The study was conducted to physically characterize indigenous sheep types in Selale area, Debre Libanos and Wuchale districts, Central Ethiopia. A total of 560 mature sheep were sampled randomly for characterization of phenotypic traits. Majority of the ewes and rams in both districts had plain coat color pattern (58.21%) followed by patchy (33.33%). Majority of female and male sheep in the study areas had medium and smooth coat cover. All the sampled sheep population in both districts has characteristics of long fat tailed type. Body weight of female sheep in age group1(0PPI), age group2(1PPI) and age group 3(≥ 2PPI) were 24.3 ± 0.6 kg, 25.8 ± 0.5 kg and 28.7 ± 0.2 kg, respectively, and the values for males in the same age groups were 25.7 ± 0.3 kg, 31.9 ± 0.8 kg and 38.2 ± 2.0 kg, respectively. Wuchale sheep (27.9 ± 0.20 kg) were comparable with Debre Libanos sheep (27.6 ± 0.2 kg). Debre Libanos sheep had significantly higher linear body measurements (P<0.05) than Wuchale sheep population. Sex of the sheep had no significant (p>0.05) effect on the body weight, ear length and rump length. The interaction of sex and age group significantly (p<0.05) influenced all linear body measurements except ear length of the sheep. The interaction of age group and location was significant (p<0.05) for all linear body measurements. Heart girth and body length were found to be the most important variables for estimation of body weight in sheep. For any breed improvement program and to boost productivity of indigenous sheep, characterization is the baseline so; this preliminary work could be used to support genetic analyses to determine variation between and within these small populations.

| A cross-sectional study was conducted in Kersa Woreda of the Oromia Regional State, Southwest Ethiopia, with the objective of characterizing the livestock production system and investigating the major livestock health problems in the studied area. A simple random sampling method was used to select 180 households for the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The survey results revealed that mixed crop-livestock production system is the predominant system in the area. In the studied area pasteurellosis, GIT parasitosis, fasciolosis, mastitis and calf diarrhea were the most important diseases in cattle while ovine pasteurellosis and GIT parasitosis were the most important in small ruminants. Colic and respiratory problems were considered important in equine while African Horse Sickness is the most important disease in horse. In poultry Newcastle disease was the most devastating disease. Modern veterinary medicaments (82.80%) were known and used by most of the farmers, but traditional medicines were also used to a significant extent (16.70%). The present survey established that livestock development in Kersa Woreda is constrained by several animal diseases and warrants different stakeholders to take necessary measure to help improve productivity and market success of local farmers.

Most tropical feed resources particularly crop residues and hay are mostly deficient in protein content. Thus, maximization of livestock productivity in the tropical regions largely depends on the efficiency of utilization of locally available protein sources. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of supplementation of dried tomato pomace, concentrate mix and their mixture on intake, apparent digestibility, and live weight of Hararghe highland sheep fed a basal diet of natural pasture hay. The study was conducted using 24 yearling intact Hararghe highland male sheep with mean initial body weight (BW) of 16.7±2 (Mean ± SD). The experiment consisted 90 days feeding and 7 days digestibility trials. The experimental sheep were blocked into 6 blocks of 4 animals based on their initial BW and randomly assigned to one of the four treatments within a block. Treatments were ad libitum feeding of hay alone (T1), hay supplemented with 359.61 g dried tomato pomace (DTP; T2), hay supplemented with 300 g concentrate mix (CM=33% Noug seed cake (NSC) +67% Wheat Bran (WB); T3), and hay with 1:1 ratio of DTP and CM (T4). The crude protein (CP) content of hay, DTP, NSC and WB used in this study were 9.1, 17.8, 29.6 and 17.2%, respectively. Apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM) was 63, 61, 70 and 67% and that of CP was 66, 74, 81 and 77% for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. Digestibility of DM was higher for T3 as compared to T1 and T2, while values for T4 were similar with T1 and T3. Digestibility of CP was highest for T3, lowest for T1 and intermediate for the other two treatments. Average daily gain (ADG) was lowest for T1 (30 g/day), and among the supplemented treatments values for T4 (65 g/day) was numerically higher than that for T3 (58 g/day) and T2 (57 g/day). Feed conversion efficiency also showed more or less a similar trend to ADG. Taken as a whole, the present finding evidenced that dried tomato pomace can replace concentrate mixture 100% as a supplement to sheep fed a basal diet of natural pasture hay.

Background: Knowing the status of major problems that constrain livestock development no doubt contributes to initiating projects that can help improve productivity and market success of Ethiopian farmers; aiming at contributing to reduction in poverty of the rural poor through market oriented agricultural development. The objective of this study is to characterize the livestock production system and investigating the major livestock health problems in the area.Methodology: Purposive sampling method was used to select 60 households from four peasant association (PA). A structured questionnaire was prepared and the heads of selected households were interviewed to collect data on production system characteristics and the importance of livestock health problems. Focus group discussion was also made with key respondents from each PA and the participants described the major husbandry problems in their area. Results:The results revealed that mixed crop-livestock production system is the predominant system and animals are kept in very limited grazing land. The livestock herd was dominated by poultry (36.4%), goat (19.51%), sheep (19.13%) and cattle (18.94%) while the cattle herd was dominated by cows (39.27%) and oxen (12.87%). The main roles of poultry in the area are for egg production (43.79%), sale (29.76%) and meat production (26.43%). The main role of cattle in the farming system is as a source of traction power (41.7%) for crop production while small ruminants as source of income (100%). Equines were used as pack and transport animals. The livestock feeding was mainly based on natural pasture (100%). In cattle; blackleg, mastitis, Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) and calf diarrhea were the most important diseases. Ectoparasite and GIT parasitosis were the most important diseases in small ruminants. Colic and respiratory problems were considered important in equine. In poultry, Newcastle disease was the most devastating disease. Most of the respondents complained that animal feed followed by water shortage is serious problem in the livestock sector. Modern veterinary medicaments (95%) were known and used by most of the farmers, but traditional medicines were also used to a considerable extent (5%).

This research was carried out to investigate key physicochemical parameters of milk samples collected from camel, cow and goat in Jigjiga district, Eastern Ethiopia. Sixty fresh milk samples were collected purposively from camels, cows and goats (twenty samples from each species) and analyzed. The results revealed that, cow milk had 6.30 ± 0.15 pH, 0.29 ± 0.04% titratable acidity, 14.6 ± 0.60% total solid, 0.75 ± 0.07% ash, 3.54 ± 0.12% protein, 5.54 ± 0.65% fat and 1.06 ± 0.03 specific gravity. Camel milk had 6.13 ± 0.11 pH, 0.36 ± 0.01% titratable acid, 13.65 ± 1.39% total solid, 0.73 ± 0.03% ash, 3.15 ± 0.15% protein, 3.93 ± 0.15% fat, and 1.03 ± 0.00 specific gravity. Results for goat milk was also recorded as 6.38 ± 0.08 pH, 0.33 ± 0.03% titratable acidity, 14.25 ± 1.16% total solid, 0.73 ± 0.07% ash, 4.62 ± 0.56% protein, 6.79 ± 0.38% fat and 1.04 ± 0.00 specific gravity. It can be concluded that goat milk had higher protein and fat content than cow and camel milk.