Sheep and goat development

Sheep and goat development

Sheep development activity was undertaken as early as the early 19th century by the East India Company, which imported exotic breeds for cross-breeding with the indigenous breeds. Subsequently, with the establishment of the Imperial (now Indian) Council of Agricultural Research, research and development programmes were taken up on a regional basis; they included selective breeding within the indigenous breeds and cross-breeding them with exotic fine-wool breeds, and covered almost all the important sheep-rearing States. Major emphasis was however placed on sheep development after the country attained independence and initiated its Five-Year Development Plans. During the Third Plan, a large number of sheep and wool extension centres were established, and a wool grading and marketing programme was initiated in Rajasthan., realising the importance of sheep in the agrarian economy, the central government established CSWRI and its regional stations, under an UNDP/GOI project, to undertake fundamental and applied research in sheep production and wool utilization and to provide post-graduate training in sheep and wool sciences. During the Fourth Plan, a large sheep-breeding farm was established in collaboration with the Australian Government, at Hissar, for pure-breeding Corriedale sheep. Corriedale stud rams are being distributed from this farm to a number of States for cross-breeding to improve wool and mutton production. Seven more such farms have been established in Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, to produce exotic pure-bred or cross-bred rams. During the Fifth Plan, a large number of breeding farms were planned to be established in the central and State sectors to produce genetically superior breeding stocks. It was also planned to reorganize and strengthen the existing sheep-breeding farms in the States as well as to expand and reorganize sheep and wool extension centres, and to set up scientific sheepshearing and wool-grading programmes. A number of sheep development programmes were undertaken under specialized programmes, such as DPAP, small-farmer (SF), marginal-farmer (MF) and agricultural labourer schemes. Setting up of wool boards in important woolproducing States was also foreseen.

The National Commission on Agriculture (NCA) reviewed the previous sheep and goat development activities and made recommendations on the approach as well as on organization with a view to implementation of various development programmes. In addition to genetic improvement, NCA laid emphasis on the provision of proper health protection, development of feed and fodder resources through silvi-pasture, and organization and extension activities for the transfer of improved sheep production technology to the farmers, and organizing the marketing of live animals and wool.

The breeding strategy is different for different regions of the country. In the north temperate and northwestern regions, it involves breeding for apparel wool through cross-breeding indigenous breeds with exotic fine-wool breeds. For the northwestern and central peninsular regions and Bihar, selection among better carpet-wool breeds and crossing extremely coarse and hairy indigenous breeds with exotic fine-wool and dual-purpose breeds to improve carpet-wool production and quality and mutton production has been recommended. For improving mutton production in the southern peninsular region, the strategy contemplates selection within better indigenous breeds such as Nellore and Mandya, and upgrading of inferior breeds with these two breeds.

So far, there has been very little systematic emphasis on goat development. Some State governments have been distributing bucks of superior indigenous breeds, mostly Jamnapari and Beetal, or stationing them in veterinary dispensaries for natural service. The Sixth Plan evvisages the establishment of large goat-breeding farms for the production of studs of important breeds as well as breeding bucks of exotic dairy breeds to be used for cross-breeding for improving milk production. There is some emphasis on improving pashmina production in the Ladakh area of Jammu & Kashmir, whose government has a pashmina goat farm for the production of studs.