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Garole sheep (Sundarbans)

Garole is a small-bodied, highly prolific sheep breed indigenous to the Sundarbans delta of West Bengal, registered with the ICAR National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR). It is the only Indian sheep that routinely produces twins and triplets, and is the recognised native carrier of the FecB (Booroola) prolificacy gene (Garole Fecb Prolificacy Gene) used in Indian fecundity-improvement programmes.

Origin and distribution

The breeding tract covers South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal, extending into the deltaic islands of the Sundarbans and parts of East Midnapore. The tract is hot, humid, saline and tidally flooded, with grazing on salt-tolerant grasses, paddy aftermath and the bunds of brackish-water fish ponds. The breed is genetically related to the Bangladesh Bengal sheep, and is the recorded historical source of the Booroola allele introduced into Australian Merinos through colonial-era exports.

Morphology

Garole sheep are very small, with adult body weight averaging 12-15 kg in rams and 10-12 kg in ewes — the smallest of the recognised Indian sheep breeds. The body is compact, the legs short, and the coat is short, coarse hair, predominantly white but also grey, black and brown. Ears are small and erect. Both sexes are usually polled, and the tail is short and thin.

Performance

The defining trait of Garole is high prolificacy: twin and triplet births are routine, with a mean litter size of 1.8-2.2 lambs per lambing. Age at first lambing is around 14-16 months and the lambing interval is around 8-9 months under reasonable feeding, giving up to three lambings in two years. Mutton is the principal product; carcass weight is small but ewe productivity per year is high. Wool is coarse and economically negligible.

Management

Flocks are managed in small village units of 5-20 animals by smallholders and landless households. Animals tether-graze on paddy bunds, fish-pond embankments and harvested fields, with kitchen-waste supplementation. Salt-water exposure has selected the breed for foot health, but PPR (Ppr Vaccination Detailed), foot-rot, gastrointestinal parasites and structured small-ruminant vaccination (Small Ruminant Vaccination Schedule) are the dominant herd-health concerns. ICAR-CSWRI Avikanagar and West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences run pure-breed conservation and FecB-marker characterisation programmes.

Sources

Garole — NBAGR breed descriptor. ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources.
Garole and the FecB gene. ICAR-Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar.