Category Archives: Sheep

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Want to green the world’s deserts? Do the unthinkable: Put livestock back on them — Allan Savory

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Watch this new provocative 22-minute TedTalk by Allan Savory on ‘How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change’. Alan Savory, a Zimbabwean-born biologist/ecologist and rangelands specialist, gives environmentalists pause in a recent TedTalk, published 4 Mar 2013, on the ‘cancer’ of desertification of the world’s drylands, which make up some two-thirds of the … Continue reading »

Africa / Animal Breeding / Animal Production / Biodiversity / Books and chapters / Cattle / Countries / CRP37 / Goats / Guinea / ILRI / Livestock / Mali / Research / Sheep / West Africa

Management of globally significant endemic ruminant livestock in Guinea and Mali

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Although livestock play a central role in rural development in West Africa, traditional livestock systems are in general characterized by high mortality rates, low reproductive rates and low offtake rates. Furthermore, the presence of trypanosome-infected tsetse flies in the subhumid and humid areas seriously holds back the potential for livestock production. The region’s endemic ruminant … Continue reading »

Agriculture / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / Event report / ILRI / Livestock / Livestock-Water / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Crop-livestock farmers in Ethiopia’s Blue Nile Basin supported in climate adaptation

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Last week a project to ‘enhance communities’ adaptive capacity to climate-change-induced water scarcity in drought-prone hotspots of the Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia’ held a farmers’ field day at Kabe Watershed. More than 90 farmers, researchers, extension experts, staff of non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders met to share lessons on what farmers have practiced and benefited … Continue reading »

Article / Biotech / Cattle / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Goats / ILRI / PA / Pastoralism / PPR / Sheep / Vaccines

New Scientist’s Fred Pearce reports on ‘How African herders rid the planet of a disease’

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Tom Olaka, a community animal health worker in Karamajong, northern Uganda, was part of a vaccination campaign in remote areas of the Horn of Africa that drove the cattle plague rinderpest to extinction in 2010 (photo credit: Christine Jost). Fred Pearce writes in New Scientist about How African herders rid the planet of a disease, … Continue reading »

Article / Biotech / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Goats / ILRI / PA / Pastoralism / PPR / Sheep / Sudan / Uganda / Vaccines

ILRI’s Jeff Mariner speaks on what he learned from the eradication of rinderpest–and his new fight against ‘goat plague’

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ILRI veterinary epidemiologist Jeff Mariner presents his research at a meeting of the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) (photo credit: OIE). Lauren Everitt of AllAfrica interviewed Jeffrey Mariner, a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, about a current article he co-authored in Science (13 Sep 2012) on lessons learned in the eradication … Continue reading »

Camels / Cattle / Climate Change / CRP11 / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Goats / ILRI / Kenya / Markets / PA / Pastoralism / PLE / Project / Sheep / Somalia / Trade / Vulnerability

Foolhardy? Or just hardy? New project tackles climate change and livestock markets in the Horn

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If only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the tropical midday sun, what shall we say of Americans in Alabama and Kenya setting out to learn from, and support, sales of livestock in the hot and drying badlands extending across the Horn of Africa? This is what Peter Little, of Emory University, and Polly … Continue reading »

Animal Health / Biotech / Central Africa / Congo / Disease Control / Goats / ILRI / PA / Sheep / Small Ruminants

A livestock plague is killing Congo’s goats and sheep

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Goat and people share a road in Goma, DRC (photo on Flickr by Robert Guerra). Voice of America is reporting on a new livestock epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The highly contagious viral disease is known as ‘peste des petits ruminants’, or PPR for short, sometimes as ‘ovine rinderpest’, and more … Continue reading »

Africa / Animal Breeding / Animal Production / Biodiversity / Biotech / Cattle / Gambia / Goats / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / Project / Report / Research / Sheep / Small Ruminants / West Africa

The Gambia’s hardy native ruminant livestock surveyed in bid to improve their conservation and productivity

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Although livestock play a central role in rural development in West Africa, traditional livestock systems have high death rates, low reproductive rates and low offtake rates. Furthermore, the presence of trypanosome-infected tsetse flies in the sub-humid and humid areas hurts the potential for livestock production. The region’s endemic ruminant livestock, however, are highly adapted to … Continue reading »

Africa / Animal Production / CRP37 / East Africa / Ethiopia / Goats / Livestock / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Ethiopia gets sheep and goat production handbook

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In Ethiopia, sheep and goats have traditionally served as a means of ready cash and a reserve against economic and agricultural production hardship. However, the proximity of Ethiopia to large Middle Eastern markets demanding export quality sheep and goat carcasses and an increase in the domestic demand for small ruminant meat is leading to a … Continue reading »

Africa / Animal Diseases / Australia / BecA / Biotech / Biotechnology / Cattle / CBPP / Disease Control / Goats / ILRI / PA / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Vaccines

Australia steps up support for research in Africa to reduce the continent’s heavy livestock disease burden

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ILRI scientist Joerg Jores (right) tells German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited the ILRI-BecA labs in July 2011, about his livestock disease research (photo credit: ILRI/Njoroge). ‘Owning large livestock is like money in the bank for African farmers, but major diseases significantly threaten their future. ‘Among these are [peste des petits ruminants], a viral disease … Continue reading »