The performance of the Small East African goats and their Saanen crosses in Malawi

Abstract

The performance of randomly selected Malawian local goats and their Saanen crosses was compared. The average litter size at kidding was 1.35 and 1.52, respectively. Birth weights, 12-week weights and weaning weights at 17 weeks were respectively 2.2 kg (SE = 0.12 kg), 8.2 kg (SE=0.41 kg) and 10.7 kg (SE = 0.62 kg) for the local goats and 2.31 kg (SE=0.40 kg), 11.4 kg (SE = 1.59 kg) and 19.2 kg (SE = 2.39 kg) for the Saanen crosses (P<0.001). The growth rate up to weaning was 71 g (SE = 4.8 g/day) and 139 g (SE=18.5 g/day) for the local goats and their Saanen crosses respectively (P<0.01). Saanen crosses produced more milk (83 kg, SE 4 kg) during a 12-week period (P<0.001) than the local does (37 kg, SE 5 kg).The results indicate that crossing Small East African goats with Saanens would improve not only milk production, but also the growth rate of their kids, contributing to improved meat production.