Bovicola ovis and Melophagus ovinus: Spatial distribution on Menz breed Sheep

This study was done from September 2006 to May 2007. A total of 105 Menz breed sheep from Yemenze Gera Midir district in the Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. The spatial distribution of sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) and chewing lice (Bovicola ovis) on Menz breed sheep were examined which were naturally infested. The densities if sheep keds and lice were determined through counting after parting of the fleece/wool at five (5) points on a length of 10 cm areas of six (6) different regions (neck, shoulder, belly, back, rump and flank) on both sides of the body which sum up sixty (60) points of count. The percentage values of Bovicola ovis distribution on the sheep for the inspected regions were 57.5% on shoulder, 53.32% neck, 51% rump, 49.25% flank, 45.36% belly and 45.28 back. For Melophagus ovinus infested sheep, the sites more parasitized were flank, shoulder, rump, neck, belly and back with proportion of 69, 60.12, 51, 42, 33 and 21, respectively in order of importance. The minimum and maximum keds and lice count on a sheep at a time were varied between 0 to 178 and 0 to 1050 respectively. However, most frequently the number of keds and lice were range between 18-30 and 0-100 respectively. Infestation of sheep with sheep keds has statistical significant difference among the different regions examined and no statistical significant difference exist for lice at 95% confidence interval (CI) and p value of less than 0.05.