PERFORMANCE OF GROWING AND FATTENING YANKASA RAMS FED DIFFERENT PROPORTIONS OF UREA TREATED RICE STRAW AND GAMBA HAY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Sheep are important part of the global agricultural economy and they play a major role in many local economies (Weaver, 2005). Njidda and Kibon (2004) stated that sheep are multipurpose animals, but they are primarily kept for the production of meat (mutton), and they account for about 11% of the total meat supply in Nigeria. The authors further stated that the inclusion of animals slaughtered in the rural areas outside the slaughter houses would have made this figure higher. Afolayan (1996) reported that Yankasa sheep is very popular among sheep farmers, most especially in northern Nigeria. Their high productivity in terms of growth performance and prolificacy are paramount to the farmer (Akpa et al., 2006). Inadequate and poor quality of feed, especially during the long dry season is one of the major factors militating against livestock production in Nigeria.

The seasonality of feed supply in northern Nigeria has affected animal production adversely (FDLPCS, 1992). According to Rumirez-Orduna et al. (2005), due to high cost, most smallholder livestock farmers cannot afford to supplement the diet of their animals with expensive feed

ingredients. Production of livestock and their productivity are far below the population’s requirement for animal protein. This under-production and low productivity are attributed mainly to inadequate year-round availability of feed and water, coupled with poor management (Abbey et al., 2001). In the Savannah zone of Nigeria the basal diets of most ruminants in the dry season is based on crop residues and dry standing grasses, and most of these feed resources are imbalanced in nutritional value and vary from year to year (Zemmelink, 1999).