Terminologies in goat reproduction
Listed below are some of the most common terms used when referring to reproduction in goats:
Fertility - ability to produce sperm or ova
Prolificacy ability to produce young
Litter size number of kids born to each nanny each birth
Kidding percentage number of kids born or reared in relation to nannies exposed to buck
Kidding interval number of days between two successive kidding
Service implant of fertilized ova that grows to foetus
Foetus growing kid in uterus
Service mating
Heat oestrus
Fertility is affected by both environmental and genetic factors.
For the farmer, fertility is seen as the ease with which a doe successfully conceives after kidding.
The shorter the period, or the fewer the number of services, the more profitable the exercise; and the happier the farmer.
The farmer would consider the number of services needed to get the nanny pregnant to be an indicator of fertility of the buck.
Prolificacy improves with age, with most nannies progressively giving more kids per litter up to their fifth or sixth kidding. Prolificacy is measured by litter size, kidding interval, kidding percentage or service period.
These figures are usually expressed as per animal or for a group of animals.
Thus the average kidding interval for the West Africa Dwarf is 258 days. Its litter size is 1-6 kids.
