Effect of goat milk and milk substitutes and sex on productive parameters and carcass composition of Creole kids

Abstract

Sixty Creole kids were assigned to three groups, fed either goat milk only (T1) or a commercial calf milk substitute/replacer (T2) or a goat kid milk substitute/replacer (T3). Kids in all groups were maintained with their mothers until 5-day-old, then placed into individual pens. Milk and milk substitute intakes for T1, T2 and T3 until reaching 10 kg slaughter weights were 55, 79 and 68 kg, respectively. Dressing percentages (DP) for T1, T2 and T3 were 53, 50 and 51%, while the REAs were 4.25, 3.90 and 4.3 cm 2, respectively. The heaviest carcass component was the digestive tract, followed by head and skin, extremities, blood, liver, lungs and heart. HCWs represented 43–47% of slaughter weight and 50–53% of empty live weight (LW) in the three groups. T1 had better average daily gains (ADG) and feed conversion efficiency than T2 or T3, reaching slaughter weight earlier (63 days) ( P<0.05) than the other groups (88 and 78 days for T2 and T3, respectively). They also seemed to have better carcass characteristics ( P>0.05). Differences for male kids in growth rates, feed efficiency (FE) ratio, and carcass characteristics were statistically not significant. Profitability of either kid feeding system depends on local price conditions and needs further studies.