Sustainable Management of Voluntary Culling Risk in Primiparous Zaraibi Goats in Egypt: Roles of Season and Reproductive and Milk Production-Related Traits

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to reconnoiter the relationships between season (birth season, BS, and kidding season, KS), reproductive traits (birth weight, BW; total litter size at birth, TLS; litter size at weaning, LSW; the number of kids dead, NKD, and; age at first kidding, AFK) and milk production (total milk yield, TMY; average daily milk yield, DMY, and; lactation period, LP), with voluntary culling risk in primiparous Zaraibi goats. Records of 637 primiparous does were collected during the period 2008–2014 from a herd of Zaraibi goats raised at the El-Serw Experimental Station, which belongs to the Animal Production Research Institute. Our data revealed that the voluntary and involuntary culling was 89.12% and 10.88%, respectively. Moreover, the BW, TLS, LSW, NKD, TMY, DMY, LP, AFK had significant effects on culling risk (p 2 years). This putative information could be used as indicators to enhance the management and genetic approaches in dairy goats and thus sustain productivity with low cost.

Keywords

• culling risk
• Zaraibi goats
• reproductive traits
• milk traits
• sustainable farm management