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Macherla sheep Photo: placeholder pending image-fill pass

Macherla sheep (Telangana, Andhra Pradesh)

Macherla is a local mutton-type hair sheep population of the Macherla-Nalgonda-Khammam belt straddling Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, named after the Macherla taluk of Palnadu district. It is part of the broader Deccani sheep complex of the southern plateau and shares its breeding tract with Deccani (Deccani Sheep) and Nellore (Nellore Sheep) flocks. The population is not separately registered with NBAGR and is treated as a Nellore Brown / Deccani transitional strain.

Origin and distribution

The breeding tract covers the southern Telangana districts of Nalgonda, Suryapet and Khammam, and the adjoining Palnadu, Guntur and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh. The tract is a semi-arid red-soil and black-cotton mosaic with rainfall of 600-800 mm, supporting groundnut, cotton, paddy and pulses cultivation. Flocks are managed by Kuruma, Golla and Yadava pastoralist households as a complement to crop cultivation.

Morphology

Macherla sheep are medium-sized hair animals with a long, deep body that resembles the Nellore Brown strain. The coat is short hair, predominantly brown or fawn, with paler underside and some pied animals. Ears are medium-long and slightly pendulous. Rams typically carry stout curving horns; the majority of ewes are polled. The tail is short and thin. Adult body weight averages 32-38 kg in rams and 25-30 kg in ewes.

Performance

The breed is reared for mutton; no commercial wool is harvested. Lambing is single, with an annual lambing interval and age at first lambing of 22-28 months. Post-weaning growth is moderate, supporting the supply of ram lambs to the Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Guntur mutton market and to the festival ram trade (Ram Fattening Bakrid). Carcass dressing percentage is 45-50 percent in well-finished animals.

Management

Flocks are managed under transhumant migratory grazing (Migratory Sheep Grazing) along harvested groundnut, cotton and paddy fields, with peri-urban units increasingly relying on stall-feeding with cultivated fodder, groundnut haulms and cotton-seed cake. PPR (Ppr Vaccination Detailed) and structured small-ruminant vaccination (Small Ruminant Vaccination Schedule) are organised through the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Animal Husbandry Departments. Bluetongue (Bluetongue Sheep) and enterotoxaemia are recurring kharif-season losses.

See also: Nellore sheep, Deccani sheep, Bellary sheep, Migratory sheep grazing.

Sources

  1. Sheep populations of southern Telangana. PV Narsimha Rao Telangana Veterinary University.
  2. Sheep Breeds of India. ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources.