, or remain close to the fence.
• Standing for mating (standing reflex)
• Push her back
• Generally young females don’t show aggressive estrous behaviour
• Males are attracted by smell, sight & sound and exhibit following behaviour
– Sniff the vulva
– Extending neck with Curling of upper lip
– Biting the side of the ewe/doe and wool pulling
– Paw the ewe – raising and lowering of one front leg in a stiff legged striking
motion
– Mount and mate
– Flehmen reflex (elevation of head and curling of the upper lip)
Identification of sheep and goat in heat
• Using an intact male
– However, there is a chance the buck or ram will mate the doe or ewe if is not
controlled properly.
• Use of intact male fitted with aprons
– An apron is tied on the abdomen of the male to cover the penis.
– The apron is made of a soft piece of cloth measuring 60x45 cm with strings on
four sides to tie
– The ram/buck are apronized & allowed into flock for identification of animals
in the morning and evening for about 15 to 20 minutes.
– The apron should be washed daily
– Disadvantages to the use of this method.
• Risk of fertile mating if the apron is not securely fastened
• Inflammation, irritation and infection of penis and prepuce area resulting
in inhibited sexual desire and mounting behaviour.
• Vasectomized ram
– Vasectomized rams prepared by doing surgical intervention.
– Then let in to the flock. The buck or ram follows the doe/ewe in estrous.
– Teaser ram/buck detects the females in heat, which are marked and separated
out for breeding with desired ram.
– Even in some cases, bucks are used for detection of estrous in ewes.
SYSTEMS OF MATING
• Natural mating
– Free mating
– Hand mating
– Pen mating
– Flock mating or pasture mating
• Artificial mating
– Artificial insemination
– Embryo transfer technology
Free Mating / Promiscuity
• Simplest form of random mating (Panmixia)
• A group of selected rams are made to run with the flock
• All ram have equal chance of covering
Hand mating
• Teaser ram or buck detects the ewes or does in heat, which are mated and separated
out for breeding with desired ram or buck.
• Females are allowed to mate one by one.
• A ram or buck may not be allowed to mate >3 ewes/ does a day.
• Advantage:
– Ensured the expected time of lambing.
– Allows the farmer to know that the animal has actually bred.
– Reduces the risk of injuries to animals
– Beneficial when mating older male with a younger female
– Improves breeding efficiency of the male, resulting in an increased number of
females that can be bred in a shorter period of time.
• Disadvantage:
– Time consuming
– Not economical
– Reduced genetic gain per ram/buck
Pen mating
• The ewes / does are divided into batches varying from 20-25 ewes/does.
• Males are turned into the flock only during the night time and separated during day
time.
• This gives enough rest for the male & they can be fed properly.
• This system of mating also prevents the disturbance ewes by the male during grazing
hours.
Flock / Pasture mating
• Normally practiced by the farmers.
• Males are allowed to run along with females throughout day & night.
• Demerits:
– Ram may lose its most of its body reserve in chasing the ewes and they may lose
their body condition.
– Ram or buck may develop attraction for particular ewe or doe in heat and serve
it several times while other remain unattended resulting in empty ewes/does
– Ram/buck may exhaust itself overnight by serving more than a dozen times
and the last served ewes or does not receive optimum no. of spermatozoa and
remain unconceived.
Artificial Insemination (AI)
• Best means of distributing germplasm from nucleus breeding flock to may small flocks
• Fresh as well as frozen semen is used.
• Speculum method of insemination
• Demerits:
– Generally lower reproductive rate than natural service and frozen semen gives
even much low pregnancy rate that is around 40%
• Cervical insemination for better conception rate.
• Advantages of AI
– To introduce genetic variability
– Reduced chance of disease transmission
– Reduced cost of maintaining buck
– Helpful in estrus synchronized flock
– More insemination per buck in a flock
– Semen from pedigreed buck
– Induction of desired germplasm
Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT)
• It may not become practical in production,
• It offers great promise in enhancing genetic progress.
• Embryos transferred to another ewe/doe
MANAGEMENTAL METHODS TO OPTIMIZE BREEDING
• Oestrous stimulation
– Stimulating and/or synchronizing breeding is to put vasectomized males with
females about 10-15 days prior to the beginning of breeding.
– Fence-line contact: Putting a ram/buck into an adjoining shed.
– As a result of this a large portion of the ewes will ovulate and conceive during
the early part of the breeding season.
• Oestrous synchronization
– Oestrous cycle is synchronized so that large no. of ewes/ does come in heat at
one time.
– Done by administering different hormones
– Advantage:
• Helps in reducing cost of AI or natural breeding and subsequent care at
lambing.
• Gives a uniform flock of lambs, which will facilitate their disposal and
fetch more prices.
• Used in breeding of sheep in spring.
• Ram effect
– Sudden introduction of ram in ewes flock after prolonged separation bring
more number of ewes into oestrous.
– Non-cycling (anestrus) ewes are stimulated to ovulate by the sudden
introduction of a ram or "teaser" ram.
– Pheromone produced by rams: the smell of which stimulates the onset of estrus.
– If ewes & rams are in constant contact (sight or smell), pheromones less effective
at inducing estrus.
– Rams should be isolated from ewes for at least 6 weeks for the ram effect (no
contact with rams by either sight, sound, or smell, which means that they must
be separated by distance).
– A method to estrus synchronization
– Ewes that are not cycling when a ram (or teaser) is introduced will ovulate in 3
to 4 days.
– This first ovulation will be a "silent" heat, which cannot be detected by the ram.
– There will be 2 normal estrus peaks, with some cycling around day 18 and the
remainder around day 25.
– Ewes that do not conceive at either of these times may return to heat in another
17 days.
– It is expected that 60-70% ewes will conceive at first normal estrus.
– Of the remaining ewes, 60-70% should conceive at 2nd estrus.
• Telescoping
– Introducing ram in the flock after keeping it away for 2-3 months.
– Sudden introduction of ram into the ewes flock will bring 70-80% of ewes in
heat in the first oestrous cycle.
HOUSING OF SHEEP AND GOATS
• Provision of simple shade with low cost housing materials is enough for sheep and
goat for its optimum production efficiency.
• In our country small ruminant production system itself is characterized by low in put-
low output system.
• Majority of the farmers are not affordable to go for a pucca house for their animals.
• Normally sheep do not require elaborate housing facility, but minimum provisions
require to increase productivity especially protection against inclement weather
conditions (sun, rain, winds).
• Optimal environmental conditions: Zone of thermonuetrality
– Air temperature of 13-270 C
– Relative humidity of 60-70 percent
– Wind velocity of 5-8 km/hour
– Medium level of solar radiation
• Sheds with mud floor are suitable for most of parts of the country except where high
rainfall is observed.
• The Big 3 Criteria
– Cheap design & construction
– Proper ventilation
– Drained flooring
• Types of shed
– It depends on the system of rearing.
– Open type housing with a covered area and run space is generally enough.
– The run space should be covered by chain links.
– The covered area is used for shelter of animals during night and adverse
climatic conditions.
• Orientation
– The structure with long axis north & south helps to dry up the urine and faeces
and to improve the sanitation.
– East-west orientation will provide a cooler environment than north–south
orientation.
– For a comfortable house east-west orientation with generous provision for
ventilation /air movement to dry the floor will be suitable one.
• Ventilation
– The efficiency of ventilation is greatly affected by the summer and winter
directions of the prevailing wind at any place.
– The air inlets should, therefore, be provided at the height of the goat breeds to
prevent the drought. An attempt to cover sheds from all sides to protect the
animals from low air temperatures may result in an increase of humidity up to
90% and ammonia concentration to 20 ppm.
– Good ventilation in the shed is very important in hot dry and warm humid
climate to promote heat loss from animals with increased convection and
radiation.
– In tropics, the long sides of the goat shed should not be provided with solid
wall above 1 m from the floor.
• Roofing materials and pattern
– In Indian conditions thatched roof is best suited one for its cheaper cost and
durability.
– However corrugated asbestos sheets can also be used for organized farms to
minimize the recurring costs and longer durability.
– Gable roofing is generally preferred. For small sheds lean to type roofing is
advisable.
• Floor of the shed
– Sheds with mud floor are suitable for most of parts of the country except where
high rainfall is observed.
• Height and shape of roof
– The height at centre in ‘A’ shaped roof is suggested to vary from 3 to 3.5 m. A
height of less than 3m interferes with proper ventilation resulting in reduced
convective heat loss from animals.
– In temperate & hot-humid climate, where more height does not provide any
additional benefit, a height of 3 m is sufficient.
– The heat loss through radiation from goats to cool sky is curtailed in low roof
sheds. ‘A’ shaped roof is better for hot climatic regions because one side of ‘A’
shaped roof saves the other half from direct solar radiation by casting its
shadow.
– This helps in cutting down heat gain from the roof of the shelter. Double roof
with both roofs of same or different materials are effective in reducing the
heat.But additional cost restricts its use.
Floor space
AGE GROUPS COVERED SPACE OPEN SPACE (Sq. m)

