The study focuses on the assessment of the contribution of sheep and goats to reduce poverty and vulnerability in rural farming systems of three agro-ecological zones in Egypt: the pastoral area of North West Coastal zone (Matruh), the irrigated areas in the Nile Valley (Sohag governorate) and the oasis area in the West Desert (New Valley governorate). An empirical study on 90 farms in the three agro-ecological zones on different social and economic indicators related to poverty gave indicators on the roles of sheep and goat in different farm types, according to resource endowment (land, livestock, capital, etc.) and human resources. The results show different contributions of animal species to household livelihood according to asset endowments, societal and agro-ecological environments. For the landless and very small land owners, sheep and goat provide the main source of income to escape from poverty trap. The results show also some gaps between capital asset and poverty, especially for large herders in the pastoral and agro-pastoral zones of Matruh. The livestock asset generates other sources of wealth that are not taken into account in monetary poverty approach.