4.1.1. General household characteristics
The majority (91.7 %) of the respondents in both study areas were male. The mean (±standard deviation) age of the respondents was 42.50±12.01 and 42.00±12.29 years for Western Lowland and Abergelle goat keepers, respectively. The mean family size was 5.40±1.85 and 6.30±2.34 for Western Lowland and Abergelle, respectively. This was higher than the national average of 4.80 (CSA, 2010b). In Western Lowland goat keepers the majority of respondents (56.6%) are able to read and write, whereas in Abergelle only 18 out of 60 farmers were literate.
The relatively higher proportion of literate household heads for Western Lowland goat owners would be a good opportunity to implement a goat improvement program as it might be easier for them to record performance and pedigree information. The average land holding (5.03±2.78 ha) of Western Lowland goat owners was significantly higher (P<0.05) than land holding of Abergelle goat owners (1.00±1.47 ha). These figures include only privately owned land for crop production. For grazing, communal grazing areas are used.
4.1.2. Purpose of keeping goats
Table 10 shows the purpose of keeping goats and their respective rank by study areas. Better understanding of the purposes of keeping goats is a prerequisite for defining breeding goals (Jaitner et al., 2001). The purpose of goat keeping identified in this study is in line with previous studies from Ethiopia and other African countries (Harpe and Abebe, 2008; Kosgey et al., 2008;
Legesse et al., 2008; Assen and Aklilu, 2012). The role of goat as source of cash income was found to be the primary reason of keeping goats in both study areas with index values of 0.5 and 0.4 for Western Lowland goat keepers and Abergelle, respectively. Milk production was ranked as the second most important role in Abergelle, while consumption of goat milk was considered as a cultural taboo in Western Lowland goat breeders. The value of manure was ranked third in Abergelle, whereas for Western Lowland goat breeders it was ranked fourth.
Table 10. Ranks of purpose for keeping goats
Purpose Study communities
Western Lowland goat owners Abergelle goat owners
Rank Rank
1st 2nd 3rd Index 1st 2nd 3rd Index
Income 52 8 - 0.500 38 13 7 0.410
Manure - 1 3 0.014 8 14 21 0.205
Meat 3 31 25 0.270 1 4 13 0.067
Milk - - - - 12 28 15 0.300
Saving 5 20 25 0.220 - - 3 0.010
Skin - - 4 0.010 - - - -
The highest index value means the highest importance
Western Lowland goat breeders gave higher priority to meat production (rank 2) and savings (rank 3) compared with Abergelle goat keepers. These results clearly show that goat rearing is seen as an option to generate income through sale of slaughter animals, but also contributes to the household consumption through meat and milk production. Based on the above, the conclusion is made that the main breeding goal of Western Lowland goat breeders is to increase meat production for marketing and consumption whereas Abergelle goat breeders wish to increase meat as well as milk production.
4.1.3. Livestock holding and flock structure
This study revealed that farmers keep mixed livestock species. The average ± SD ownership per household of cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys for Western Lowland goat owners were 10.1±7.8, 10.8±7.2, 0.3±1.5 and 1.0±0.3, respectively. The corresponding values for Abergelle were 7.6±6.8, 48.5±52.2, 6.4±11.6 and 1.3±1.4 respectively (Table 11). Goats were found to be an important species owned by respondents in both study areas, particularly in Abergelle. The average flock size of goats in Metema was significantly (P<0.05) lower than the average flock size in Abergelle. FARM Africa (1996) reported 11 goats per household for Western Lowland flocks and 20 goats per household for Abergelle flocks. The relatively higher flock size of Abergelle goats indicates the importance of goat production and a strong scope for breeding activities in the community.
Table 11. Age structure of goats in flocks of the different study communities
Age class Study communities
Western Lowland goat owners (N=60) Abergelle goat owners (N=60) Mean (number of N= Number of households SD= Standard deviation
The proportion of goats at different sex and age classes in both study areas follow similar trends, where breeding does represent the largest class, followed by kids (Table 11). These findings are in line with results of Deribe (2008) and Tsegaye (2009) who reported 48.1%
breeding does for Metema and 56.6% breeding does for Abergelle region, respectively In Western Lowland goat, breeding does made up to 44.8% of the flock followed by kids (28.75%), young does (did not give birth) (12.8%), young bucks (not sexually active) (7.21 %), bucks (4.14%) and castrates (2.27%). A similar pattern was also observed in Abergelle with 51.8%
breeding does, 18.4% kids, 12.89% young does, 9.60 young bucks, 6.65% bucks and 0.56% of castrates. The lower the proportions of the kids in the Abergelle area were due to seasonal kidding there. As the area is drought prone area, most of kidding was happened between November and December following the active mating at the wet season (June and July).
The ratio of breeding buck to breeding does was 1:7 for Western Lowland goat and 1:12 for Abergelle, which was higher than the recommended ratio of 1:25 for tropical traditional production system (Wilson and Durkin, 1988).
