Lactation curves are a graphical representation of the milk production profile of a doe from parturition to drying up. Their shape provides information about the productivity of the doe and offers a means of explaining features of the milk production patterns of each animal. A total of 2732 daily morning milk records from 610 does of the Kenyan Alpine dairy goats’ genetic groups (50% Alpine, 75...

The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for culling, sales and deaths in intensively managed dairy goat herds in New Zealand. A data set provided by the New Zealand Dairy Goat Cooperative (n = 13,197 does) was analyzed using a Cox proportional hazard model. The outcome of interest was length of productive life (LPL), defined as the number of days from the date of second kidding to th...

South African indigenous does in rural communal farming systems kid for the first time at approximately 17 to 18 months of age. Does conceive at a relatively low body condition score (BCS ≈ 2.5 to 3) and their average litter size is 1.7 kids per doe. The average kidding interval was approximately 238 days and the highest kidding rates were attained in autumn (96%), followed by spring (93%), win...

The objective of this study was to estimate genomic breeding values for milk yield in crossbred dairy goats. The research was based on data provided by 2 commercial goat farms in the UK comprising 590,409 milk yield records on 14,453 dairy goats kidding between 1987 and 2013. The population was created by crossing 3 breeds: Alpine, Saanen, and Toggenburg. In each generation the best performing ...

A newly developed technique for trans-cervical deep uterine insemination of goats is described. An experiment was conducted to compare this transcervical method with the laparoscopic intrauterine insemination using frozen-thawed semen. Of the 46 primiparous and 21 multiparous estrus-synchronized Boer goat does inseminated transcervically, 71% (22/31) kidded compared with 53% (19/36) of does ins...

The paper in the present issue of the APJCP by Mandal and his colleagues offers a disturbing contrast to generally positive conclusions of the recent special article by Breen et al (2001) on progress in cancer screening in the USA. The underlying differences in basic assumptions are of essential significance if we are to advocate national screening programs in Asia. A simple comparison points t...