S.K. Karua
Department of Animal Science, Bunda College of Agriculture
P. O. Box 219, Lilongwe, Malawi
Abstract
Introduction
Methodology - Study area
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
References
A survey of goat management systems was carried out in the Central Region of Malawi on two sites. The first was Lilongwe on six adjacent villages surrounding Bunda College of Agriculture. The second site was Salima at Lifidzi ranch. Goats were weighed and condition scored in March, June, September and December for a period of two years. It was found that goats had higher weights and were in best condition in September and in poorest condition in March in both years. While at the ranch the loss in weight was attributed to disease associated with intensification of the production system, in the villages tethering and grazing in limited areas during the wet season were the major constraints.
The importance of the goat in Malawi is borne out of its popularity as well as its numbers. Twenty eight percent of the rural households in Malawi keep goats as compared to 13%, 8% and 2% keeping cattle, pigs and sheep respectively. The population of goats is 1.6 million (National Sample Survey of Agriculture 1981/82). Half of the national flock is found in the Central Region while a quarter is found in Lilongwe Agricultural Development Division (Table 1).
Table 1. National sample survey of Agriculture 1981/82 Goat figures - thousands in 8 Agricultural Development Divisions.
|
Agricultural Development Divisions | |||||
|
Malawi |
Karonga |
Mzuzu |
Kasungu |
Salima |
Lilongwe |
|
1.575.7 |
24.0 |
137.6 |
309.5 |
106.6 |
414.4 |
|
Liwonde |
Blantyre |
Ngabu |
|
|
|
|
211.3 |
212.6 |
159.8 |
|
|
|
Malawi, a landlocked country with a population of 8 million which is said to be increasing at the rate of 3.0% annually. At a density of 85 people/km2 (NSO, 1987) per capita land availability to smallholder farmers is 0.95 ha (Munthali, 1986). Agriculture is the backbone of the country's economy. The smallholder subsector predominates the industry contributing about 77% of agriculture GDP (Reserve Bank of Malawi, 1988). However, livestock production has been lagging behind. The major constraints are poor management practices, breed types, inadequate extension efforts and feed shortages just to mention a few.
Natural pasture is the most important source of feed in almost all ruminant livestock in Malawi. The success of the smallholder goat production therefore largely depends on how the farmers produce and manage their forage resources throughout the year.
The objective of this work was to assess the goat management practices, with a view to singling out the existing management of feed resources in goat feeding and production.
A study was carried out in the Central Region of Malawi at two sites. The first site was six adjacent villages around Bunda College of Agriculture in Lilongwe (14'35's; 33°50'E; 1200 m). The second was Lifidzi ranch in Salima (13°55'S; 34°28'E; 500 m).
The Central region like the rest of Malawi has a cool dry season (May to August); a hot dry season (September to November) and a hot wet season (December to April) which is also a crop growing season, (mainly maize, groundnuts, beans and tobacco as a commercial crop). In Lilongwe the soils are ferrogenous and the vegetation is mostly open canopy woodland. In Salima, soils are alluvial and vegetation is thicket savanna.
A total 417 and 323 Malawi local goats in Lilongwe and Lifidzi ranch respectively, were used in the study for a period of 2 years (1985 and 1986). All goats were identified by plastic tags and all village goats were treated as one herd as were those at the ranch.
Both in the Lilongwe area and at Lifidzi ranch, goats were kept in night enclosures from which they were released in the morning for grazing on natural pastures. In Lilongwe, goats were left to roam freely during the day with no deliberate attempt to herd them in the cool dry and the hot dry seasons. During this period apart from grazing and browsing, goats were observed to have an access to crop residues such as maize bran, maize grain left in the harvested fields, pumpkins and pumpkin leaves, bean pods and haulms, groundnuts and groundnut haulms and husks, tomato fruits and leaves, potato shoots and tubers, cassava leaves, banana fruits, peels and leaves and green vegetables discarded from vegetable gardens (dimba). During crop growing season (hot wet season) goats were restricted to prevent crop damage. The common practice was to tether the goats (93%) on the grazing site for the whole or part of the day. The other 7% of the goats were herded by small children after school.
At Lifidzi ranch goats were herded on natural bush land from 7.00 to 11.30 hours and from 13.00 to 17.00 hours every day and in all seasons.
All goats were weighed in March, June, September and December during the period of study. Ages of the goats were unknown and were estimated using dentition (Wilson and Dunkin, 1984). In Lilongwe, in addition to weighing, the goats were condition scored from 1 to 5 (Appendix I). The data was analysed using Advanced Statistical Analysis Package (ANAPAK) available at the Bunda TRS 80 Model 1 computer unit.
