Meet the editors

Dr. Manuel González Ronquillo obtained his doctorate degree from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, in 2001. He is a research professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry, Autonomous University of the State of Mexico. He is also a level-2 researcher. He received a Fulbright-Garcia Robles fellowship for a postdoctoral stay at the US Dairy Forage Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin, USA in 2008–2009. He received

grants from Alianza del Pacifico for a stay at the University of Magallanes, Chile, in 2014, and from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) to work in the Food and Agriculture Organization's Animal Production and Health Division (AGA), Rome, Italy, in 2014–2015. He has collaborated with researchers from different countries and published ninety-eight journal articles. He teaches various degree courses in zootechnics, sheep production, and agricultural sciences and natural resources. Dr. Ronquillo's research focuses on the evaluation of sustainable animal diets (StAnD), using native resources of the region, decreasing carbon footprint, and applying meta-analysis and mathematical models for a better understanding of animal production.

Dr. Carlos Palacios Riocerezo obtained a veterinary degree from Veterinarian by the University of León, Spain, in 1991. Since then, he has worked as a veterinarian and veterinary technician specializing in dairy sheep breeding, reproduction, artificial insemination, animal nutrition services, and sheep farm management. Dr. Palacios obtained his Ph.D. in Sheep Health and Management from the University of León in 2010. He is a Full

Professor of Animal Production at the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Spain, where he teaches degree courses in Agricultural Engineering.

Contents

**Section 1**

Magallanes Sheep Farming

*and Manuel Gonzalez-Ronquillo*

*Monika Rom and Jan Broda*

(Spain) Based on the MESMIS Method

*Javier Plaza-Martín and Carlos Palacios-Riocerezo*

*by Edward Narayan, Gregory Sawyer, Natalie Hoskins* 

Wool from Mexico

and Today

**Section 2**

*and Greg Curren*

*Ricardo Echeverría and Camila Sandoval*

**Preface III**

Herds' Husbandry and Management System **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

**Chapter 2 33**

**Chapter 3 51**

**Chapter 4 71**

Reproductive Management in Sheep **95**

**Chapter 5 97** Reproductive Rates of Merino Ewes and Offspring Quality under AI Program

*by Sergio Radic-Schilling, Francisco Sales, Raúl Lira, René Muñoz-Arriagada, Paulo Corti, Nilo Covacevich, Jorge Ivelic-Sáez, Iván Ordoñez, Osvaldo Vidal,* 

Retrospective Study of Production and Commercialization of Sheep

*by Lizbeth E. Robles-Jimenez, Paola Alejandra Fernández Estrada, Jorge Osorio Avalos, Raul Perezgrovas, Oscar Chavez-Rivera,* 

The Pastoralism in the Silesian Beskids (South Poland): In the Past

Assessment of Sustainability of Dairy Sheep Farms in Castilla y León

*by Anna Salachna, Katarzyna Kobiela-Mendrek, Maria Kohut,* 

*by Cristina Hidalgo-González, M. Pilar Rodríguez-Fernández,* 

*Einar Vargas-Bello-Pérez, Carlos Palacios Riocerezo* 

## Contents



Preface

Sheep were domesticated by humans many years ago and throughout their history have been used to supply meat, milk, wool, and skin to different populations worldwide depending on geographical location, breed type, and dietary needs. This book provides insight into how sheep production is currently approached around

Dr. Manuel González Ronquillo and Dr. Carlos Palacios Riocerezo have extensive experience in research and the development of scientific knowledge for farmers in two very different areas of the world. Jointly, they have produced a work that brings together very different geographical situations, management practices, and production systems, from the herds in the southernmost part of South America to the region of Magallanes, describing the herds' husbandry and management systems. This book describes sheep husbandry and management throughout the year, the nomadic and semi-nomadic shepherds of southern Poland, indigenous and minority breeds such as the Odisha in India, difficulties of applying reproductive technology in the northern Maghreb in Africa, the social and environmental structure of the dairy flocks of Castilla and León in Spain, and analyzes wool production in sheep in Mexico and North America. The book reviews the current situation of diverse sheep production worldwide and considers its future in a totally globalized world, with serious environmental problems and in which the rural world, linked to sheep farming, is experiencing one of its greatest crises. One chapter analyzes the role of cryptosporidiosis in sheep welfare and economic loss and provides information on how to minimize and deal with the infection. This book appears at a key moment in the relationship between sheep and humans, providing keys to provide sustainability, adapting to modern knowledge, and gathering ancestral, sustainable, and opportune practices to provide hope for livestock farmers in the poorest areas

**Manuel Gonzalez Ronquillo**

**Carlos Palacios Riocerezo** Universidad de Salamanca,

Salamanca, Castilla and Leon, Spain

Toluca, Mexico

Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico,

the world.

of the planet.
