Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

Abstract
RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012): Tackling the Future Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry.
Proceedings of the 2 nd OAHC, Hamburg/Trenthorst, Germany, Sep 12-14, 2012
Performance of Black and Meriz goats raised on
pasture conditions in Kurdistan region of Iraq
JALAL ELIYA SHAMOON ALKASS
School of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
University of Duhok, Kurdistan region, Iraq
E-mail: nljealkas2001@yahoo.com
Goats are important domestic animals in many parts of the world because of their adaptability to
different environmental conditions, and utilizing poor quality feed stuffs. Furthermore, the native
goats are important species in Iraq and in Kurdistan region in particular. They can play an important
role for the providing of organic meat and milk, especially under the extensive grazing systems
prevailing in the country. The present study was prepared to provide some basic information on
some economic traits of black and Meriz goats raised on pasture. Milk yield and composition was
studied in black and Meriz goats raised on pasture, it was concluded that black does yielded significantly
higher milk; On the other hand, Meriz had a marginal high milk composition than black
does. In a comparative study including black and Meriz kids raised on pasture, semi-intensive or
intensive feeding, it was noted that intensively fed kids possessed higher daily gain in weight, heavier
carcasses, higher fat percentages and lower bone percentages than did kids raised on pasture.
In a survey study involving 750 black does raised on 17 farms to investigate some measures of reproductive
efficiency, it was noticed a large variation in terms of fertility, kidding percentages and
survival rate exist between farms. It is concluded that characterization of breeds is essential in
identifying genetic potential resources for economic traits as well as increasing our understanding
of management scenarios could offer the opportunity to improve efficiency for organic meat and
milk production.
Key words: Black and Meriz goats, organic meat and milk.
Introduction
Goats have adaptive capacities to survive and produce in harsh and difficult environmental conditions
particularly in dry areas. Perhaps its greatest advantage relative to large ruminants is low cost,
small body size, suitability to small holding and its triple purpose use for meat, milk and fiber, and
is of great importance as a major source of small farmers and the landless families in rural areas.
important species in Iraq and in Kurdistan region in particular, they can play an important role for
the provision of meat and milk production, particularly under the agricultural systems prevailing in
the country. Generally goats together with sheep in Iraq, graze extensively on natural pasture,
stubble and crop residues for more than six months annually.
The present study was prepared to provide some basic information on some economic trait of Black
and Meriz goats grazed on pasture. Such information is of importance for developmental projects,
to research workers, goat breeders and conservationists of animal genetic resources.
Material and methodology
The present study was conducted on commercial goats farms at Duhok governorate, Kurdistan region
throughout various investigations (Dosky et al. 2009, Dosky 2010, Alkass and Maye 2011, Alkass
and Merkhan 2011, Merkhan and Alkass, 2012). To study fattening performance and carcass
traits, 12 weaned male kids from each Meriz goat and Black goats were weighed and randomly as-
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