Male and female goats having only one pair of permanent incisors had a mean liveweight of 21.7 ± 4.6 kg in Lilongwe. In Salima, mean liveweight was 22.0 ± 2.0 kg for females. Figures for males in Salima were not available (Table 2).
Liveweights for goats had increased to 31.5 ± 5.0 kg in Lilongwe and 29.5 ± 5.2 kg in Salima among those with a full set of permanent incisors (Tables 2 and 3). Likewise, withers height changed from 47 ± 2.2 cm and 45 ± 5.0 cm to 55 ± 3.6 cm and 52 ± 2.0 cm in Lilongwe and Salima, respectively for goats with first pair and full set of permanent incisors. This indicates that the goats were growing until they had developed a full set of permanent incisors which takes place at the age of 32 months or later (Table 2).
In Lilongwe as well as in Salima (Lifidzi ranch) the common pattern in seasonal weight changes showed highest weights of goats obtained in September (hot, dry season) and lowest in March (hot, wet season). While in Lilongwe these differences were statistically significant in both years (P<0.05), in Salima the difference was significant only in the second year. On both sites, weights obtained in June and December were intermediate of the two extremes (Table 3). Although weights of bucks were confounded by the fact that most of them were young and still growing, the results still show lowest weight in March on both sites (Tables 4 and 5).
On the whole, goats in villages were heavier than those in Salima (Lifidzi ranch). In all seasons, this difference was not statistically significant.
Table 2. Withers height (cm) and liveweight (kg) of Malawi local goats in Lilongwe and Salima.
Table 4: Seasonal changes in weight of bucks of 3 and 4 pairs of permanent incisors in Salima (Lifidzi ranch).
|
Buck No. |
March 1985 |
June 1985 |
Sept 1985 |
Dec 1985 |
March 1986 |
June 1986 |
Sept 1986 |
Dec 1986 |
|
1 |
39.0 |
41.5 |
43.0 |
42.0 |
40.0 |
44.0 |
47.0 |
40.0 |
|
2 |
32.0 |
35.0 |
36.5 |
39.5 |
38.0 |
39.5 |
40.0 |
43.0 |
|
3 |
35.5 |
34.5 |
41.0 |
44.0 |
39.0 |
40.5 |
47.5 |
47.5 |
|
4 |
32.5 |
40.5 |
36.5 |
40.0 |
37.5 |
36.0 |
42.0 |
46.0 |
|
5 |
38.0 |
41.0 |
44.5 |
44.5 |
38.0 |
46.0 |
52.0 |
52.0 |
|
Mean |
35.4 |
38.5 |
40.3 |
42.0 |
38.5 |
41.2 |
45.7 |
47.3 |
Body condition scoring was carried out only in animals kept under traditional system in Lilongwe. Results indicate that almost all goats were in better condition in September (hot, dry season) than in March (hot, wet season) (Table 6).
Table 6. Body condition of goats in Lilongwe in different seasons.
|
|
Percent of animals scored | |||
|
Condition Score |
December (Hot, wet) |
March (Hot, wet) |
June (Cool, dry) |
September (Hot, wet) |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
0.69 |
1.5 |
0 |
0 |
|
3 |
51.05 |
87.39 |
1.61 |
1.0 |
|
4 |
44.05 |
10.37 |
4.03 |
5.0 |
|
5 |
4.21 |
0.75 |
84.36 |
94.0 |
This study has shown that goats have lowest dry weights and are in poorest body condition in the hot wet season. The wet season in Malawi is characterised by a profuse growth of forage and herbage which ideally should enable goats to improve both in body weight and body condition but this is not the case. The situation is more grave in the traditional management system in the villages than in the commercial system at the ranch, although there too the pattern is the same.
While at Lifidzi ranch, the reason for loss in body weight and condition in the wet season is contributed by disease associated with intensification of the production system (helminthiasis, coccidiosis and abscesses) (Edelstein, 1988), tethering and the resultant poor nutrition seems the major cause in the villages. Studies done in the villages in Salima (Central Region) reported by Edelstein (1988), have shown that coccidiosis and abscesses are not major problems in village goats and that goats which were treated monthly with antihelmintics lost weight equally the same as those not treated. This led to the conclusion that antihelmintics besides being uneconomically expensive, have no effect on the performance of village goats in the wet season.
