The aim of this trial was to determine the water intake of Tswana goats and investigate the effects of short term water deprivation in summer or winter (6000 ml water offered either once every 72 h, 48 h, 24 h or ad libitum) on feed intake, dry matter digestibility, growth rate and health. Goats were fed a diet comprising 60% Cenchrus ciliaris hay and 40% Medicago sativa hay. Feed intake per kg metabolic weight was inversely related to water intake. Body weight gains decreased with longer watering intervals, rectal temperatures were unaffected but respiratory rate, packed cell volume, pulse rate, haemoglogin level and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration was highest with the 72 h watering interval. Feed intake and daily weight gains were higher in winter than summer, but animals drank more water in summer than in winter, and showed more signs of dehydration in summer. Dry matter digestibilities (%) were 66.8, 66.7, 64.2 and 65.2 for water intake intervals of ad lib, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h respectively; digestibilities of organic matter, crude protein and crude fibre followed the same trend. Urine output, faecal output per kg metabolic weight and faecal moisture content decreased with increased length of water deprivation. It was concluded that Tswana goats are well adapted to semi-arid zones and can be watered once in 72 h without severe dehydration.

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The aim of this experiment was to characterize the milk yield of the Tswana goat of Botswana. Twenty-one Tswana goat does were allocated to one of three diets formulated to provide energy for maintenance and a milk yield of either 1.5 kg/d, 1.0 kg/d or 0.5 kg/d. Intake, milk yield and kid growth rate was monitored for 14 weeks. Dry matter intakes of up to 5% of body weight were recorded. Energy intake and milk yield differed between treatments (p < 0.01). Daily ME intake for the low, medium and high-energy diets was 1.01, 1.42 and 1.64 MJ ME/kg metabolic weight; the corresponding milk yields were 0.47, 0.53 and 0.72 kg/day. Kid birth weight ranged from 2.6 to 2.9 kg, and daily gains over the 14-week period were 95, 116 and 128 g/day for the low, medium and high energy diets respectively. Milk output accounted for 62% of the variation in kid growth rate. It was concluded that Tswana goats have the potential to respond to increasing levels of energy intake by increasing milk yield to relatively high levels.

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Three experiments were conducted to measure the preference, voluntary feed intake (VFI), and digestibility of forest type (FT) sheep fed untreated rice straw (RS) and supplemented with either sole or combined fodder tree leaves [Leucaena (L), Samanea (S) or Gliricidia (G) and their equal combinations]. The preference index (PI) was determined by consumption difference of the three fodder tree leaves (FTL), using 12 FT sheep (6 rams and 6 ewes of average weight 17.0 ± 1 kg). The sheep were offered the FTL in a cafeteria-style, and the consumption within the first 1 h was used to rank them. The sheep showed marked preference (P < 0.0001) for Leucaena over either Samanea or Gliricidia. The PI followed this order: Leucaena > Samanea > Gliricidia. For the VFI study, a total of 24 FT sheep (16 rams and 8 ewes) of average weight 17.0 ± 1.0 kg were randomly assigned to 1 of 8 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. The treatments were T1 (100% urea-ammoniated straw), T2 (RS + 100% L), T3 (RS + 100% S), T4 (RS + 100% G), T5 (RS + 50% L:  50% S), T6 (RS + 50% L: 50% G), T7 (RS + 50% G: 50% S), T8 (RS + 33% L: 33% G: 33% S).  There were significant differences in the total and straw DM intakes. Total DM intake ranged from (523 to 694 g/d) whilst straw DM intake ranged from (430 to 692 g/d). The highest (P < 0.0001) total and straw DM intake were observed in sheep fed T8 and T1 diets compared to the other treatment diets. Feeding sole Gliricidia resulted in the lowest straw and total DM intakes but combining it with either Leucaena or Samanea improved intakes. In the digestibility study, 16 rams (average weight = 17.0 ± 1.0 kg) and same treatments for the VFI study were used to determine DM digestibility (DMD) and digestible organic matter in dry matter (DOMD). The DMD values ranged from 52.50% to 67.20 % while the DOMD was between 55.14 and 70.36%. Feeding T1 resulted in the highest (P = 0.027) DMD, and (P < 0.0001) DOMD but combining the FTL improved DMD and DOMD for the supplemented diets. The results of the study indicated that feeding combined FTL (3 FTL) resulted in a similar performance as that of the urea-ammoniated straw and could be used a low-cost protein supplement for sheep on low-quality roughage.