The Effect of Husbandry and Management System on Sudan Desert Sheep Leather Production and Quality

This trail is aimed to demonstrate the effect of husbandry and management system on Sudan desert sheep performance and skin quality. For this purpose a questionnaire was designed and distributed randomly for 20 sheep breeders in each of the five chosen sheep breed area’s (Total of 100 ques.). The questionnaire include beside the personal data, twenty two (22) questions mainly about; system of feeding and application methods in each season, husbandry systems in each season , the main effective treatments on skins quality and common skin diseases and external parasites. The results revealed that, most of Sudan desert sheep owners or breeders were illiterate and most of them were herder 48.0%, while 37.5% were herder and farmer at the same time. All respondents confirmed that the open system depending on natural grazing was the main h usbandry and management system in all study target area. In autumn sheep depends totally on natural pasture grazing, while in winter sheep partly fed on natural grazing and the breeders complete it's feeding depending on the litter that remained from food crops after harvesting. Sudan desert sheep breeder in summer are using their stock of forage hay that collected either during the rainy season from good growing autumn pastures or from agricultural byproducts such as sorghum and sesame straw or groundnut r esiduals. The additional diets is varies by the variation of Sudan desert sheep locations. sometimes when forage are limited and for marketing purposes Sudan desert sheep breeders adding little amount or uncountable amount of sorghum grains, cotton seed ca kes, groundnut seed cake as finisher diet concentrate beside agricultural byproducts such as groundnut byproduct hay, sorghum byproduct hay and sesame byproduct hay for the herd that offered for sale or for fleshing or steaming up ewes during lambing seaso n. Branding is the most common and known damage in skins generally. Also some animal breeder's belief that by means of hot iron branding some animals may acquire immunity against certain diseases. The respondents attributed causes of mechanical damages of skins of animals on range land mainly to the domination of thorny bushes and grass with hairy and spiny seeds in pastures. External parasites and skin diseases cause most of skins damages and wastages in Sudan generally. Sheep pox spreads on sheep skins wi th high rates (88%). On the other hand, mange are resulting in (8%) of sheep skins infections. However, ticks infect most of sheep skins (80%), when Lice infection estimated at 20% of sheep skins.