Negros bids to become Philippines ‘sheep capital’

BACOLOD CITY—Negros Occidental is on its way to becoming the sheep capital of the Philippines.

The provincial government is importing 6,000 to 7,000 sheep from Australia for breeding, said Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr.

Marañon and provincial veterinarian Renante Decena left for Broome in Western Australia on Oct. 31 to purchase P78 million worth of cattle and sheep for Negros Occidental.

Initially, they had planned to buy 1,110 cattle and 2,400 sheep.

When they arrived in Broome, only 350 cattle were available and were not of good quality. They then decided to buy only sheep, the governor said.

“We will amend our letter of credit from buying cattle and sheep, to (buying) all sheep,” he said in an interview after returning from Australia.

Sheep of similar kind costs P30,000 each in the Philippines. But those purchased in Australia will have a landed cost of about P12,000 each for females and P14,000 for males, Marañon said.

Most of the sheep will be propagated at the provincial government breeding farm in Murcia town. Some of the sheep would be sold to qualified farmers.

“Sheep give birth every five months to one lamb and, if lucky, they may have twins,” Maranon said, adding that the meat of the type of sheep that the province was buying in Australia was delicious.