Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723
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Fokus on sheep flocks management in Sulaimani (Iraq)
GORAN MOHAMMAD KARIM 1 ,
ABDULRAZZAQ ABDULHAMEED ABDULLAH AL-RAWI 2
1 Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq.
E-mail: goranmohamad@yahoo.com
2 Animal Resources Department, University of Salahaddin, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq.
E-mail: iraqppa@yahoo.com
Abstract
Sheep in Kurdistan, Iraq provide sustainable organic commodities. To provide reliable information
on sheep production in Sulaimani province, Kurdistan, Iraq, field survey was conducted during
June until September, 2010. A total of 27 random villages, included 56 sheep flocks with a total of
9241 sheep heads under sedentary natural grazing production system were investigated. The most
interested findings obtained were:
Sheep productivity is fairly good in high rainfall than in low rainfall zone. Composition of breeds of
sheep was 43 % Karadi and 57 % mixed or hybrid (Crossbred of Karadi, Turkish Awassi, Arabi
and Irani). Overall mean of daily milk yield, lactation period and weaning age were 0.783
kg/ewe/day, 5.5 months and 5 months, respectively. Overall mean of accelerated lambing, ewe fertility,
litter size, lambing rate, twining rate, weaning rate and mortality rate, were 28.3 %, 89.3 %,
1.1, 97.9 %, 8.2 %, 91.5 % and 8.5 %, respectively. Basically 98.2 % of the owners selected their
breeding rams within their flocks and this may cause inbreeding and consequently depress performance.
Goats, poultry, cows, horses and donkeys are usually reared with sheep in the same farm.
Farmer’s priority is production of lambs.Criteria used to select yearling ewes and rams were body
conformation and dam's performance. On the other hand, culling reasons were advanced age and
infertility.
It is concluded that sheep flocks had low productive and reproductive performance. The main constraint
affecting sheep development was shortage of feed and pasture. Therefore, strategic project
for the development of pasture and sheep industry in Sulaimani province is vital for the people.
Key words: sheep, natural grazing, production system
Introduction
Sulaimani is an Iraqi province with an area of 11798 sq. km. It is situated in east of Kurdistan region
in the northeast of Iraq and lies between latitude 35-37 ο north and longitude 44-47 ο east. The
climate of Sulaimani is characterized by extreme conditions with large temperature difference between
day and night and between winter and summer. Rainfall ranges from below 600 to more than
1200 mm. Livestock sector has an important role in the province economy. Among domestic animals;
sheep plays a significant role in economy. Sheep production is neglected and marginalized
sector and largely absent from most of the strategic agricultural plans. ACDI/VOCA (2007) reported
that there was a decline of 10 percent in sheep numbers from 2001 to 2005 in Sulaimani.
Nevertheless, there are good reasons to consider sheep production as highly strategic and a strong
candidate to provide profitable and sustainable vital commodities. As it is well known that sheep
provides highly nutritious foods rich in animal protein, minerals and vitamins in the form of meat
and milk. Although native breeds (Awassi, Arabi, Karadi and Hamdani) characterized by slow
growth, low fertility and low milk production, they are highly tolerant to extreme climate and diseases
(Al-Rawi et al. 1997). They are fat-tailed animals with an excessively large tail.