Animal Ethics and Welfare as Practised by Small Ruminant Farmers in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria

Purpose: In Nigeria, animal ethics and welfare is not common issue among Small Ruminant (SR) farmers despite their importance in improving productivity. Hence, the level of compliance with ethical production techniques by SR producers in Ado-Ekiti was evaluated. Design/Methodology/Approach: Structured questionnaire was employed to elicit information on socioeconomic characteristics and SR management from the respondents. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 87 respondents. Also, supplements were collected from the respondents and analyzed for their chemical composition using standard procedures (AOAC). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA. Findings: Small ruminant producers in the area adhered to some ethical practices in their daily production activities; most fed their animals with supplements twice daily, treated sick animals and transported their animals for sale in the morning. All the respondents offered water to their animals but not ad-libitum and from any source. Some of the respondents did not provide housing facilities for their animals. The proximate composition of supplement; crude protein values ranged from 2.94 to 11.91% in cassava peel and beans chaff respectively, crude fibre: 4.06 to 24.94% and ether extract: 0.64 to 9.22% in cassava sievate and bean chaff respectively, ash content: 3.00 to 11.36% in cassava peel and banana peel, respectively. The mineral composition for sodium ranged from 37.200 to 591.267 ppm, calcium: 24.867 to 5060.33 ppm, phosphorus: 28.036 to 125.670 ppm and magnesium: 7.115 to 57.024 ppm. Iron ranged from 5.241 to 36.106 ppm, copper from 0.103 to 1.827 ppm and zinc from 0.019 to 21.186 ppm. Implications/Research Limitations: Most supplements can complement each other incredibly when mixed. However, mixing ratio and correlation scaling can be areas for further study. Practical Implications: The findings of the present study would be useful for small ruminant farmers in terms of requirements for animal ethics and welfare. Also, researchers/animal nutritionists will have access to the proximate and mineral compositions of the common supplements evaluated as the baseline. Originality/Value: Consideration of welfare and ethics among small ruminant farmers in Nigeria is not well researched. Hence, the present study enlightened farmers on the ethical management practices in small ruminant farming.