Levels, causes and factors affecting mortality in a herd of small East African goats on a semi-arid thornbush Savannah
Date
1986Author
Gachuiri, C K
Carles, A B
Schwartz, H J
Type
PresentationLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Kenya comprises vast arid and semi-arid areas and at
the present level
of technology and economic infrastructure in the country, the only feasible
way to prod-:&z food for human consumption from these areas is through
domestic ruminants.
Small stock production has played a major role in th economy of range
areas in the past 10 years. Sheep and goats have contributed significantly
more than cattle in terms of livestock products in these areas (Semenye,
1977).
The goat population has recently been estimated at
7.7 million with 40%
of these being kept by pastoralists (Stotz, 1983).
An increasing proportion of goats is observed in the pastoralists flocks
with increasing aridity of the environment, leading to the assumption that
goats are better adapted to the conditions of the arid rangeland of Northern
Kenya.
High mortality rates, especially prcweaning, has been cited as a major
constraint on improving productivity. Wilson et al. (1985) reported a
preweaning mortality of 28.6%
for goats in a Maasai ranch. Carles et al.
(1982), working in a pastoral area in Northern Kenya, reported mortalities of
6-12% for breeding females, rising as high as 66% during the first year of
life.
An opportunity arose to study in more detail, the causes, levels and
factors affecting mortality in a typical pastoral system with the
establishment, by the Department of Animal
Production in cooperation with the
Ministry of Livestock Development, the European Economic Community, the
German Research Foundation and the
German Agency for Technical cooperation,
of a research station in a pastoral area near Isiolo.
Citation
Gachuiri, C. K, Carles, A.B & Schwartz, H.J(1986).Levels, causes and factors affecting mortality in a herd of small East African goats on a semi-arid thornbush Savannah. Proceedings of the fifth small ruminant CRSP workshop held in Kabete, Kenya November 4, 5 and 6, 1986Publisher
Department of Animal Production, University of Nairobi
Description
Paper in a Workshop proceeding