Characterization of local sheep production system and morphology in Liberia

Abstract

In this study, we characterized the production system and morphology of local sheep in Liberia. We gathered husbandry information from 514 male and 190 female sheep farmers across all three agroecological zones of Liberia. We also described the basic morphological attributes of 709 female and 189 male sheep. The main motivation for raising sheep is income (81%) and meat production (14%), with cost and availability of feed (45%), housing (26%), diseases (18%), and cost of veterinary medicines (7%) being the main challenges. The predominant sheep breed in Liberia is the Djallonke (82%). Coat colour pattern of sampled sheep was plain/solid/uniform (61%) or patchy/pied (28%) with a few being spotted (11%). The sheep had mostly straight facial (79%) profile, were horned (74%) with straight horns (92%) which were either oblique (48%) or lateral (35%). The sheep had mainly erect ear orientation (60%) and cylindrical straight tails (83%). The high prevalence of crossbred sheep and the popularity of exotic breeds call for the need to conserve the Djallonke breed and/or to implement within breed selection. Community-based breeding programmes and formation of farmer associations should be encouraged by stakeholders to facilitate improvements of their animals. This should help reduce the challenges affecting sheep farmers and encourage especially the youth to go into sheep farming. RÉSUMÉ Dans cette étude, nous avons caractérisé le système de production et la morphologie des moutons locaux au Libéria. Nous avons recueilli des informations sur l'élevage de 514 moutons mâles et 190 femelles dans les trois zones agroécologiques du Libéria. Nous avons également décrit les attributs morphologiques de base de 709 moutons femelles et de 189 moutons mâles. La principale motivation pour élever des moutons est le revenu (81 %) et la production de viande (14 %), le coût et la disponibilité des aliments pour animaux (45 %), le logement (26 %), les maladies (18 %) et le coût des médicaments vétérinaires (7 %) étant les principaux problèmes. La race ovine prédominante au Libéria est le Djallonke (82%). La couleur de la robe des moutons échantillonnés était unie/solide/uniforme (61 %) ou inégale/pied (28 %), quelques-uns ayant été repérés (11 %). Les moutons avaient surtout un profil facial droit (79 %), étaient cornus (74 %) avec des cornes droites (92 %) qui étaient obliques (48 %) ou latérales (35 %). Les moutons avaient principalement l'orientation de l'oreille dressée (60%) et les queues droites cylindriques (83%). La forte 944 A. B. KARNUAH et al.

