The study of linear body measurements of West African Dwarf (WAD) lambs and kids under traditional management system

Abstract

Linear dimensions of WAD lambs and kids were compared under traditional management system from birth to weaning age of 3 months. At birth, male and female lambs were comparable to their kid counter parts in body length (BL) and Height-at-withers (HW) but inferior to kids in Heart Girth (HG), Mean HG for lambs at birth was 23.09cm while that of kid was 26.62cm. At 3 months, mean HG for lambs was 49.40cm while that of kids was 46.24cm. Birth type had significant effects (P<0.05) on linear dimensions at birth and weaning. For both species, linear dimensions increased with increase in birth and weaning weights. The superiority of WAD lambs is body dimensions compared to WAD kids is indicative of better frame size in lambs at post weaning age.
Keywords: - Linear dimensions, lambs and kids, traditional management.