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Forty-six Dorper, 46 Katahdin, and 43 St. Croix female sheep from four regions of the USA were used to evaluate responses to high heat load index (HLI) conditions. There were sequential 2-wk periods with target HLI during day/nighttime of 70/70 (thermoneutral zone conditions), 85/70, 90/77, and 95/81. Rectal temperature (RT) and respiration rate (RR) were measured at 07:00 (before daytime), 13:00, and 17:00 h (preceding nighttime). Region had few and minor effects. Intake of DM (g/day) was not influenced by period. Rectal temperature was considerably less for St. Croix than for Dorper and Katahdin at each time, with differences increasing as period advanced. Similarly, RR in periods 2, 3, and 4 was least for St. Croix, particularly at 07:00 h in period 4. Moreover, RT was slightly less for Katahdin vs. Dorper in period 4 at 13:00 and 17:00 however, RR was less for Katahdin than for Dorper in periods 3 and 4. Variance in RT in periods 3 and 4 ranked St. Croix < Dorper < Katahdin. In conclusion, based on RT and RR, resilience to high HLI conditions ranked St. Croix > Katahdin > Dorper, with lowest variability among individuals for St. Croix and greatest for Katahdin.

A study was carried out to understand the needs and perception of goat keepers in selected areas of Ethiopia in order to identify the breeding objectives, traits of preference, and production constraints that may be required in designing improvement programs. The study was conducted in three districts (Bati, Meta, and Kebri-Beyah) representing the lowland crop-livestock (LLCL), highland cereal-livestock (HLCL), and pastoral/agropastoral (P/AP) systems, respectively. The study targeted the three goat types (Bati, Hararghe Highland, and Short-eared Somali) found in Ethiopia. Households in all systems considered meat production, milk production, and income generation as major purpose of keeping goats. However, those in the low rainfall and arid environments of P/AP systems gave high ranking to adaptability to harsh environments and also to building social and religious values. In LLCL and HLCL systems, goat skin and manure were more valued than in P/AP systems. Principally, in P/AP systems, the awareness of households to skin utilization and marketing was very low. Despite diverse multiple breeding objectives identified, household breeding practices were affected by constraints related to disease prevalence, feed shortage and water scarcity, and lack of awareness on skin management, utilization, and marketing. Thus, designing and implementing of sustainable goat improvement programs is an overriding priority and should take into account the breeding objectives and knowledge of goat keepers in all production systems. Along with the breed improvement, a strategy should also be devised to enhance the utilization and marketing of goat skin at all levels of production.