Assessment of wool shearing practices in the breeding tract of Malpura sheep in Rajasthan

A study was conducted for assessment of wool shearing practices adopted by sheep farmers in the native breeding tract of Malpura sheep in Rajasthan. A total of 200 sheep farmers in 20 villages of Malpura tehsil (Tonk), Rajasthan were surveyed. The data were collected on sheep population, sharing frequency and months, sharing charges, wool yield and income from wool sales. It was observed that two sets of sheep shearing practices were followed by the farmers viz., hired shearer @ Rs 20/sheep/clip (Pr 1) and hired shearers @ Rs 7.00/sheep/clip with shorn wool (Pr 2). All the respondents reported three times shearing of their sheep in a year. A total of 60 sheep was sheared per day by a shearer manually. A shearer annually earned Rs. 24000/- and Rs. 25200/- from shearing of 400 sheep in a village in Pr 1 and Pr 2 groups, respectively. A shearer covers the animals of about 5 villages in a year, thus earning Rs. 120000/- in Pr 1 and Rs. 126000/- in Pr 2. Thus, the study concludes that shearing of sheep @ Rs 7.00/sheep/clip with shared wool is more remunerative to shearers than shearing @ Rs 20/sheep/clip (without wool).