The seasonal occurrence of coccidial oocysts was determined in a mixed herd of indigenous goats and cross-bred sheep at Nebo, Northern Province, South Africa. The herd of c. 30 sheep was housed with c. 70 goats in 1 camp. Over a period of 14 months, 114 faecal specimens were collected from sheep and 369 from goats and the number of oocysts per gram of faeces (OPG) determined. The mean OPG value...

With climate change bound to affect food and feed production, emphasis will shift resilient adapted indigenous livestock sustain animal production. However, comprise several varieties, strains ecotypes whose genomes are poorly characterized. Here, we investigated genomic variation in an African thin-tailed Desert Sheep sampled Sudan, using 600K genotype data generated from 92 individuals repres...

Sheep breeds show a broad spectrum of different horn phenotypes. In most modern production breeds, sheep are polled (absence of horns), whereas horns occur mainly in indigenous breeds. Previous studies mapped the responsible locus to the region of the RXFP2 gene on ovine chromosome 10. A 4-kb region of the 30-end of RXFP2 was amplified in horned and polled animals from seven Swiss sheep breeds....

Sheep breeds show a broad spectrum of different horn phenotypes. In most modern production breeds, sheep are polled (absence of horns), whereas horns occur mainly in indigenous breeds. Previous studies mapped the responsible locus to the region of the RXFP2 gene on ovine chromosome 10. A 4-kb region of the 3'-end of RXFP2 was amplified in horned and polled animals from seven Swiss sheep breeds....

Crossbreeding between indigenous and exotic sheep breeds is the fastest method of increasing the performance of sheep in the tropics. The aim of this work was to assess the performance of Cameroon sheep (C) and their crossbreds (Cameroon x Mutton, F1) and (F2 from Cameroon x Milk sheep) under different housing and feeding conditions. The following traits were analysed: Pre-weaning performance d...

The history and epizootiology of bluetongue (BT) in India are reviewed. BT has become endemic in India. The first outbreak of BT in sheep and goats in the country was recorded in 1964 in Maharashtra State. Since then, several outbreaks of BT have been reported in sheep. Exotic sheep are more susceptible than indigenous and cross-bred sheep. A serological survey has indicated the presence of blu...

This study configures a first report regarding the variability of meat quality of locally adapted Pantaneiro sheep depending on different physiological stages and breeding systems. Pantaneiro sheep are raised in Brazil under a tropical wetland ecosystem denominated Pantanal. Twenty-nine Pantaneiro sheep from different sex and physiological stages were sorted into three groups, simulating three ...

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a severe, usually fatal, acute systemic disease syndrome of certain domestic and wild ruminants caused by members of the family Gammaherpesvirinae. Two distinct but closely related viruses cause clinically indistinguishable syndromes: one that is indigenous to the widebeest and the other that apparently is indigenous to domestic sheep. Neither the pathogenesis...