Vol. 8, Special Issue 5 (2023)

Author(s): Dr. G Triveni and Dr. GRK Sharma

Abstract: The present investigation was conducted to study the production practices followed by the sheep farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Three districts i.e., Prakasam, Srikakulam and Anantapur representing three regions of Andhra Pradesh i.e., Coastal, North Coastal and Rayalaseema were selected for the study. From each district twenty respondents who possessed a minimum flock size of 50 were selected through simple random sampling technique. Results on production practices of sheep farmers revealed that cent percent of the farmers were following extensive system of rearing, the average grazing time calculated was 8.7 hrs /day and distance covered for grazing is 7.4 km/day. The feeding practices in the study area indicated that 36.67 per cent of the farmers practiced dry fodder feeding while only 13.33 percent provided concentrate feed and the type of feeding followed is group feeding. Majority (91.67%) of the respondents preferred to replace ewes and breeding rams (66.67%) from their own flock while 28.33 percent purchased breeding rams. It was observed that average feed cost per animal was Rs.82/-, health/treatment cost was Rs.100/-, labour cost was Rs. 1192/-, cost related to sheds, equipment, land lease was Rs.74/- and miscellaneous items was Rs.9/-. The average cost of production / animal is ₹ 14.57 /- calculated in terms of feed, labour and miscellaneous costs. The involvement of males and females in farm activities is upto 61.67 percent. The study indicated that the production practices followed by the sheep farmers ensured reasonable profits with low cost of production but exploited reasonable time and labour of the sheep farmers.