Oromia Agricultural Research Institute
Sinana Agricultural Research Center
Highlight of small ruminant production
system in Bale, Southeastern Ethiopia
Dawit Abate
Africa-RISING Quick Feed Project Inception Workshop, Addis Ababa, 7-8 May 2012

General features of Bale
14.93% Highland
• It is x/ized by wide
variety of geomorphic
landscape Laga Hidha
• Has 8 major agro- Gololcha
Gassara
ecological zones and 11 Agarfa Sawweyna
Gindhir
sub- ecologies. Dinsho -Dinsho
Sinana Sinana
Go
Goro
Gobba ro
Rayitu
• The land area coverage Barbare
Dawe
is roughly 67,330 sq.km Harana Gurra kachen
Mana Angetu
buluk Mana
-
dhamole 63.53% lowland
• Bimodal rainfall, ranging Dawe
serer
from 600mm in the
lowlands to 2300 in the Madda Walabu
highlands
• Average T0. ranges from 21.5% Midland
00C in the frost to 300C
in the lowlands

General features of Bale …
• The highland agro-ecologies are characterized by mixed
crop/ livestock farming system
• Where as agro-pastoralism is the main production systems
and livestock play a great role in the low land
• More than 95% of the population is depending on
agriculture and 88% live in rural area(BZPEDO, 1999)

Problem identification and Technology generation
prioritization and/or adaptation
Research at Sinana focus on
o Crop improvement Feed
o Natural resource and back
o Livestock (mainly on feed
resource improvement)
Impact assessment and Technology dissemination
feedback

Animal Feed and Range management research team
General Objective
• To improve the quantity and quality of feed resources in Bale
The team has being conducting research activities on:-
• Forage Breeding/adaptation studies
• Evaluation of forage crop germplasm
• Adaptation studies
• Breeder seed maintenance and multiplication
• Forage Agronomy
• Integrated forage and food crop production techniques/systems,
• Forage seed production techniques.
• Production system studies
• Feed resource assessment
• Livestock production (Dairy, small ruminants)
• Feed technology demonstration and popularization

Table. Adapted forage spp. for the highland of Bale
Yield/season
Species (Dry matter t/ha) Annual yield t/ha
Belg Meher DM
Perennial Grasses
Phalaris aquatica 4.5 3.6 8.1
Rhodes grass 2.7 4.2 6.9
Panicum coloratum 2.5 3.4 5.9
Elephant Grass Varieties
ILCA 14984 10.8 1.8 12.6
ILCA 14983 12.5 1.3 13.8
Variety "X" (Holetta local) 13.4 1.6 15.
Herbaceous Legumes
Melilotus spp. 4.9 5.6 10.5
Alfalfa (Hunter river) 1.3 2.6 3.9
Vicia spp (Fresh t/ha) 120 60 180
Fodder Crops (Oats)
Oats- CI-8251 59 30 89
Oats - CI-8235 54 27 81
Oats - CI-8237 50 27 77
Grey Algiers 50 27 77
Jassari 39 23 62

Forage crops demonstration at on-station and on-farm sites

Small ruminant production in Bale
Small Ruminant Population and Distribution
• Bale has a huge resource of small ruminants
Table. Livestock Population in Bale zone
LS type Agro-pastoralist Highlands Total
Cattle 1,021,156 1,273,446 2,294,602
Sheep 164,811 328,179 492,990
Goats 649,823 446,421 1,096,244
Equine 97,207 289,311 386,518
Camel 172,840 6,339 179,179
Source: (BZPEDO, 2004)

Small Ruminant Population and Distribution…
• The existing sheep and goats breed are mainly Arsi-Bale
breed
• They have found in all agro-ecologies of the zone b/c they
are easily integrated in to the d/t farming system
• However, sheep production fits more in cereal production
areas since they are grazer where as goats mainly keep in
area of bushes and shrubs dominates
• At very high altitudes of the areas, crop production is
limited due to frost severity and hence small ruminant
especially sheep production is predominant

Socio economic Importance
• SR are playing an important role in livelihood of resource
poor farmers.
• They provide:
• range of products (meat, milk, skin, manure)
• used as source of income
• security, gifts, religious rituals etc.
• Generally, the contribution of small ruminant to food
security and food self-sufficiency to the local community is
highly significant.

Management of small Ruminants
• The existing small ruminants are entirely indigenous breeds
with traditional management practices
• They have high production efficiency, due to their short
generation length and high reproductive rates.
• They appear to withstand drought better than cattle.
• Most of the farmers confine their small ruminants in a
room, which is part of the main family house.

Feed resources and feeding practices
• Natural pasture, crop residue, stubble and fallow land are
the major feed resources
• Browse tree and shrubs also serve as good sources of feed
for small ruminants especially in the lowlands
• Grazing is done around homestead, on fallow land,
community land, roadside and marginal land.
• Grazing lands are largely owned communally and their
productivity is very low mainly due to overgrazing.

Feed resources and feeding practices
• Supplementary feeding of concentrates and utilization of
improve forage crops are not as such practiced.
• Generally, farmers have great interest to grow forage crops.
• However, lack of forage seed and poor extension services
have limited the utilization of improved forage crops.

Table 5. Feed resource and feeding calendar in highlands of Bale
Feed type Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Feed shortage
Free grazing
Crop residue
Crop aftermath
Fallow grazing
Grass land open
Grassland closed
Source: survey data

Health and Disease
• Diseases and parasites infections are the major constraints that
contribute to the low productivity of small ruminants
• The damage of animal is high during rainy seasons and feed
shortage periods
• Foot-rot, pneumonia and ticks were the major disease of the small
ruminants especially in the highlands.
• Apart from these frequent diseases, sudden out breaks of various
diseases were also reported.
• Mortality was reported to be high in the pre-weaning period
especially after 1-2 months of birth.
• Generally, the small ruminant health related issues have not yet
fully studied in the zone.

Marketing
• Small ruminants are usually sold to meet family needs
– to buy food grains
– clothing,
– house hold miscellaneous petty expenses,
– agricultural in puts (fertilizer, herbicides, improved seeds,
– credit repayments
• Seasonal shortage of rainfall through its impact on feed availability
and crop failure forces higher supply of small ruminants to market.
• The price fluctuates with the on set of drought, season (holidays),
credit repayment time etc.
• The market infrastructures such as roads are very poor. Farmers
usually sell their animals to the local traders
• Poor marketing chain is among the major problems related to small
ruminants marketing system.

Major constraints
• Shortage of adequate quantity and quality of feed
resources
• Low productivity of grazing land due to population pressures,
over grazing, recurrent drought, bush encroachment and
expansion of cultivation
• The problem was critical in dry seasons.
• The incidence of disease and parasites
• Low genetic potential for some traits
• Shortage of adequate and quality water

Major constraints…
• Traditional management systems (poor housing, breed
selection)
• Poor access to the market
• The marketing systems for livestock and their products is
also not encouraging for agro-pastoralist far from market
centers.
• Poor infrastructure development such as roads.
• Lack of livestock research and poor extension services
• There is no/little intervention works done so far on the
improvement of production and productivity of local
breeds.

Suggested Interventions
• Further work is required in introduction, on-farm
evaluation and popularization of the demand driven and
adaptive technologies for the livestock keeper of farming
communities
• Identifying constraints in small ruminant production
system, marketing chains and developing short and
important marketing value chains that benefits producers
is also crucial.