On-farm data were collected to evaluate reproductive performance of Red Sokoto does reared under small-holder agro-pastoral production system within metropolitan Kano, semi-arid, Nigeria. The effects of age of dams, parity, litter size(s) and sex of kid(s) on pre-weaning growth rate were investigated. Data was obtained from semiintensively managed herds of twenty four households for a period of...

Ten multiparous crossbred goats, ®ve each of alpine beetal (AB) and saanen beetal (SB) were selected from the National Dairy Research Institute goat herd immediately after parturition. These were managed as per the practices followed in the institute's goatherd. Blood and milk samples were collected at biweekly intervals from day 14 post-kidding for 22 weeks (154 days). Somatic cell count, elec...

During deep anestrus and after a 21-day fluorogestone acetate (FGA) treatment, 200 pluriparous lactating Alpine goats were given randomly one of four treatments: (A) 500 IU of pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) 48 h before sponge removal; (B) 500 IU of PMSG 48 h before sponge removal and an ampoule of human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) at sponge removal; (C) two ampoules of HMG at sponge ...

Many of the chronic infectious disease problems in the goat herd are lifelong infections from exposure of kids near the time of birth. Infectious disease control programs start with planning kid-rearing strategies to minimize infection of the neonate. Pasteurized rearing strategies are commonly used to prevent mycoplasmosis and caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV), however pasteurized re...

This study was accomplished with the objective to determine parameters of lactation curves in Beetal goats using Wood’s model. Therefore, milk yield data from 127 Beetal goats maintained at five different government farms were recorded from post-kidding to drying off of does. Wood model parameters were estimated using non-linear regression and individual curves were fitted. The characteristics/...

As a more detailed continuation of a previous study, faecal samples for worm egg counts were collected per rectum from ten marked adult animals in selected flocks of goats, in each of six villages evenly spread out in the communal farming district of Okakarara in eastern Namibia. The study was conducted on a monthly basis from August 1999 to July 2000. Average faecal worm egg counts (FECs) were...