Full text

African Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 3 (4): October-December 2018, pp. 943-954. ISSN 2415-2838
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons license, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Characterizaon of local sheep producon system and morphology in Liberia
A. B. KARNUAH
1*
, R. OSEI-AMPONSAH
2
, G. DUNGA
3
, A. WENNAH
3
, W. T. WILES
3
and P.
BOETTCHER
4
1
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, One UN Building, Pan African Plaza,
1st Street, Sinkor, Monrovia, Liberia
2
Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, P.O.
Box, LG 226, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
3
Department of Livestock and Fishery, Central Agricultural Research Institute, Suakoko, Bong County,
Liberia
4
Animal Genetic Resources Branch, Animal Production and Health Division, Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) of the United Nation
Corresponding author: akarnuah9@gmail.com
Received: 14 June 2018
Accepted: 29 September 2018
Published: 31 December 2018
Cite as
: Karnuah, A. B., Osei-Amponsah, R., Dunga, G., Wennah,
A., Wiles,W.T. and Boettcher, P. 2018. Characterization of local sheep
production system and morphology in Liberia.
African Journal of
Rural Development
3 (4): 943-954.
ABSTRACT
In this study, we characterized the production system and morphology of local sheep in
Liberia. We gathered husbandry information from 514 male and 190 female sheep farmers
across all three agroecological zones of Liberia. We also described the basic morphological
attributes of 709 female and 189 male sheep. The main motivation for raising sheep is
income (81%) and meat production (14%), with cost and availability of feed (45%), housing
(26%), diseases (18%), and cost of veterinary medicines (7%) being the main challenges.
The predominant sheep breed in Liberia is the Djallonke (82%). Coat colour pattern of
sampled sheep was plain/solid/uniform (61%) or patchy/pied (28%) with a few being
spotted (11%). The sheep had mostly straight facial (79%) prole, were horned (74%) with
straight horns (92%) which were either oblique (48%) or lateral (35%). The sheep had
mainly erect ear orientation (60%) and cylindrical straight tails (83%). The high prevalence
of crossbred sheep and the popularity of exotic breeds call for the need to conserve the
Djallonke breed and/or to implement within breed selection. Community-based breeding
programmes and formation of farmer associations should be encouraged by stakeholders to
facilitate improvements of their animals. This should help reduce the challenges aecting
sheep farmers and encourage especially the youth to go into sheep farming.
Key words: Conservation, disease, Djallonke sheep, feed, housing, Liberia
RÉSUMÉ
Dans cette étude, nous avons caractérisé le système de production et la morphologie des
moutons locaux au Libéria. Nous avons recueilli des informations sur l’élevage de 514
moutons mâles et 190 femelles dans les trois zones agroécologiques du Libéria. Nous avons
également décrit les attributs morphologiques de base de 709 moutons femelles et de 189
moutons mâles. La principale motivation pour élever des moutons est le revenu (81 %) et
la production de viande (14 %), le coût et la disponibilité des aliments pour animaux (45
%), le logement (26 %), les maladies (18 %) et le coût des médicaments vétérinaires (7 %)
étant les principaux problèmes. La race ovine prédominante au Libéria est le Djallonke
(82%). La couleur de la robe des moutons échantillonnés était unie/solide/uniforme (61
%) ou inégale/pied (28 %), quelques-uns ayant été repérés (11 %). Les moutons avaient
surtout un prol facial droit (79 %), étaient cornus (74 %) avec des cornes droites (92
%) qui étaient obliques (48 %) ou latérales (35 %). Les moutons avaient principalement
l’orientation de l’oreille dressée (60%) et les queues droites cylindriques (83%). La forte

944
A. B. KARNUAH
et al.
prévalence des moutons croisés et la popularité des races exotiques appellent à la nécessité
de conserver la race Djallonke et / ou à mettre en œuvre dans la sélection de la race. Les
programmes communautaires et la formation d’associations d’agriculteurs devraient être
encouragés par les parties prenantes an de faciliter l’amélioration de leurs animaux. Cela
devrait contribuer à réduire les dés qui touchent les éleveurs de moutons et encourager en
particulier les jeunes à se lancer dans l’élevage de moutons.
Mots clés : Conservation, maladie, mouton de Djallonke, fourrage, logement, Libéria
INTRODUCTION
The need to increase livestock production to
feed an ever-increasing human population
is now more urgent than ever (FAO, 2018).
Expected negative eects of climate change on
livestock production justify the need to conserve
and sustainably use available local animal
genetic resources (AnGR) which are relatively
more adaptive (AUIBAR, 2018) and resilient
to the eects of environmental challenges.
Conservation and sustainable utilization of local
AnGR however requires information on their
morphology and production system (FAO, 2012;
Osei-Amponsah et al., 2017). Morphological
characteristics relating to production and
reproduction provide useful baseline information
on the normal morphological aspects important
in the production of the breed (https://
doi.org/10.1007/s11250-001-985-x).The
characterisation of small ruminant populations
in developing countries will play a major role
in their maintenance for future improvement in
livestock production (Birteeb et al., 2013).
The state of animal genetic resources in Liberia
within the context of agricultural production
and their importance to socio-economic
development was described by Karnuah et al.
(2018a). Although mutton is a popular livestock
product in Liberia, sheep production has been
on the decline in recent decades. In the 1990s
goat and sheep production were at par with
each other in Liberia, but by 2011, the country
had lost close to 50% of its sheep population
(MOA, 2015). The drastic decline was due to
the eect of 14 years of civil war where most
animals were killed and eaten by ghters.
Moreover, restocking eorts have not targeted
sheep as has been done for goats by various
stakeholders (FED, 2012; Land O’ Lakes, 2013).
Therefore the population of sheep is yet to be
at par with that of goats as during the pre-war.
Unfortunately baseline characterization data
on sheep production is not available. Yet this
information is needed for the establishment of
sustainable livestock research and development
plans and to guide restocking and animal health
programmes (FAO, 2012; Karnuah et al.,
2018a). The objective of this study therefore was
to describe the morphological characteristics
of local sheep in Liberia and the prevailing
sheep production and management system so
as to enable stakeholders make appropriate
decisions to enhance the future utilization and
conservation of this AnGR.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Source and collection of data. The study
was part of the Government of Liberia’s
Technical Cooperation Project with the Food
and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations and a previous paper (Karnuah
et al., 2018a) has described the study area and
data collection process. Briey, we sampled
local sheep in their production systems in
15 counties of Liberia, much of which is
dominated by at to rolling coastal plains with
mangroves and swamps (MOA, 2008). Data
collected included general information on
demographic characteristics of sheep farmers,
sheep production and management practices
as well as the morphometric attributes of

