Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723
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signed equally into three groups. Kids of the first group had ad libitum access to concentrate (intensive),where
as kids in the second group were left at pasture for 45 days and then moved to the
farm to fed ad libitum concentrate (semi intensive). The third group of kids was freely grazed at
pasture (Extensive). At the end of the trial (90 days), the kids were slaughtered and dressed. To investigate
milking performance of native goats, a total of 397 test day milk yields obtained from
each of Black and Meriz goats raised in one farm and 18 Black does farmed in the second farm were
used. Milk and composition was recorded at monthly interval commencing one month post kidding
till does was dried off. Also, Also, data on reproductive performance of 750 black goats
maintained at 17 farms were collected through survey and regular visits to the farms.
Results
Milk yield and composition: Results on milk production and composition of Black goat and Meriz
raised on pasture revealed that within flock comparison Black does yielded significantly ( p≤0.01)
higher total milk yield (127.5 vs. 95.5 ml) and peak milk yield (1295.6 vs. 964.8 ml) and longer
lactation period (183.7 vs.161.5 days ) than did Meriz does. Also, within breed between flocks indicated
that Black does maintained in farm 2 yielded significantly ( p≤0.01) higher total (189.8 ml )
and peak milk yield (1807.8 ml) and protein percent (3.96 %) compared to those raised in farm 1
(3.65.and 3.77 % for Black and Meriz does). The result also revealed that there was no significant
difference between fat percent of Black and Meriz milk (4.2 vs. 4.1 %, respectively).
Growth rates and carcass traits: Maximum daily gain in weight (100gm/day) was attained by
kids fed concentrate, followed by semi–intensive kids (60 gm/day), and the lowest values (20
gm/day) was recorded for kids maintained on pasture (Table1). Also, it was found that carcass
weights and dressing percentages were lower for kids raised on pasture compared with other treated
groups. With respect to tissue distribution of their carcasses, It is noticed that lean percentage was
not differ significantly among treated groups; whereas fat percent was lower and bone percent was
higher for kids reared on pasture in comparison with other two treated groups.
Table 1. Some fattening and carcass traits of goats raised under different feeding regime.
Trait
intensive
Feeding system
Semi intensive Extensive
Initial wt (kg) 11.68 a 12.03a 12.00a
Final wt (kg) 21.08 a 18.28 a 14.46 b
Daily gain (kg) 100a 60b 20c
Hot carcass wt (kg) 8.99a 7.35b 4.45c
Dressing (%) 42.4a 40.2a 30.6b
Lean%
Fat %
Bone %
122
63.7a
12.0a
24.2b
Means bearing different letters differ significantly
64.4a
10.0a
25.4b
62.6a
3.1 b
34.1a
Reproductive performance: Fertility, conception and kidding rates averaged 81.7, 92.4 and 94.0
%, respectively, and were affected significantly by flock.. Although the conception rate was relatively
high (92.4 %), the reduction in the rate of fertility (81.7 %) was mainly due to the losses
caused by abortion (10.7 %). the fertility rate observed herein was higher than those reported earlier
in local Iraq goat raised in station conditions (67.6 - 78.3 %). Survival rate of kids up to weaning
averaged 90.4 %. The survival rate in general is good and indicates the adaptability to the prevailing
conditions in the region as well as to the good management practices followed by the farmers
during kidding season.