Influence of nutritrient density on performance of WAD goats

There are more than 118.5 million sheep in sub-Sahara African out of which 22.1 million are found in Nigeria (RIM, 1992). Robert and Thomas (2004) reported that world number of sheep is about 1056 million. Most of the Nigerian sheep are found in the Sahelo-Sudan zone. In Nigeria, small ruminants represent about 63.7% of total grazing domestic livestock, which are widely distributed in rural urban and peri-urban areas (FDLPC. 1992). This is probably due to a unique ability of sheep to survive under different management system (Gefu and Adu, 1994). Most of the Nigeria sheep are long-legged. They are herded in flocks over large distances in search of feed and water (Mbap and Ikechi, 1998) and are kept mainly for meat production. It is estimated that sheep contribute about 11% of the domestic meat supply in Nigeria (Adu and Ngere, 1979).