Characterization of local sheep production system and morphology in Liberia
945
sheep. Phenotypic characterization descriptors
provided by FAO (2012) were used in the design
of a questionnaire; the responses were recorded
on an electronic data capture system (Aanensen
et al., 2009). Linear and morphological
measurements including heart girth, whither
height, body length and body weight were also
carried out using a measuring tape and weighing
scale according to FAO Guidelines (FAO, 2012).
Data analysis. Data were analysed using
Statistical Analysis Systems (SAS) software
(SAS, 2012) and the Survey Package in R
(R Core Team, 2016) to take advantage of
their very exible options for summarizing
categorical and quantitative variables and
clear gures. Analyses carried out included
categorical analysis of qualitative data using
chi square, descriptive analyses of quantitative
data, regression analysis to determine the
eects of linear body measurements on body
weight and correlation between the parameters.
Relative frequencies of various characterization
parameters and the results are summarized in
tables and gures that follow.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Background of respondents. Demographic
attributes of 704 sheep farmers made up of 190
females and 514 males interviewed are shown
in Table 1. Signicantly higher proportion of
male farmers have basic (48%) or secondary
(29%) education compared to the females
with just 3% of sheep farmers having tertiary
education. Majority of the sheep farmers (82%)
did not belong to any livestock associations.
The absence of well-organized farmer/breeder
associations to support governmental initiatives
has hindered eorts to develop an appropriate
and integrated livestock recording system for
Liberia’s AnGR (MOA, 2008). Popular sheep
farming counties such as Gedeh, Nimba,
River Cess, Gbarpolu and Bassa are potential
areas to help farmers come together with such
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of sheep farmers by gender in Liberia
Gender of farmers Chi Square value Prob df
Female (%) Male (%) Total
Educational status
None 52 19 198(28%) 79.97** <0.0001 3
Basic 37 48 317(45%)
Secondary 8 29 166(24%)
Tertiary 3 4 23 (3%)
All farmers 27 73 704(100%)
Membership of Livestock Association
No 80 82 579(82%) 0.33ns 0.57 1
Yes 20 18 128(18%)
Total 27 73 707(100%)
Average age, household size and number of animals of sheep farmers
Female Male
Mean ± SE n CV(%) Mean ± SE n CV(%)
Age of farmer 47.5 ± 0.98 190 28 47.2 ± 0.57 514 27
Household size 7.6 ± 0.24b 189 43 8.9 ± 0.18a 508 47
Number of animals 1.3 ± 0.07b 190 72 1.5 ± 0.05a 514 72
Gender Head Ratio 127(20%) 509(80%)
NB: ns – not signicant (P>0.05); ** - highly signicant (P<0.01); within rows means followed by dierent superscripts are
signicantly (P<0.05) dierent

