Enhancing the growth performance of replacement female breeder goats through modification of feeding program

Abstract

Aim:The study was conducted at a smallholder goat farm located in Labu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of proper feeding program on growth performances of replacement breeder goats.Materials and Methods:A total of 30 healthy female boer cross goats at the age of 4 months old with average initial live body weight (BW) of 20.05±0.5 kg were used for on-farm feeding trial to evaluate the growth performance as preparation for breeding purposes. The experimental goats were divided into two groups of 15 animals each labeled as control and treatment groups, which were kept under intensive farming system. Goats in control group were fed with normal routine feeding protocol practiced by the farmer, while goats in the treatment group were fed with new feed formulation. Throughout the experimental period, on-farm monitoring and data collection were carried out. Initial BW and body condition score (BCS) were recorded before the start of the experiment while final BW and BCS were gained after 7 months of the experimental period. Average daily gain (ADG) was calculated after the experiment end. Data on BW, ADG, and BCS were recorded from both groups for every 2 weeks and reported monthly. The feed intake for the control group was 2.8 kg/animal/day which practiced by the farmer and 3.2 kg/animal/day as new feed formulation for the treatment group.Results:After 7 months of the experimental period, final BW shows an improvement in treatment group (39.1±1.53 kg) compared with control group (32.3±1.23 kg). The ADG in treatment group also gives promising result when comparing with control group. Goats in treatment group significantly attained better ADG than control group which were 126.7 g/day and 83.3 g/day, respectively. For the BCS, goats in the treatment group had shown an improvement where 86.67% (13 out of 15) of the group had BCS ≥3 (1-5 scoring scale) and only 66.67% (10 out of 15) of the control group had BCS ≥3.Conclusion:Therefore, it was concluded that implementation of proper feeding program as shown in treatment group give promising result to improve the growth performance of replacement breeder goats which can be adopted by the farmers to improve farm productivity.

Effect of bypass fat on growth and body condition score of male Beetal goats during summer

“…Because fat did not improve bodyweight gain in the current study, this could explain the current finding for BCS in response to fat addition. Unlike the current results, Ghani et al (2017) reported increased BCS in growing female kids. In their study, the higher fat group had higher protein levels and the animals were younger.…”

Potential of Open-air Hydroponic System in Producing Highly Nutritional Composition Maize Fodder for Goat Farming

“…Livestock voluntarily consume a certain amount of DM per day (measured in kg/day) to maintain health, growth, and production (Naik et al, 2014). The values of DM reported by Lounglawan et al (2014) as 18.93% in Napier grass harvested at 10 cm height on the 60 th day, Ghani et al (2017) as 13.04% in which Napier grass was harvested manually from pasture at the age of 8 weeks, Rahman et al (2014) as 20.79% were lower than the present finding, 26.01%. In the present investigation, the DM content in HMF was 24.75%, lower than Napier grass because of high moisture content.…”

“…The CP content of Napier grass investigated in the present study was 7.22%. The value was higher than the findings obtained by Zailan et al (2016) in common Napier grass harvested at an interval of 8 weeks as 6.44% and Ghani et al (2017) as 3.88%. The higher value of CP was reported by Rambau et al (2016) (Naik et al, 2013).…”

“…Most livestock farmers in Malaysia are smallholders prone to providing low quality and quantity of feed, which unavoidably leads to low productivity. There is less concern for nutritional management due to limited time, cost constraints, and labor issues (Ghani et al, 2017). The challenges faced by smallholder farmers include the reduced pasture area and unavailability of land for fodder cultivation, forcing them to rely more on concentrates than roughage, which increases production costs.…”

Effects of Concentrate and Bypass Fat Supplementations on Growth Performance, Blood Profile, and Rearing Cost of Feedlot Buffaloes

“…Buffaloes that were offered concentrate and bypass supplements had higher BCS due to better body weight gain. Similarly, buffaloes fed with concentrate have been shown to have good BCS [63], while cattle fed bypass fat showed improved feed intake [64]. On the other hand, the addition of 4 kg/d to 8 kg/d of concentrates for five weeks was able to improve the body mass gain without changes in BCS of dairy cows [65], while another study revealed that additional bypass fat did not improve body weight gain and BCS [66].…”