Settled and nomadic breeding of Karya sheep

Abstract

Records of five settled and five nomadic sheep enterprises in Karya-2, a sub-project of the “National Ovine Breeding by Public” project carried out by the General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies of Denizli Province, Turkey, were examined in this study. In nomadic and settled enterprises, birth weights, 90-d live weights, 180-d live weights, 90-d daily live weight increase, and daily live weight increase up to 180 d were different. Birth types were different and the twin birth rates were higher in nomadic enterprises. The Karagoz type was more common. The proportion of male and female newborn lambs was similar. The nomadic breeders tended to separate the sheep in the herd more than the settled sheep; the number of animals devoted to breeding in the nomadic systems was found to be higher than in settled systems. The number of lambs per ewe decreased slightly over time from 2014–2018. Although the number of rams decreased, the number of breeding rams increased. There was no marked change in survival rate during the weaning period. There was an increase in live weight and fertility of Karya sheep from 2014–2018. The production averages of sheep in nomadic enterprises were more profitable and yields of measured parameters were higher than in the settled sheep enterprises.