946
A. B. KARNUAH
et al.
associations to safeguard breed conservation
and utilization of sheep genetic resources.
Sheep production. The main reasons for sheep
production in Liberia are for meat and adding
saving to income with crop-livestock and free-
range systems being popular (74%) across
agroecological zones (Figure 1). Some farmers
raise sheep for important religious festivals to be
slaughtered for meat. Among the sheep farmers,
their motivation for sheep production was mainly
for meat or income (89%), followed by socio-
cultural reasons (8%) with breeding and manure
production being very minor (3%) reasons. This
nding agrees with those of Dosa et al. (2015)
who reported that irrespective of city, sheep
were primarily kept for their nancial functions
whereby sheep were perceived as having higher
economic value than goats. In terms of housing,
close to 60% of sheep farmers provide no
housing/shed for their animals with permanent
structures being more popular in the coastal zone
whilst temporary sheds are popular in the forest
zone (Figure 1). Sheep production is also mainly
based on crop-livestock systems with 63% of all
sheep farmers also being crop farmers. In fact,
less than 20% of sheep farmers keep livestock
alone and in the forest and savannah zones,
that is 75% and 70% of all sheep farmers are
also crop farmers, respectively. Irrespective of
agroecological zone, the most popular sheep
tending management system encountered was
free grazing which was practiced by 75% of
sheep farmers (Figure 1). Tindano et al. (2017)
reported that 70% of Mossi Djallonke sheep
farmers in Burkina Faso grazed their ocks
freely in natural pasture during the dry season.
The average age of a sheep farmer was 47
years, and this suggests a need to encourage
and provide incentives to more youth to go into
agriculture and sheep farming. Male farmers
had relatively larger herd sizes and household
sizes than female heads of households. Sheep
farming was mainly undertaken with family
labour (98%) as shown in Table 2. Hired labour
was only reported by a few farmers in the
forest and savannah agro-ecological zones with
farmers in the coastal zone depending solely on
family labour. Male sheep farmers were also
Figure 1 Variation of shee p production pract ices acros s agro-ecologi cal zones
a. Reason for keeping sheep
c. Prov ision of housing for she ep
b. Shee p production sys tems
d. Shee p tending manageme nt
Number of farmers
Number of farmers
Number of farmers
Number of farmers
Figure 1. Variation of sheep production practices accross agro-ecological zones

Characterization of local sheep production system and morphology in Liberia
947
predominantly household heads which gave
them control over family labour. Table 2 also
shows that commercial sheep farmers were
found mainly in the coastal (71%) and the forest
zones (59%) whilst almost all sheep farmers
in the savannah zone were substance farmers
(94%). Sheep multiplication farms were not
popular in Liberia and represented just 5% of
all sheep farms surveyed. River/lake (74%) and
deep wells (24%) are the major sources of water
for sheep across ecozones with no farmer in the
savannah zone mentioning either pipe-borne or
rain harvesting.
Sheep farmers reported diseases, drought and
heat tolerance as the major adaptive traits of
their animals. Indeed, the farmers indicated
disease tolerance (55%), followed by drought
tolerance (28%) and heat tolerance (17%). These
are very important adaptive traits for breeding
climate resilient sheep and a justication for
genomic characterisation of local breeds to
identify genes associated with such adaptive
traits (Birteeb et al., 2013) for introgression of
favourable alleles into crossbred sheep in future
breeding programmes. This is in line with the
need to consider traits of adaptive and economic
importance to farmers in the design of breeding
policies (FAO, 2015; Konig et al., 2016). The
most common mating system observed among
Table 2. Sheep production attributes by agroecological zone in Liberia
Agroecological zone Chi Square Prob df
value
Coastal (%) Forest (%) Savannah (%) Total
Holding type
Commercial farmer 71 59 6 439 (62%) 89.6** <0.0001 4
Peasant farmer 28 31 94 233 (33%)
Breeding centre 1 10 0 32 (5%)
All types 62 33 5 704 (100%)
Source of water 17.7** 0.0070 6
River/lake 78 65 72 515 (74%)
Deep well 20 31 28 170 (24%)
Pipe borne 1 4 0 14(2%)
Rain 1 0 0 1(0%)
All water sources 62 33 5 700 (100%)
Source of Labour 21.5** <0.0001 2
Family 100 96 91 686 (98)
Hired 0 4 9 13 (2%)
All labour sources 62 33 5 699 (100%)
Challenges of sheep farming
Disease 19 12 39 119 (18%) 16.6** <0.0001 14
Feed 50 40 16 300 (45%)
Housing 19 40 38 165 (26%)
Veterinary medicine 8 5 6 44 (7%)
Theft 4 3 0 25(4%)
Land 1 0.5 0 5 (1%)
All Challenges 62 33 5 668 (100%)
NB: ns – not signicant (P>0.05); ** - highly signicant (P<0.01)

