Influence Of Age At Castration

A total of three (3) experiments were conducted to study the effect of age at castration, type of birth and sex on the growth performance of Savanna Brown goats semi-intensively managed. Two experiments (one and two) were designed to observe the pre-weaning and post-weaning effect of age at castration, type of birth and sex on the growth performance of the animals. A third experiment was also designed to study post weaning effect of age at castration, type of birth and sex on the growth performance of Savanna Brown goats under feedlot management. Each experiment lasted for 12 weeks. In the first and second experiments, forty eight (48) Savanna Brown goats (kids) aged between 2 - 8 weeks were used for this study. The goats were randomly allocated to 12 treatments (T1- T12) comprising of 2 replicates with 2 goats per replicate. T1 -T8 were goats castrated at ages 2,4, 6,and 8 weeks respectively and T9 and T10 and T11 and T12 comprised of 8 entire males and 8 females respectively. The animals were sourced from within Niger state. The dates of birth of the animals were recorded and the weight of the animals were taken within 24 hours after birth.