Assessment of the Reproductive Performance of a Flock of Djallonke Sheep Bred in a Humid Forest Environment

Abstract

The reproductive performance of a flock of Djallonke sheep reared in a hunted forest environment is reported. Parameters considered in the study included postpartum anestrous interval (PPA). lambing interval ILO. conception weight. body condition score at lambing. lambing weight. litter weight at birth and litter weights at 2 and 3 months of age and litter weight gains at 2 and 3 months of age. The correlation matrix of quantitative variables showed that LI and PPAI were highly correlated (r=0.9-1). Lambing interval and PPAI were not. however significantly related to any of the other quantitative variables. The parameters measured for the lambs tinter weight at birth and weights at 3 and 3 months of age and weight gains at 2 and 3 months', of age, were highly inter-related. The weight of the ewes at conception was also strongly correlated with their weight at lambing (r=0.93).

Analysis of variance carried out on PPAI and LI separately using month. season and parity as categorical variables failed to show dun PPAI and LI were affected significantly by any of the variables 11,> frosi However. it was shown that LI sus significantly shorter in ewes lambing in September-October compared to those which lambed in November-March (17<0.05) and July-August (P<0.0IL The relatively poor performance of ewes lambing during the November-March period may be due to inadequate feed resources OS the period is dry. Shorter grazing periods and high worm loads during the rainy season may explain the poor performance recorded at the end of the major rainy season (July-Augusts. The ewes had a mean (xS.E.1 prolificacy of 1.320104. The mean ($.E.) annual reproductive rate dambslyeart was I.9*0.1 while the mean body condition score was 1. The lamb mortality rate at 3 months of age was 17%. It was concluded that the Djallonkil sheep could be a real (met to the resource-poor farmers in Ghana due to their high reproductive ability even when Meir body condition was poor