Abstract:
Improvement of the contribution of the untapped huge goat resource of Ethiopia can be achieved
through alleviating constraints and adjusting inefficient production practices which requires
knowledge about roles of goat, husbandry practices, production constraints, performance under
the prevailing condition and available resources. With this understanding, a survey study on goat
production systems of mixed crop livestock (MCL) and Agro pastoral (AP) Farming systems in
the rural kebeles of Dire Dawa Administration (Paper I), and two on-farm experimental studies,
to evaluate the effect of season and supplementation on growth performance and carcass
characteristics (Paper II), and skin/leather quality (Paper III) of grazing Short-eared Somali
Goats were conducted. Using semi structured questionnaire, data on goat production systems
were collected from a total of 150 goat farming households, 75 households from each farming
system. The on-farm experimental study was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design
(RCBD) with 4 supplements x 2 seasons factorial arrangements. Twenty-four Short Eared Somali
Goats were used for each season of study. The concentrate supplements were composed 4
different levels of ME and CP (T1: 1120 kcal/kg ME and 17.5% CP; T2: 1032 kcal/kg ME and
23.4% CP; T3: 944 kcal/kg ME and 29.3% CP; and T4: 984 kcal/kg ME 25.4% CP). Goats were
blocked into six blocks of four based on their initial BW, randomly assigned to one of the
treatments, grazing during the day time and supplemented 400 g in two equal halves before and
after grazing; and were fed for 84 days in each season. Body weight were recorded every
fortnight while pasture dry matter and chemical composition were assessed three times for each
season. Finally, all animals were slaughtered to assess carcass characteristics and skin quality
attributes. The survey study revealed that, mixed crop livestock farming were sources of
livelihood for 92.7% of the total respondents. In both farming systems, goats form important
component of the system accounting for 70.75% of the ruminant livestock holding. This
proportion was higher in AP (74.5%) than MCL farming system (63.6%). Breeding doe holds the
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dominant proportion of the goat flocks in both farming systems. Among others, cash income from
sales of live goat (100% of AP and 73.3% of MCL farming), household consumption of milk and
income from sales of milk were the first three purposes of goat production in their order of
importance. The majority of goat producers (79.3%) have their own breeding buck. Lower AFK
(16.08 vs. 17 month) and KI (7.64 vs. 8.23 month) were recorded for MCL as compared to AP
farming system. Feed scarcity, health, predator attack, scarcity of water and market access were
the production constraints reported by the respondents. Results of experimental study showed
that, the feed biomass supply of wet season pasture was eight fold higher than that of the dry
season pasture. Moreover, higher NDF, ADF and lower CP content were found for dry as
compared to wet season pasture. Compared to dry season, supplementation to wet season grazing
produced higher ADG (73.07 vs. 30.47 g/day), SBW (19.02 vs. 15.69 kg), EBW (15.9 vs. 12.3kg),
HCW (8.42 vs. 6.56 kg) and DPS (44.17 vs. 41.73%). The ADG, SBW, EBW and HCW were
higher for the most high energy containing feed (T1) followed by the second higher energy (T2)
while value for T3 and T4 were statistically similar. Supplementation to wet season grazing
promote higher dry skin weight (1.1 vs. 0.96 kg), thickness (1.38 vs. 1.13 mm), mean tear force
(58.19 vs. 46.39 N), load at burst (430.59 vs. 329.9 N), load at crack (303.19 vs. 271.46 N) and
lower water absorption of leather as compared to dry season. In conclusion, feed problem was
the most important constraint hindering the contribution of goat to the livelihood of producers, in
both farming system. In addition to the short supply and declining quality in dry season, the wet
season pasture did not support maximum performance. The improved performance from high
energy supplemented goat group and the high CP found in both seasons pasture may indicate the
unbalanced supply of the two most limiting nutrients, energy being more deficient