for purchasing food items and medicines. They
were also sold any time when the owners faced
cash problem and during severe feed shortages.
Agyemeang et al. (1985) reported that animals
were usually sold during the period between
planting and harvesting in order to raise cash to
buy the food for the family. Moreover, 28.3%
pastoralists in Jijiga and 26.7% in Shinile zone
sold their sheep during religious festivals.
Religious festivals are among the special holidays
that most of the urban and rural dwellers celebrate.
This finding was in agreement with that of Yitay
et al. (2000), which sheep and goats were found
to be sold mostly during holidays.
In both study areas, the respondents
indicated that selling of sheep was usually
undertaken through middlemen (brokers) who
bought and in turn sold to the others at a profit.
The broker’s role is to match the buyer with a seller
and to insure the legitimacy of the sale. The
middlemen charge Birr 5.00 from each of the buyer
and the seller. Tegene et al. (1999) also observed
similar selling and buying agreements, but the
maximum amount of money paid to the broker
per sheep/goat bought and sold was Birr 5.00 and
10.00, respectively. All respondents stated that
weight scale was not used for selling the animals.
Visual assessment was one of the methods used to
estimate the size and the condition of a sheep/goat
and hence its price. Buyers may also palpatearound the rump and chest to estimate the prices.
This result was in agreement with the work done
by Christopher (2004) that livestock were sold by
general appearance and not by weight. As a result,
animals of the same weight are likely to attract
different prices. In certain cases the animals are
given as gifts for marriage, and funerals
ceremonies.