ECONOMY OF SUPPLEMENTATION ON RED SOKOTO BUCKS DURING EARLY RAINY SEASON GRAZING

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the economy of supplementing Red Sokoto bucks’ feed with concentrate during early rainy season grazing. Four supplements were formulated to contain 12% CP. Twelve bucks (12) were used for the experiments in a completely randomized design with four treatments of three animals each as a replicate randomly allocated into four (4) treatment diets containing varied inclusion levels of soybean hulls. Supplement 1 served as control diet, while 2, 3, and 4 contained varied levels of soybean hulls at 15.00, 22.50 and 30.00% respectively. Animals were offered their respective supplements at 400g per head per day (200g each in the morning and evening) and thereafter allowed to graze the available forages. The experiments lasted for 84 days. Results of the experiments revealed that total cost of feed (₦) differs significantly (p<0.05) across the diets. Though, the total weight gain were similar (p>0.05) highest (1.23kg) value was recorded in T4. Also cost of feed per (₦) per (kg) weight gain were similar, lowest (1397.56) value was obtained in the same T4. It is therefore concluded that supplimentation of Red Sokoto Buck’s feed with soybean hulls at 30.00% had least cost of production with a concomitant reduction in cost of feed per (₦) per (kg) weight. As such is recommended for supplementation of Red Sokoto bucks during early rainy season grazing.