Hi
You are interested in sheep farming,
The advantages of sheep farming are :
i)Sheep do not need expensive buildings to house them and on the other hand require less labour than other kinds of livestock.
ii)The foundation stock are relatively cheap and the flock can be multiplied rapidly.
iii)Sheep are economical converter of grass into meat and wool.
iv)Sheep will eat varied kinds of plants compared to other kind of livestock. This makes them excellent weed destroyer.
v)Unlike goats, sheep hardly damage any tree.
vi)The production of wool, meat and manure provides three different sources of income to the shepherd.
vii)The structure of their lips helps them to clean grains lost at harvest time and thus convert waste feed into profitable products.
viii)Mutton is one kind of meat towards, which there is no prejudice by any community in India and further development of superior breeds for mutton production will have a great scope in the developing economy of India.
nomic Viability - This would briefly include
(a)Unit Cost - The average cost of Sheep units for some of the States is given in Annexure VI.
(b)Input cost for feeds and fodders, veterinary aid, insurance, shearing etc.
(c)Output costs i.e. sale price of animals, wool, penning etc.
(d)Income-expenditure statement and annual gross surplus.
(e)Cash flow analysis.
(f)Repayment schedule i.e. repayment of principal loan amount and interest.
Other documents such as loan application forms, security aspects, margin money requirements etc. are also examined. A field visit to the scheme area is undertaken for conducting a techno-economic feasibility study for appraisal of the scheme.
Selection and purchase of Animal
i) It is necessary to select suitable improved breed of sheep available in particular area.
ii)Crossbred sheep are available for purchase from state Government / Government of India sheep breeding farms.
iii) Ewes can be purchased in regular sheep markets or from breeders in villages, while male sheep (rams) of exotic / crossbred from Government farms.
iv) A purchase committee, consisting of the borrower, the financing bank's representative and a veterinary assistant surgeon may be constituted or else cash payments could be done to borrower to select his own animals.
v) It is desirable to purchase healthy animals of 12-18 months of age.
vi) A certificate regarding age and health of sheep is obtained from the veterinary assistant surgeon.
vii)The animals purchased have to be identified by fixing ear tags.
viii) Sheep should be vaccinated for important diseases like sheep-fox and entero-toxaemia.
ix) The price of sheep depends on breed, age and health status.
x) An entrepreneur should have a unit of 20-30 ewes and one ram.
Regards
Ashwini
