Reproductive wastage in terms of abortion, foetal loss and neonatal loss is one of the factors undermining goat productivity in Botswana. Abortion storms occur during the winter months, (Binta et al., 1996) which coincide with the dry season. Though infectious causes were found in aborting goats, these accounted for a relatively small proportion of the total number of animals aborting (Binta et al., 1998). Due to relatively few cases of abortions caused by infectious agents in Norwegian dairy goats, Hussain et al., (1996) suggested that nutritional and environmental factors might be important. The aim of study was to evaluate the nutritional effects on blood metabolites and pregnancy outcome of Tswana goats under tropical conditions.

The Botswana Composite Breed (BCB) was developed by Dept. of Agricultural Research to mitigate problems of small herds that could not sustain crossbreeding programs. The breed has 47.5% Sanga, 22.6% Zebu and 29.9% Bos taurus blood. Indigenous Tswana cattle are 40% of the national herd (Masilo and Podisi 2001), indicating an erosion of local genetic material. Tswana cattle are small framed and are prejudiced by the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) weight-based pricing system in favour of large-framed cattle. Lack of carcass characterization of indigenous cattle contributes to the above situation. The aim of this study was to evaluate performance of BCB and other indigenous breeds under feedlot and grazing conditions in order to promote their attributes.