Production System of Assam Hill Goats and their Performance Under Field Condition

B. Das; R. G. Sarmah; J. P. Sarmah

doi:10.5455/ijlr.20210823081705

Authors

B. Das Professor cum Principal Investigator, AICRP on Goat Improvement, Goat Research Station (GRS), Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Burnihat, Assam, INDIA
R. G. Sarmah Research Associate and Senior Research fellow, AICRP on Goat improvement, GRS, AAU, Burnihat, Assam, INDIA
J. P. Sarmah Research Associate and Senior Research fellow, AICRP on Goat improvement, GRS, AAU, Burnihat, Assam, INDIA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5455/ijlr.20210823081705%20%20%20%20%20%20%20

Keywords:

Assam Hill Goat, Production System, Performances, Reproduction, Socio-economic Condition

Abstract

An investigation was undertaken to study the farming system of Assam Hill Goats (AHG) under field condition. A total of 3745 goats maintained by 311 number of beneficiaries during 2009 to 2019 in five clusters (18 villages) of different districts, viz., Kamrup (Metro), Kamrup (Rural), Darrang, and Morigaon of Assam, India adopted under “ICAR - All India Coordinated Research Project on Goat Improvement”, Goat Research Station, Assam Agricultural University, Burnihat were utilized for the study. The percentage of marginal (land holding of <2 acres), small (2 to 5 acres) and medium (5 to 10 acres) farmers was 53.47, 26.07 and 20.46 respectively. Majority (61.41%) of the goat farmers were from other backward class (OBC), followed by schedule tribes (ST) (22.83 %.) general (12.54 %) and schedule caste (SC) (3.22 %). The average flock size was 4.03 with a range of 2 to 19. The management system followed for rearing of the goats was found to be semi-intensive system. The average body weight of AHG was recorded to be 1.24±0.01, 5.29±0.02, 8.03±0.04, 10.73 ±0.06 and 13.94±0.09 kg at birth, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age respectively. The weaning age of goat was at the age of 75 to 87 days. The age at first mating (days), weight at first mating (kg), age at first kidding (days), weight at first kidding (kg), first kidding Interval (days), service period (days) and gestation period (days) were 256.76± 7.01, 10.55±0.07, 405.07±0.07, 14.06±0.09, 225.99± 7.03, 79.91±7.86 and 147.31±1.01 respectively. The daily milk yield (gm) of AHG was recorded to be 114.33±1.50 with a range of 82.05-181.17 gm. Assam Hill Goats are small in body size and are mainly reared for meat purpose.

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