Influence of Age at Castration, Sex and Type of Birth on Growth Performance of Savanna Brown Goats

Abstract

A total of forty eight (48) Savanna Brown goats aged between 2 - 8 weeks were used to study the effect of age at castration, type of birth and sex on growth performance under semi-intensive system of management. The experiment lasted for 12 weeks. The goats were randomly allocated to 12 treatments (T₁- T₁₂) comprising of 2 replicates with 2 goats per replicate. T₁ –T₈ were goats castrated at ages 2,4, 6,and 8 weeks respectively while T₉, T₁₀, T₁₁ and T₁₂ comprised of 8 entire males and 8 females respectively. The dates of birth of the animals were recorded and the weight of the animals were taken within 24 hours after birth. Open castration method was carried out on the castrates and the experimental design used was complete randomized design. The parameter measured was body weight and body linear measurements. Final body weight and body weight gain (7.60 and 5.50 Kg) for twin non-castrates (T₁₀) were higher significantly (P<0.05) than those of singles (5.35 and 3.35 Kg) and twins (5.20 and 3.40 Kg) castrated at 8 weeks (T₇ and T₈) and female twins (5.30 and 3.50 Kg) (T₁₂). The result showed that females obtained significantly higher values in most body linear measurements than noncastrates. This is a demonstration of the effect of sex. Significant (p<0.05) difference in final weight gain between castrates and non-castrates in favour of non-castrates was observed. Twins were found to be superior to singles (P<0.05) in weight gain, this indicates the positive effect of type of birth.