Alternative goat kid-rearing systems for improved performance and milk sharing between humans and offspring in climate change mitigation
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer International Publishing AG
Abstract
Intensification of livestock production reduces the amount of land
required to sustain a livestock unit and frees up the land necessary for carbon
sequestration. Transforming the goat sector from meat only to a dual-purpose
system with both milk and meat is reported to increase food production per unit
of land. Dairy goats have been widely adopted among smallholders in Tanzania and
are now gaining popularity in Malawi. High mortalities due to poor feeding of goat-
kids have been identified as a major challenge and therefore kid rearing systems of
different milking systems for dairy goats and use of different creep feeds and
alternate rearing systems for meat goat on Likoma Island were evaluated.
In study I, the methods used were (a) suckling one teat twice daily and milking
the other teat; (b) suckling in daytime only and morning-milking of dams, and
(c) early weaning and bottle-rearing using goat’s milk. In study II, three different
types of locally available creep feed supplements were evaluated for animals grazed
on unimproved rangeland. The third study qualitative differences in kid rearing
systems for local goats, with or without milking, were evaluated on Likoma Island
in Malawi using a semi-structured questionnaire. In study I, kid growth rates,
ranging from 62 to 76 g/day did not significantly differ; one teat milking provided
the most milk for human consumption and artificial rearing was found to be the
most labor intensive and therefore not recommended under small-holder condi-
tions. Goat farmers on Likoma Island preferred faster kid growth to more milk for human consumption. It is concluded that successful kid rearing systems should
address farmer milk utilization and kid growth and evaluate locally available feeds
for creep feeding and dam feeding.
Description
Book chapter
Keywords
Goat, Kids, Milking, Smallholder, Consumption, Teat, Suckling, Likoma