4.1.4. Selection criteria and breeding practice
Selection criteria for breeding does and bucks are summarized in Table 12. For Western Lowland goat owners, the most important selection criteria for breeding does were multiple births, body conformation, mothering ability and kid growth with index values of 0.34, 0.16, 0.15 and 0.11, respectively. Coat color, fertility traits (kidding interval and age at 1st kidding) were also mentioned as selection criteria but with lower ranking. The probable reason of high
emphasis for multiple births as the preferred trait by Western Lowland goat keeper could be due to the high availability of the feed throughout the year and the breed potential. Around 1.6 litters per kidding were reported by Western Lowland goat breeders. For Abergelle goat owners, milk yield, body conformation and multiple births were ranked as first, second and third important selection criteria with index values of 0.32, 0.21 and 0.12, respectively. Drought resistance, coat colour, kidding interval, kid growth, mothering ability and pedigree information were also described as selection criteria. Body conformation followed by coat color were found as the most important selection criteria of breeding bucks in both study communities with the index values of 0.33 and 0.22 for Western Lowland goat keepers and 0 .31 and 0.25 for Abergelle, respectively. The preferred colors in Western Lowland goat breeders were white, red and patchy of those colors. The preferred colors for Abergelle goat breeders were red brown and red. Plain black was the less preferred color in both communities. Due to the relatively large flock sizes per household in Abergelle goat, farmers gave a high emphasis on sexual activity of breeding bucks. In general, goat owners in both study sites preferred size and other performance traits. The improvement of traits related with growth performance can be achieved easily through village level selection as the traits are easy to measure and have high heritability.
Table 12. Selection criteria for breeding does and bucks
Selection criteria Western Lowland goat owners Abergelle goat owners Rank
In both study areas, mating was uncontrolled and random, since bucks were mixed with the does throughout the year. Most of the goat keeper respondents (91.67%) in Western Lowland practiced mixing of their flock during grazing period on average with 5 other flocks. However, in Abergelle only 15 percent of the respondents allowed their flocks to mix with other flocks during grazing. As explained by Kosgey et al. (2006) uncontrolled mating together with small flock size would increase the level of inbreeding. On the other hand, practice of mixing flocks would minimize the problem of inbreeding by increasing the chance of mating of unrelated animals (Jaitner et al., 2001). The implication of these results is that cooperative village level breeding scheme would be appropriate for Western Lowland goat breeders, while selection within individual flocks could be possible in Abergelle goat given the individual flock grazing practice and the large flock size. There is a significant (X2, P<0.05) difference in buck ownership between the two communities. Only 40% of the respondents of Western Lowland goat keepers had their own buck, however higher proportions of (86.67 %) Abergelle goat keepers had their own buck. The farmers, who had no buck, used bucks from their neighbors and grazing lands.
Regardless of the communities, farmers kept bucks mainly for mating and later fattening and slaughter.
Castration of bucks after mating/service was common practice in both study areas. Fattening was the most important reason of castration (77.5% for Western Lowland goat keepers and 82.32% in Abergelle). Castration to control mating and temperament were reported by a few respondents. The average age (2.10± 0.68 years) of castration for Western Lowland goat was significantly (P<0.001) lower than that of Abergelle (4.40 ± 1.05 years). Keeping of intact male in the flock for a prolonged period would increase the hazard of inbreeding through increasing the chance of mating of bucks with their daughters. The practice of castration reported in both communities would be good for implementing village level selection through avoiding of mating of unwanted bucks and it would also increase the value of culled bucks.
4.1.5. Reproductive performance
The average reproductive performances of goats as reported by the respondents are given in Table 13. There was a significant (P<0.001) difference between the two breeds for all aspects of reproductive performance considered. The better performance of Western Lowland goats may be due to the genetic superiority of the breed and/or better feed situation of the area. Age at first kidding reported in female Western Lowland goat (12.4 months) and Abergelle (15.5 months) goat were comparable to the report of 13.6 months for Metema area (Tsegaye, 2009) and 14.9
months for Abergelle (Deribe, 2008). The kidding interval, 6.29 months for Western Lowland and 8.28 months in Abergelle, observed in this survey was lower than given in earlier reports of 8.4 months for Western Lowland goat (Tsegaye, 2009) and 11.31 months for Abergelle goat (Deribe, 2008).
Table 13. Reproductive performance of goats as reported by respondents in the surveyed area
Trait Breed Test N= Number of respondents SD= Standard deviation
4.1.6. Production constraints
A good understanding of the existing production constraints in the study regions is essential for planning appropriate interventions. In both study areas high prevalence of disease and parasites were mentioned by the goat owners as the most limiting factor for goat production. All respondents complained about the low efficiency of veterinary service provided by the government. Feed shortage and recurrent droughts were also identified as important constraints for Abergelle goat owners. Goat keepers moved their goats to other areas where enough feed was available as a possible mitigation strategy. Feed shortage was mentioned by only a few goat owners of Western Lowland. This is because the area receives good rain and there is a relatively large area of communal grazing land. Predators, input (mostly veterinary service), lack of improved genotypes, labour and capital, theft, lack of market and lacking extension service were also reported as limiting factors of goat production in both study areas. This result is in line with goat production constraints reported for Southern Ethiopia (Tibbo, 2000; Legesse et al., 2008) and Northern Ethiopia (Tsegaye, 2009; Assen and Aklilu, 2012).