948
A. B. KARNUAH
et al.
the sheep farmers was uncontrolled, non-
seasonal, natural mating involving the use of
multiple sires (91%). This is not surprising
given the predominantly free-range husbandry
system which gives the farmer very little control
over breeding rams. The determination of price
among sheep farmers in Liberia depend on
several factors such as nancial need (65%)
among farmers with none or basic education
or market readiness (68%) among farmers
with tertiary education who appeared to have
better deals in selling their stock. In the Tolon
District of Ghana, Birteeb and Donkor (2016)
indicated that sex and fur texture were the key
determinants of price in the livestock market.
Challenges of sheep farming. Sheep farmers
reported cost and availability of feed (45%),
housing (26%), diseases (18%) and cost of
veterinary medicines (7%) as their main
challenges (Table 2). However, major variations
were recorded across the agroecological zones
as indicated by the signicant Chi Square value.
The major challenges were feed in the coastal
zone, feed and lack of animal shed in the forest
zone and disease and lack of animal sheds in
the savannah zone. These challenges aect all
livestock species (Karnuah et al., 2018a and b)
and need to be addressed not only to increase
productivity but to motivate and encourage
more farmers to go into livestock production in
Liberia. The cost and accessibility to veterinary
services and medicines is a huge challenge to
livestock farming in Liberia. As indicated by
the MOA (2015), animal diseases are the major
constraint to livestock development in Liberia
and there is little information available on major
diseases, and little or no research on animal
production and health. Sheep production in
Liberia is also negatively aected by poor or
no housing/shed and fencing facilities, resulting
in theft of animals on one hand and damages
of farm crops on the other hand. Few sheep
farmers (4%) reported loses of their animals due
to theft. Provision of animal sheds and fencing
infrastructure for sheep, the accessibility and
Crossbred Ram
Sahelian Ram
Sahelian Ewe
Djallonke Ram
Djallonke Ewe
Crossbred Ewe
Figure 2. Images of sampled sheep by breed type in Liberia

Characterization of local sheep production system and morphology in Liberia
949
availability of feeds and veterinary medicine
should help improve sheep production in Liberia.
Previous studies have reported such constraints
as major causes of sheep mortality (Lakew et
al., 2017) and therefore needs to be addressed
for a successful sheep industry in Liberia.
Morphological characterization. The survey
revealed that Djallonke sheep is the predominant
sheep breed in Liberia, accounting for 82% of all
sheep surveyed, followed by various crossbreds
between local and exotic breeds such as the
Black Headed Persian (17%), and the Sahelian
(2%) (Figure 2). Local names for the Djallonke
include Yonkpoe, Woley, Bor, Baar, Mbah,
Bolee, Blabeh, Blie, short sheep, Mabawah
amusum, Guinea sheep and Saar, whilst the
Sahelian breed is known locally as Wlie and tall
sheep.
Morphometric characterisation of sampled
sheep indicated that on the average females were
older (3 years) than the male sheep (2 years). On
the other hand, male sheep were signicantly
(P<0.05) superior to females in all morphometric
parameters measured. For instance, average
body weights for female and male sheep were
24 and 28kg; body length 57 and 62cm; height
at withers 52 and 55cm and chest girth 68 and
70cm respectively. Irrespective of sex, the
relatively high coefficient of variation in body
weight of sheep can be attributed to the wide
variation in estimated age of animal (Table 3).
In addition, the large variations in body weight
of sampled sheep suggest opportunities for
genetic improvement of local sheep of Liberia
by selection (Boubekeur et al., 2015). As
indicated by Lakew et al. (2017), local sheep
have potential for multipurpose roles and also
generate income for smallholders and any
Table 3. Summary statistics of key quantitative variables of sheep by sex
Variable Females Males
Mean ± SE* n* CV* (%) Mean ± SE n CV (%)
Body weight (kg) 24.5 ± 0.24b 709 27 28.7 ± 0.73a 189 35
Body length (cm) 57.6 ± 0.23 b 709 11 61.9± 0.71 a 189 16
Height at withers (cm) 52.2 ± 0.23 b 709 12 55.7 ± 0.66 a 189 16
Chest girth (cm) 67.1 ± 0.31 b 709 13 70.4 ± 0.80 a 189 16
Horn length (cm) 13.9 ± 0.18 b 369 25 16.5 ± 0.42 a 158 32
Ear length (cm) 9.7 ± 0.05 b 709 13 11.2 ± 0.19 a 189 23
Tail length (cm) 23.0 ± 0.13 b 709 16 28.9 ± 0.89 a 189 42
Estimated age (years) 3.1 ± 0.10a 704 54 1.9 ± 0.08 b 188 58
NB: SE = Standard error of mean; n – sample size; CV – coefficient of variation; within rows means followed
by different superscripts are significantly (P<0.05) different
Table 4. Spearman correlation coecients of key quantitative variables of sheep in Liberia
Body Body Height at Chest Horn Ear Tail
length weight withers girth length length length
Body weight 1.00 0.99** 0.99** 0.99** 0.97** 0.80** 0.88**
Body length <.0001 1.00 0.98** 0.99** 0.96** 0.78** 0.87**
Height at withers <.0001 <.0001 1.00 0.98** 0.96** 0.80** 0.88**
Chest girth <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 1.00 0.97** 0.79** 0.88**
Horn length <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 1.00 0.70** 0.82**
Ear length <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 1.00 0.90**
Tail length <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 <.0001 1.00
NB: ** Signicant at 0.01; * Signicant at 0.05 level of signicance. ns – not signicant.
Upper diagonal – correlation coecients; Lower diagonal – P values..

