Abstract

GAYTAN, Leticia; MELLADO, Miguel; VELIZ, Francisco G.  and  DE SANTIAGO, Ma. de los Angeles. Milk production, kidding interval and kid growth of indigenous goats of southern Mexico. Ecosistemas y recur. agropecuarios [online]. 2016, vol.3, n.9, pp.401-405. ISSN 2007-901X.

Milk production, kidding intervals and kid growth were evaluated in 20 multiparous indigenous goats of southern Mexico, grazing on a tropical forest. The association between milk production and kid growth rate was also assessed. The total average milk yield was 26.9 ± 9.3 kg, in lactations of 108 ± 13 d. Average daily weight gain of kids was 67 ± 27 g. Considering the entire lactation, daily milk yield accounted for less than 1 % of the known variation in kid weight gain. It was concluded that, due to the high energy investment in reproduction (mean kidding interval of these goats was 195 ± 8 d), low genetic merit for milk production, low adult body weight (28.7 ± 3.3 kg), and sub-optimum nutrition (6 h daily grazing), the lactation performance of the indigenous goats of southern Mexico was very poor, which forces kids to depend upon native forage at an early age.

Keywords : Body weight; calving interval; grazing; growth traits.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English     · English ( pdf )