Survival analysis of mortality in pre-weaning kids of Sirohi goat

Abstract

Pre-weaning animals exit a flock through death induced by various reasons, causing significant economic losses to the goat producers. In this study, we investigated the survival from birth to weaning of Sirohi goat kids within framework of the survival analysis. Kid records were accessed from 1997 to 2017, with the information on 4417 pre-weaning animals of farmed Sirohi goat native to the Rajasthan State of India. A multivariable Cox regression was fitted to the data after checking the assumptions of regression. The explanatory variables were sex, type of birth, season of birth, birthweight, doe weight at kidding and year of birth. Model selection eliminated doe weight from the model, and sex, type of birth, season of birth, birthweight and year of birth were retained in the model. With model calibration also, these five covariates were retained in the model. The mortality on the first day after birth was 0.3%, constituting 3.5% of all pre-weaning mortality. The mortality until the end of weaning period was 7.8%. Regression analysis revealed that the higher birthweight at kidding was associated with reduced hazard of death among the kids. Male kids had higher hazards of death compared with female kids. The single-born kids had lower risks of death compared with twin-born kids after accounting for heterogeneity. The winter season had a very high adverse effect on the survival of the kids. With each passing year, risks of death decreased. The results of this study indicate that better survival of kids can be achieved by controlling both environmental and animal-related factors.

Reproductive performance in goats and causes of perinatal mortality: a review

“…At Condobolin, 62% of all perinatal kid losses in Australian rangeland and crossbred goats occurred when the chill index was above 950 kJ/m 2 .h (Bajhau and Kennedy 1990). In semi-intensively managed Sirohi goats in India, winter kidding has been associated with 2.2 times higher risk of mortality than kidding in other seasons (Chauhan et al 2019). Birthing in milder months will reduce the risk of mortality associated with exposure (Broster et al 2012).…”

Selection on functional longevity in a commercial population of dairy goats translates into significant differences in longevity in a common farm environment

“…A strong correlation between and speed of growth was found during the first year. Several studies have found that kids (or lambs) with the lowest weight have a lower chance of survival (Riggio et al, 2008;Dwyer et al, 2016;Chauhan et al, 2019) that could be partly attributed to the increased risk of hypothermia, which has been related to size as well as the individual's fat reserves (Alexander, 1962). Moreover, smaller kids are penalized in all aspects of social competition.…”

A community-based intervention approach to control disease outbreaks and climate-related deaths in communally raised goat kids in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…Stillborn kids were a problem to rst time does during year-1. Stillborn kids are usually exposed to infections like toxoplasmosis, brucellosis, chlamydiosis or leptospirosis (Chauhan et al, 2019). Kids suffering from these infections are normally born weak and die shortly after birth.…”

“…Mortality rates of kids from birth to weaning is one of the prime effects on the viability of goat production e ciency in communal areas (Perumal et al, 2019;Yasmin et al, 2020), with kid mortality rates as high as 46.51 % having been reported in various farming communities across South Africa (Sebei et al, 2004;Slayi et al, 2014). The untimely exits restrict the number of animals available for future replacement and impact the number of animals reaching marketable age (Chauhan et al, 2019). Increased kid mortality rate is sometimes attributed to genetic and environmental factors (Alemnew et al, 2020;Perumal et al, 2019).…”