950
A. B. KARNUAH
et al.
genetic improvement programme should aim
at farmers’ need to consider simultaneously
their traits of preference and existing traditional
herding and breeding practices.
The summary statistics of the key quantitative
variables of sheep by sex (Table 3) shows that
males were signicantly (P<0.05) superior in
all linear body measurements than females.
In the study by Birteeb and Donkor (2016)
on Djallonke sheep in Ghana they reported
that the females had higher values in all body
measurements than males, but higher variability
of all body measurements were associated
with males. The highly signicant correlations
between body weight and the linear body
measurements of sheep (Table 4) indicates that
body weight can be predicted from these linear
measurements by using appropriate regression
models. For instance, we tted simple linear
regression models between body weight and all
the other morphological parameters shown in
Figure 3. The best t for predicting body weight
was obtained when body length was tted with
an R2 value of 97% (Fig. 3). This indicates
that one can predict body weight of sheep from
body length with a high degree of accuracy.
The live weight of Djallonke sheep in Ghana
was signicantly corrected with all linear body
measurements (Birteeb and Donkon, 2016).
Morphologically, in terms of coat colour pattern
sampled sheep were mainly plain/solid/uniform
(61%) and patchy/pied (28%) with a few being
spotted (11%) conrming the variation in coat
colour pattern of the predominant Djallonke
sheep breed (Table 5; Figure 4). This nding
agreed with researchers in both Burkina Faso
and Ghana where they observed patchy/pied
colour pattern among the Djallonke sheep
(Traore et al., 2008; Birteed and Donkor,
2016). Patchy/pied colour is multiple colours
combinations (black, brown, white, red). In
addition, in terms of temperament, most sheep
were either docile (48%) or moderate (47%),
with just 5% being described as wild. Liberian
sheep were also characterised to have mostly
straight facial (79%) prole, horned (74%) with
straight horns (92%) which were either oblique
(48%) or lateral (35%). Table 5 also shows that
a signicantly higher proportion of males (97%)
were horned with more females (52%) showing
oblique horns. The high incidence of horns in
the sampled population indicates that this is a
Figure 3. Prediction plot for body weight using body length of sheep

