Ramnad White sheep: breed, weight and where it is found

Ramnad White is a white meat sheep of southern Tamil Nadu, named after Ramanathapuram (Ramnad) district. Rams carry thick, spiral horns and ewes usually have none. Researchers disagree on how pure the breed still is in its home area, so check the animal closely before you pay for the breed. On Kattutharai, sheep are listed in the goat (aadu) section.

How to recognise it

• Colour: mostly white, with black around the eyes and mouth, on the chin and throat, on the ear tips and edges, on the legs and on the underside (NBAGR database).
• Pure stock, as TANUVAS describes it: milky white, with black rings around the eyes and mouth, and black at the knees, the hocks, the pasterns down to the hoof, and the tip of the tail (TANUVAS study).
• Horns: almost all rams (98%) have thick, ridged horns that curl backwards; only about 10% of ewes have horns (NBAGR study).
• Ears, tail and coat: medium-sized, leaf-shaped ears that point outwards and downwards, a short thin tail, and short hair (NBAGR database).
• Weight — reports differ: NBAGR's record gives about 43 kg for rams and 32 kg for ewes (NBAGR database), while TANUVAS measured pure-type flocks at about 31 kg and 23.5 kg (TANUVAS study).

What it is good for

• Meat. Ramnad White is kept for meat (NBAGR database); most male lambs are sold young, at about 3–6 months (TANUVAS study, NBAGR study).
• Lambs. A ewe usually has one lamb at a time (NBAGR database). Ewes first lamb at about 18–24 months and then about once every 12–15 months; lambs are born all year, most of them in August to October (NBAGR study, TANUVAS study).
• Manure. Flocks are penned on farmers' fields at night for their droppings, and landless shepherds are paid for it (NBAGR study).
• Hardy. It is adapted to drought-prone country and turns coarse feed into meat well (TANUVAS study).

Where it is mainly found

NBAGR registers Ramnad White as a Tamil Nadu breed (breed register) and gives its home tract as Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga and Pudukkottai districts. Flocks also migrate through many other districts, and move locally from March to May (NBAGR database).

Researchers disagree on how pure the breed still is there. A TANUVAS survey in 2008 found that most sheep in the old home tract had become Pattanam sheep, a Nellore type spread by Nellore rams since the early 1980s. It counted fewer than 500 pure breeding ewes, including a government farm flock; the pure flocks left with farmers were in a few villages of the Aruppukottai and Sivakasi blocks of Virudhunagar and the Vasudevanallur block, now in Tenkasi district. At that time the District Livestock Farm at Pudukkottai ran a Ramnad White unit that supplied rams to farmers (TANUVAS study). An NBAGR study published in 2012 surveyed flocks in Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga and found most of them more than 95% pure (NBAGR study).

Rearing tips

• A grazing breed. In the home tract, flocks graze from morning to evening, walking about 10 km a day, and live on grazing alone. Young lambs are sheltered in small huts of sticks and palmyra leaves, with neem leaves hung up for them, and the sheep are shorn before the rains (NBAGR study).
• Plan feed and shelter. For dry-season fodder and a night shelter, start with grow your own fodder and Goat shed and housing: space, floor and roof, and ask your veterinary hospital what to change for sheep.
• Prevent disease. Farmers in the tract vaccinate against sheep pox, anthrax, enterotoxaemia, foot-and-mouth disease and PPR, and bluetongue is common there too (NBAGR study); farmers told TANUVAS that outbreaks of bluetongue, PPR and anthrax were a main problem (TANUVAS study). Ask your vet for the vaccination calendar for sheep in your area; Goat health: vaccination schedule and deworming explains the general approach.
• Rams. Farmers choose rams for vigour, growth, colour and looks, use them for 2–3 years and then replace them (TANUVAS study): see avoid inbreeding.

Buying tips

• Look for the pure-type signs: a medium-sized, milky-white sheep with black rings around the eyes and mouth, black at the knees, hocks and pasterns, and, on rams, curling horns (TANUVAS study).
• Know the look-alike. Pattanam sheep are large, creamy or dull white, with black running along the underside from the jaw to the groin; adult Pattanam rams averaged about 51 kg and ewes about 37 kg in a TANUVAS study (Pattanam study). A very big white sheep sold as Ramnad White may be a Pattanam sheep or a cross.
• Crosses are common, so a sheep sold as Ramnad White may be a cross. The breed name in an ad is the seller's word, and Kattutharai does not check it. See the flock, ask where the parents came from, and check the signs above yourself.
• Check health and age before you pay: see How to buy goats safely: health, age and fraud checks.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ramnad White the same as Pattanam sheep?

No. TANUVAS researchers describe Pattanam as a larger, Nellore-type sheep with black along the underside, which has replaced much of the Ramnad White in its old home area (TANUVAS study). See Nellore sheep: Jodipi, Palla and Brown types explained.

How much does a Ramnad White sheep weigh?

Reports differ: about 43 kg for a ram and 32 kg for a ewe in NBAGR's record (NBAGR database), but about 31 kg and 23.5 kg in the pure-type flocks TANUVAS measured (TANUVAS study).

Is Ramnad White good for a beginner?

It can be, if you live in or near its home districts, have grazing land, and buyers near you ask for it. A ewe gives one lamb at a time, about once a year, so a flock grows slowly (NBAGR study).

Do Ramnad White ewes have horns?

Usually not: only about 10% of ewes had horns in an NBAGR study, while almost all rams (98%) did (NBAGR study).

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