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Pre-weaning mortality and productivity indices for goats and sheep on a Masai group ranch in south-central Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

R. T. Wilson ,
C. P. Peacock  and
A. R. Sayers
R. T. Wilson
Affiliation:
Small Ruminant and Camel Group, International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
C. P. Peacock
Affiliation:
Small Ruminant and Camel Group, International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
A. R. Sayers
Affiliation:
Small Ruminant and Camel Group, International Livestock Centre for Africa, PO Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Abstract

In an examination of the productivity of goats and sheep on a Masai group ranch in Kenya, estimated least-squares means for pre-weaning mortality were 28·6% for goats and 32·1% for sheep. Three productivity indices based on total live weight of young produced per female per year, per kg female per year and per kg metabolic weight per year gave values of 11·1 kg, 410 g and 0·99 kg for goats and 14·1 kg, 473 g and 1·18 kg for sheep. The effects of environmental variables on these indices, the comparative advantage accruing to the variables, mortality, reproductive success and weight gain were used to construct a proposed set of interventions for the improvement of small ruminant production in south-central Kenya.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , October 1985 , pp. 201 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1985

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References

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