Resumo

MORANTES, Martiña et al. Descriptive analysis of the production systems with sheeps in the san genaro de boconoito municipality (Portuguesa State, Venezuela). Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2008, vol.18, n.5, pp.556-561. ISSN 0798-2259.

In order to do a descriptive analysis of the sheep production systems in the San Genaro de Boconoito Municipality (Portuguesa State, Venezuela) a sampling of farms with sheep herds was made, applying a survey which included technical and social variables, with a total of 39 farms. Structural and functional variables were evaluated using descriptive statistics, considering the relevant factors affecting the productive process (internal and external factors). Related with internal factors, 71% of the farms had lesser than 10 years with sheep herd; sheep meat were consumed in 84.6% of them, and 84.6% used familiar labour. All the farms exploited sheeps and other species or crops, and 79.5% had bovines and/or goats. Ruminants had as basal diet the forages, supplemented mainly with molasses and salt. Low indices of prolificacy (1.23) and calving rate (38.7% of calving sheep) were found. As the most important external factors, 48.7% of the farms sold the ovine meat, mainly as live animals, without criterion of selection in animals to sell, in the majority of the farms.

Palavras-chave : Production systems; sheep; descriptive analysis.