Economic analysis of sheep farming in Tamil Nadu

A study was carried out to estimate the cost of production of sheep in farms of Tamil Nadu. The data was collected from 150 sheep farmers of Ramanathapuram district, which is a drought prone with high concentration of small ruminants. Conventional analysis in the form of percentages and averages were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the total cost per farm with imputed value of family labour per farm was lowest in small farmer category and highest in marginal farmer category. The overall picture showed that the total gross income obtained per farm per annum from sheep flock was the highest in marginal farmers followed by landless farmers, small farmers and was the lowest in large farmers. The net return with imputed value of family labour per sheep was highest in marginal farmers followed by small farmers, landless farmers and lowest in large farmers.