Reproductive performance in goats and causes of perinatal mortality: a review

Abstract

Goat meat production is an expanding industry in Australia. However, there is limited data quantifying the levels of reproductive performance, particularly under extensively grazed rangeland conditions, which would inform interventions to improve performance. This review aimed to quantify the levels of reproduction, time and causes of reproductive wastage in goats. It considers the levels of fertility, fecundity, embryonic loss, fetal loss and post-natal survival reported under Australian conditions, and comparisons are made with international reports. Key management factors that may contribute to reproductive performance include breed, seasonality, nutritional conditions, and weather conditions at kidding. While goats are potentially prolific breeders, in Australia, the variation in weaning rate (kids/doe joined) among properties is large (51–165%), although the causes of this variation are not well defined. Generally, conception and kidding rates are high, although fetal loss associated with undernutrition is more likely in goats than sheep. As with sheep, perinatal losses are generally the largest source of wastage, with an average 20% kid mortality, but this level is influenced by litter size and appears to be higher under extensive rangeland systems. The causes of perinatal kid loss under Australian conditions are similar to those in sheep, with starvation–mismothering–exposure and dystocia or stillbirth the key causes. Studies are needed to accurately quantify the level and causes of reproductive wastage in commercial herds, including a range of management situations, to enable effective interventions to be developed.

Can a return to small ruminants increase profitability and drought resilience in the semiarid rangelands of northern Australia?

“…McLean and Holmes 2015). For example, there has been considerable recent interest in improving reproductive performance of livestock in the rangelands, particularly by reducing fetal and calf/lamb/kid loss (McGowan et al 2014;Allworth et al 2017;Robertson et al 2020). Clearly, an increase in production does not always result in a profitable outcome at the property level.…”

Milk Yield and Composition of Mixed-Breed Goats on Rangeland during the Dry Season and the Effect on the Growth of Their Progeny

“…However, limited maternal nutrition during late gestation and early lactation reduced the production and quality of colostrum and milk [ 14 , 15 ], which compromises offspring survival [ 16 ]. If offspring survives, postnatal growth is reduced which in turn delays the onset of puberty and decreases reproductive efficiency [ 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

A community-based intervention approach to control disease outbreaks and climate-related deaths in communally raised goat kids in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…The low prevalence of ticks in year-2 could be attributed to adoption of fortnight dipping schedule as advised by the research team. On the other hand, the insigni cant existence of tick loads could be that the ocks were not isolated from other communal ocks, thus results to acquisition of infestation from other ocks (Fthenakis & Papadopoulos, 2018;Robertson et al, 2020). Kids continued to acquire injuries due to predatory attacks throughout the year, and this could happen because goats from the studied villages were left to graze unsupervised.…”

“…Insu cient milk production from the does remaining a major constraint directly linked to reduced total productivity. Among the factors contributing to postnatal kid mortality are birth type (single, twins or triplets), season, age, sex, birth weight, and di cult or prolonged birth weight (Robertson et al, 2020). In a study conducted by Slayi et al (2014), it was noted that farmers are quite aware of some of the leading causes of kid mortalities in communal goat ocks.…”