... even the sheep go shopping at Mankessim.
The West African Dwarf is the predominant breed of the humid tropics from southern west Africa through central Africa. Their color is generally black piebald on white. Tan piebald on white, predominately colored (tan or black) and the blackbelly pattern are also found. Adult males weight approximately 37 kg. They have a well-developed throat ruff and are horned. Ewes have mature weights of 25 kg. The females are usually polled. They can be bred at the age of 7 to 8 months. They tend to have a short lambing interval. The prolificacy of adult ewes is low to moderate ranging from 1.15 to 1.50 lambs per lambing. At less than 100 g per day under good feed conditions, their growth rate is low and lamb mortality is high. This breed is also trypanotolerant, i.e. the ability of some livestock breeds to survive, reproduce and produce in tsetse trypanosome infested locations where others breeds cannot, without having to use veterinary drugs.