Prediction of body weight with heart girth in small ruminants in the semi arid Maiduguri, Nigeria

Abstract

Heart girth (HGT) and body weight (BWT) records of 450 goats and 449 sheep were analyzed to determine the predictive value of HGT for BWT in both species as well as the effect of sex and season on HGT. The overall means of heart girth for the two species were 59.51 cm (goats) and 67.58 cm (sheep). Sex had no significant (p>0.05) effect on HGT, though significant (p<0.001)
effect of season favored wet season. The prediction equations for live weight with heart girth in goats were better among the females and during the dry season than males and wet season, respectively. In sheep, on the other hand, prediction equations of both sexes were similar, while dry season had a better prediction equation than wet season. It was therefore concluded that the use of HGT in predicting BWT in small ruminants could be influenced by sex and season.

Keywords: Sheep, goat, small ruminants, heart girth, body weight