PRODUCTIVITY AND MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF BOER GOATS IN MAJESTIK FARM BIRNIN-KUDU, JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the productivity and morphometric measurements (MM) of Boer goats raised in Nigeria. Datawere collected from the imported flock of Boer goats maintained at Majestik Farm Birnin-Kudu, Jigawa State. A total of 110 Boer goats (40 males and 70 females) of different ages (>3years, 2-3years, 1-2years and <1year) were considered for morphometric characterization. Secondary data on reproductive performance were collected. Six morphological characteristics; body length (BL), height at wither (HW), chest girth (CG), head length (HeL), ear length (EaL) and neck circumference (NC) were measured. Data were collected according to standard guidelines for characterization of goat breed. Dataobtainedweresubjectedtosimpledescriptive statistics and analysisofvariance using Statistical Package for social science version 23. The results showed that age at first kidding, kidding interval, kidding, twinning and mortality rates were 14.26±2.07 months, 10.38±1.81 months, 150.00%, 46.91% and 4.94% respectively. All MM were significantly (P<0.01) varied between the age groups of Boer goats studied. Male Boer goats had significantly (P<0.01) higher MM except for CG than female. It was concluded that Boer goats in this study were prolific and good producers of multiple birth