Characterization of local sheep production system and morphology in Liberia
951
Table 5. Frequency of some morphological parameters of sheep by sex for Liberian sheep
Sex of animal Total Χ2 P
Female (%) Male (%)
Coat colour pattern
Patchy/pied 26 35 248 (28%) 9.8** 0.0074
Plain 62 58 548 (61%)
Spotted 12 7 101 (11%)
All coat colour patterns 79 21 897 (100%)
Temperament
Docile 48 45 425 (48%) 17.7** 0.0001
Moderate 48 44 422 (47%)
Wild 4 11 46 (5%)
All Temperaments 79 21 893 (100%)
Facial prole
Straight 82 67 708 (79%) 22.6** <0.0001
Concave 17 31 176 (20%)
Convex 1 2 12 (1%)
All Proles 79 21 896 (100%)
Horn presence
Present 68 97 652 (74%) 63.8** < 0.0001
Absent 32 3 227 (26%)
All 79 21 880 (100%)
Horn shape
Straight 91 96 570 (92%) 5.9* 0.0527
Spiral 4 3 23 (4%)
Scurs 5 1 23 (4%)
All shapes 75 25 616 (100%)
Horn orientation
Backward 13 29 112 (17%) 23.9** <0.0001
Lateral 36 32 225 (35%)
Oblique 52 39 313 (48%)
All orientations 72 28 650 (100%)
NB: * – signicant (P<0.05); ** - highly signicant (P<0.01)
characteristic of Djallonke sheep.
Liberia Djallonke sheep had predominantly
erect ear orientation (60%) and cylindrical
straight tails (83%) (Figure 4). However, in
terms of rump prole, the Djallonke sheep
were predominantly at whilst the crossbred
sheep were more sloppy than at. Thus, the
predominant Djallonke sheep breed could be
described as having mainly plain coat colour
patter, erect ears, straight cylindrical tails and a
at rump prole. Tail type of Djallonke sheep
could thus be said to be dierent from local
sheep of Ethiopia, which had short fat, short
thin, or rump fat tails (Tesfay et al., 2017).
Gebreyowhens and Tesfay (2016) reported
lateral ear orientation (93.5%), uniform coat
pattern (49 %) with beige colour, medium hair
length with course hair (61%), curved (50%)
horn shape with lateral orientation (58%), as
major morphological attributes of highland
sheep in Northern Ethiopia. These variations
in morphological attributes indicates a strong
genotypic eect as well as adaptation of various
sheep breeds to their environments.

952
A. B. KARNUAH
et al.
Figure 4 Morphologi cal attributes by br eed of shee p
a. Shee p coat colour pattern by br eed type
b. She ep ear orie ntation by bree d type
c. She ep back profi le by bree d type d. She ep tail shape by bree d type
Number of sheep
Number of sheep
Number of sheep
Number of sheep
Figure 4. Morphological attributes by breed sheep
CONCLUSION
The sheep genetic resources of Liberia are
made up predominantly of the local Djallonke
breed, which is transboundary in West Africa.
Both female and male farmers keep the animals
in subsistence free-range husbandry systems
for additional income and meat production for
socio-cultural and religious festivals as the main
motivational factors. About 60% of farmers
provide housing/shed for their animals. In
the forest and savannah zones, 75% and 70%
of all sheep farmers were also crop farmers,
respectively. Sheep multiplication farms were
few, with only 5% of all farms surveyed using
this practice. Drought, disease and heat tolerance
are the major adaptive traits of Djallonke sheep
in Liberia. The most common mating system
among the sheep famers is uncontrolled, non-
seasonal, natural mating. Morphologically,
Djallonke sheep have plain coat colour pattern,
black or white coat colour, erect ears with
straight backline and facial prole. Male sheep
were signicantly superior to female in all
morphometric traits measured. The average body
weight for male sheep was 28 kg compared to 24
kg for females, body length was 62 cm for male
and 57cm for female, while wither height was
55 cm for male and 52 for female, respectively.
The key challenges hampering sheep production
in Liberia are feed costs and unavailability, poor
housing, diseases and the high cost of veterinary
services. These have negative consequences on
sustainable use, productivity and conservation of
sheep genetic resources in Liberia. Community-
based breeding programme for sheep farming as
recommended for goats (Karnuah et al., 2018b)
should be pursued.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We sincerely thank the farmers and respondents
who participated in the study. Sincere thanks and
appreciations to all technical Sta of Ministry
of Agriculture and Central Agricutural Research
Institute (CARI) for their contributions. Our
sincere thanks and appreciation also go to the
then FAO Country Representataive Mr. Marc
Abdala, and his sta in Liberia for their support.
Special thanks to Mr. Jesse Yuan of FAO/Liberia

Characterization of local sheep production system and morphology in Liberia
953
for his guidance and training in the utilization of
EpiCollect programme used in data collection.
Funding: The project was funded by FAO
under the Technical Cooperation Programme
(TCP) for Liberia (TCP/LIR/3502) with the
Central Agricultural Research Institute as the
implementer.
STATEMENT OF NO-CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that there is no conict of
interest in this paper.
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