Sheep

Sheep there are 3.607 million indigenous sheep in Bangladesh and these animals rank third among ruminant species, and are reared solely for meat consumption. Native sheep are very efficient users of low-quality roughages, well adapted to hot-humid agro-climatic conditions, capable of bi-annual lambing with multiple births, and tolerant to various common diseases prevalent in Bangladesh. There are three types of indigenous sheep in Bangladesh, namely Jamuna Basin, Barind, and Coastal belt sheep. In addition to this, one Indian breed Mujaffarbadi/Nagpuri (Wrongly called Garole sheep), is also available in Bangladesh.

The characteristics of Jamuna basin sheep are small in body size, length, and height are, 49.94 and 50.63 cm, and the average birth weight is1.45 kg (male-18-25 kg, female-15-22 kg). It is widely distributed in Tangail, Sirajgang, Gaibandha, Sherpur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, and Dhaka, especially in the Jamuna river basin. It has creamy white wool all over the body except the head and belly. It gives birth to 1 - 4 lambs per lambing (litter size-1.86).

Barind sheep are comparatively larger (body length and height are 55.30 and 53.65 cm, average birth weight is 1.53 kg, male-22-30 kg, and Female-15-25 kg) than the Jamuna basin, which is found in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Natore, and Naogaon district. Its coat color is white, grey, and mixed with white and grey. Ear size is smaller (7.21cm) than Jamuna basin sheep (9.15 cm). Females give birth to 1-3 lambs per lambing (litter size-1.40).

Coastal sheep are larger (body length and height are 57.27 and 55.33 cm, average birth weight is 1.75 kg, male-25-32 kg, female- 18-26 kg) than Jamuna basin and Barind, which are found in Patuakhali, Vola, Hatia, Noakhali, Chattogram, and Laxmipur district. Females give birth to 1-2 lambs per lambing (litter size-1.17). Their coat color is white and light brown to deep brown, and their ears are larger (12.05 cm) than Barind and Jamuna basin sheep. [Abul Hashem]