Phenotypic Characterization of Somali black head Sheep and their Management Practices in Salahley District, Somaliland

The study was conducted in Salahley district, Somaliland to characterize the Somali black head sheep and to assess their management practices. However, the indigenous sheep breeds in the district have not been characterized using physical or genetic methods. The study used 150 randomly sampled HHs based on household survey and field measurement of about 600 sheep for qualitative trait and body measurements of both sexes. Dentition was used to estimate the age of sheep. The data collected through questionnaire were described by descriptive statistics using SPSS version 20. Whereas, quantitative traits were analyzed using the GLM procedures of SAS. The primary rearing objectives of sheep were include: source of income (0.34), indicator of wealth (0.31), source of food (0.24), and to slaughter for cultural ceremonies (0.11). Natural pasture was the major feed resource for livestock in the wet (90.7%) and dry (72%) seasons across all study areas. The most common diseases in all villages were Sheep pox, Foot rot, PPR, and FMD. The preferred ewe selection criteria were fertility (0.31), body size (0.27), growth rate (0.25), and tolerance to drought (0.17); the case in rams included body size (0.32), fast growth (0.28), mating performance (0.22), and tolerance to drought (0.18). The main sheep production challenges were feed and water shortage (0.33), drought (0.31, and diseases (0.25). Regarding reproductive efficiency of sheep, mean age at first lambing was 18.19±0.16 months, lambing interval was 9.50±0.17 months, and the life time productivity of ewes was 6.86±0.14 to 7.38±0.19 lambs. Overall, the result of the qualitative characters are not significantly different between the most sampled sheep in study areas, this indicates the indigenous sheep were Somali black head Majority of the sheep for this study had patchy coat color pattern, wattle was absent in majority of the sheep; about (76.5%) had flat head profile, all (100%) had smooth hair type; fat rump, ears with downward orientation, and were polled observed in this study. Sex of animals had significant effect on body weight and most of the body measurements; overall body weight and body length of rams and ewes were estimated as 30.7±0.25 and 28.5± 0.14 kilograms and 72.2±0.20 and 69.7±0.15 centimeters respectively. The prediction regression equation by using chest girth as explanatory variable was BW = -31.44± 1.21 0.83± 0.020HG for females and BW = -40.51± 2.51 0.95± 0.02HG for males. The Ministry of Livestock and Rural Development, and development actors should work together to address feed and health problems.