Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

Discussion
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
Kidding commenced in January till the end of March. Generally, goats depend on grazing range
lands and the availability of crop residues during the entire year, supplementation in form of concentrate
(barley or wheat bran), straw or hay is used during winter. Milk is usually left for suckling
kids over the first 1-2 months of age. This period may be extended depending on the weight and
general condition of the kids. Then-after, kids and their dams are separated overnight and the latter
were hand milked in the following morning before going to pasture. Does are milked post-weaning
till they dried off. As Black does yielded significantly higher total milk yield and peak milk yield
and longer lactation period than did Meriz does. Since the coefficient of variability of milk yield in
the current work was found to be 41.6 % and the heritability is moderate, therefore opportunity for
improving milk yield by providing good feed and selection is feasible. Growth rate of local Black
and Meriz goats are less than reported in literature. High variability in growth rate of local goats
suggest the possibility of increasing meat production. It may be stated that genetic differences, concentrate
supplementation and better range condition affect body condition of does and resulting in
improved fertility.
Suggestions to tackle the future challenges of organic animal husbandry
In view of the increasing human population of Iraq, demand for meat and milk increased. The
country is unable to meet the populations demand for animal products. This is because of the human
population growth rate (about 3.1 %) and the lower growth rate of animal production which did not
exceed 2 %. Goat can play an important role for the production of organic meat and milk, particularly
under the agricultural systems prevailing in Kurdistan. Generally goats together with sheep in
Iraq, graze extensively on natural pasture, stubble and crop residues for more than six months annually.Therefore,
improving pastures, use of supplementary feed, establishment a center for improving
goats genetically in order to disseminate improved bucks for farmers, together with the allocation
of funds necessary for research and development activities is required to fill the gap between
supply and demand of animal products. It was noticed a large variation in terms of fertility, kidding
percentages and survival rate exist between farms, this may suggest the possibility of improving
reproductive performance and cosequently increase meat production. The results obtained suggested
that there is a good potential for organic goats production of meat and milk of good quality
as human health concern. Technical, financial and market issues on the development of goat producyion
enterprises should be solved.
References
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Alkass JE & Merkhan KY ( 2011). Milk production traits of indigenous Black and Meriz goats raised under
farm conditions. Res. Opin. Not and Meriz goats raised under farm conditions. 1st scientific Anim. Vet.
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Dosky KN, Baker IA & Alkass JE (2009). A comparative study on body composition and carcass tissue
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Dosky KN (2010). Fattening and some carcass characteristics of Meriz and native goat male kids raised in
either concentrate or pasture conditions. Mesopotamia J. Agric. 38: 2-10.
Merkhan KY & Alkass JE ( 2012). A study on milk composition of Black and Meriz goats raised under
farm conditions.Agricultural conference, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Duhok, 10-
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