(Sq. m)
Up to 3 months 0.2-0.25 0.4-0.5
3 months to 6 months 0.5-0.75 1.0-1.5
6 months to 12 months 0.75-1.0 1.5-2.0
Adult animal 1.5 3.0
Male, Pregnant or lactating ewe/doe 1.5-2.0 3.0- 4.0
MIN. FLOOR SPACE REQUIREMENT PER ANIMAL (BIS STANDARD)
TYPE OF ANIMALS 2
MINIMUM FLOOR SPACE PER ANIMAL (m )
Ram or buck in groups 1.8
Ram or buck individual 3.2
Lamb or kids in group 0.4
Weaner in groups 0.8
Yearling or goatlings 0.9
Ewe or doe in groups 1.0
Ewe with lamb 1.5
Dimensions of the shelter
• There is no restriction for the length of the shelter
• Breadth of shed should not exceed 12 m and optimum breadth of shelter is 8 meter
• Height of eave should be 2.5 meter and height at ridge should be 3.5 meter.
• The height of chain link used for open space should be 4 feet.
• The length of the overhang should be 75cm – 1 meter.
Sheds
• The sheds of the following types are required for housing the animals,
• Flock shed
• Ram or buck shed
• Lamb or kid shed
• Lambing or kidding shed
• Sick shed
HOUSING FOR DAIRY GOATS
• The type of housing for goats may have the following units,
• Sheds
• Milk room.
• The following four types of sheds are required for housing goats exclusively kept for
milk production,
• Dairy goat shed
• Buck shed
• Kid shed
• Kidding shed
• Milk room.
Elevated floor shed
• At a height of 0.8-1.2 m from the ground ,
• The elevated sheds will be clean and urine and dung will be collected in the floor and
once in six months.
• This requires less labour and more irrigation land for the fodder production.
• Its initial investment is high

Care Management of Small Ruminant

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Care & Management of Small Ruminants

Characteristics Sheep Goat

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Breeding Soundness Examination

AGE GROUPS COVERED SPACE OPEN SPACE (Sq. m)

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