The Journal of Research ANGRAU

RAJANNA et al
the present findings corroborated with Pattanayak et
al. (2003), Sushilkumar et al. (2003), Arora et al.
(2007) and Gopaldass (2007).
As far as duration and distance covered
Rajapandi, (2005) reported Coimbatore sheep
migrated a distance of 100 to 200 km and Kumaravelu
(2007) had described the duration (days) ranged
from 91 to 315 days in southern zone of Tamil Nadu
state.
Reason for migration
Majority (90.80%) of sheep farmers
perceived lack of grazing resources followed by
periodical drought (80.90%), traditional occupation
(77.78), fields filled with crops (74.65%), disease
problem (64.06%), lack of feeding resources
(61.81%), lack of water resources (30.73%) and
heavy rains (23.44%) as a basis of migration and
ranked them from I to VIII, respectively (Table 2) .
Farmers should be encouraged to take up Silvi
Pasture system, controlled grazing and culling of
unproductive animal as a remedial measure for the
above problems. These results are in conformity with
findings of Dorji et. al. (2003) and Saravanakumar et
al. (2003) who reported shortage of water and grazing
land and feeding resources, tradition, successive
drought, and disease outbreaks were the reasons of
migration.
Problems faced during migration
Problems faced by sheep farmers were
ranked in the order of attack of diseases (87.85%),
lack of shelter for animals (81.60%), theft (74.13%),
restriction of entry into other villages (71.18%), lack
of veterinary facilities (67.88%) predators (23.26%)
and abortions due to stress (13.72%) from I to VII,
respectively. During migration, the shepherds along
with sheep flocks spent most of the time in forests,
river belts and remote villages where the veterinary
facilities were not available in time and up to the
mark, leading to disease outbreaks. The sheep
farmers allowed animals for penning during night
times. Hence the sheep could not receive any
protection from adverse weather leading to disease
susceptibility. Lack of care during lambing and for
new born lambs during migration has lead to lamb
mortality because the lambs also move continuously
without any protection from heat resulting in heat
stress. These findings were corroborated with the
Kuldeepporwal et al. (2006) and Suresh et al. (2008).
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