COMPARISON BETWEEN BODY WEIGHT AND PRICES OF EWES IN ZARIA AREA

Résumé

A total of 83 non-pregnant Yankasa ewes were weighed in five markets located in and around Zaria, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) with the aim of determining the mean body weight, price per head and price per kg of live weight. Ewe sold in ABU farm had the highest live weight of 44.56±2.58kg, while those sold in Kano road market were the lightest with live weight of 37.72±1.07k. Ewe sold in Zaria city market at the price of N4716.56±272.22 per head were most expensive. The cheapest ewes were sold N4,121.82±160.25 in Kano road market. The most expensive price of ewes per kg was N9.04±1.97, in Shika market, while the cheapest price per kg was, N104.40±2.27, in ABU farm. Prices of ewe per head and kg were not different (P>0.05) from one another, except for Kano road market where the price per head was significantly lower than that of Shika market. It was concluded that ewes were heaviest and their price per kg live weight was cheapest in the market of ABU farm, where the management was apparently the best of all the five location and the cost of production the lowest.