Grazing area for goats in Central Region seems abundant in the cool dry and hot dry seasons with crops harvested and goats left loose to roam freely. However, this area shrinks with the onset of rains when most of the land is used for cropping so that goat owners resort to tethering or grazing in limited areas. This results to inadequate herbage availability to the goats hence loss of condition and weight. The consequences are higher kid mortality and abortion rates, lower reproductive rates, birth weights and litter sizes (Karua, 1988) and reduced growth rate among weaners (Edelstein, 1988).
Tethering is a good management practice if properly done. However, tethering on the same place everyday regardless of wether forage is available or not, in addition to being conducive to build of helminthes and restriction of breeding activities, deprive the animal adequate nutrition. In the Central Region of Malawi, this seems to be a major constraint to goat production.
Body weights and condition for goats both in the villages and at the ranch improve after the rains because of unlimited availability of herbage which in the villages is due to change in management system coupled with reduced disease burden in both systems. Availability of crop residues during this time is an added advantage for the village goats although these dwindle as the dry season progresses.
While at the ranch, the solution to wet season loss of weight and the consequences in goats requires combined effort of veterinarians, nutritionists and agronomists; in the villages it lies mainly on proper management of feeding system. The present tethering system could be modified to include rotation of tethering sites both within and between days. Apart from having nutritional benefits, the system would help reduce build up of internal parasites at the tethering site. In intensively cultivated or densely populated areas, cut and carry systems would be adopted for wet season feeding. Such a system is successfully practiced in parts of Nigeria (ILCA, 1979). This is particularly practicable in the Central Region of Malawi because the herdsizes are small (six per household) (Khaila and Itimu, 1985) so that labour demand for this exercise can be low.
Preservation of crop residues and supplementation with wastes from food processing e.g. maize bran are other feasible sources of feed for the goat. Ayoade (1985/86) found that both groundnut haulms and bean pods can significantly improve body weight and growth if supplemented with maize bran.
Figures on the national offtake of goats are not available. However a survey conducted by Khaila and Itimu (1985) found that goat meat is only second to chicken in terms of preference among the smallholder farmers in the Central Region. Per capita consumption of meat is 3.2 kg (Bookers Agriculture International, 1983) of which 78% is beef. This seems to indicate that contribution by other types of livestock is still very low. In case of goats this can improve if farmers are educated on the management of their feed resources.
Malawi government has a well organised extension service. However, like the rest of Africa, all along, goat development was not included in the extension packages. (Khaila and Itimu, 1985). It is more recently that the Malawi-German Livestock Development Programme has established an extension and marketing system for small ruminants in an effort to fill this extension gap. It is hoped that this will act as an incentive for higher goat production in Malawi.
Research on the goat suffered from the same neglect so that information which can be used for extension services is lacking. A study like the one reported here is only an initial effort to provide such information. More integrated research whose results can be generated into a system approach needs to be done.
The author is indebted to Dr. T.P.E. Makhambera, Dr. M.W. Mfitilodze and Mr. J.W. Banda for their assistance and encouragement in carrying out this research. Also thanks go to the University of Malawi Research and Publication Committee for funding this work.
Appendix I. Boat Body Condition Scoring.
Source: Modified from Russel et all (1969).
Ayoade, J.A. 1985/86. A note on the effect of maize bran supplementation on voluntary intake and liveweight change of goats fed bean (Phaseolus) pods. Bunda Journal of Agricultural Research 1:41.
Bookers Agriculture International. 1983. Livestock meat study Report. Consultancy report to the government of Malawi.
Edelstein, M. 1988. Health problems associated with intensification of the livestock industry. Paper presented at the First National Workshop on Livestock Production in Zomba, Malawi, 3-9 January 1988.
ILCA. 1979. Small ruminant production in the humid tropics. Systems Study. No 3. ILCA, Addis Ababa.
Karua, S.K. 1988. Reproduction and growth of the indigenous Malawi goats under traditional system of management. Paper presented at the Goat Development Workshop held in Bikita, Zimbabwe, January 1988.
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National Statistical Office. 1988. Malawi Population and Housing Census. 1987. N.S.O. Government Printer, Zomba. Malawi.
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Russel, A.J.F., Doney, J.M. and Gunn, R.G. 1969. Subjective assessment of body fat in live sheep. 1988. Journal of Agricultural Science. 72:451-454.
Wilson, R.T. and Dunkin, J.W. 1984. Age at permanent incisor eruption in indigenous goats and sheep in semi-arid Africa. Livestock Production Sciences. 11:451-455.
