Developing Breeding Objectives for Tswana Sheep in Botswana

Abstract

Tswana sheep is a breed that is reared in the semi arid conditions of Botswana for meat production. The aim of the study was to identify the traits of economic importance, estimate their genetic parameters and to include these traits in a multiple trait selection index to improve its performance. The data consisted of purebred Tswana sheep recorded from 1989 to 2009 in Botswana Government breeding and research farms. A total of 23, 892 records on Tswana sheep were used to estimate genetic parameters for growth and survival traits. The growth traits analysed in this study were birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), yearling weight (YWT), ewe parturition weight (PWT) and ewe weight at weaning of its lamb (EWW). Two survival traits studied were survival from birth to weaning (S120) and survival from birth to yearling age (S365). ... This study has demonstrated the impact of genetic parameters on the Tswana sheep breeding program. Exploitation of these parameters and their inclusion in the breeding objective has shown an improvement in overall profitability in well organized breeding programs. This will improve the production efficiency of sheep flocks in Botswana.