Development of Management Practices for Sustainable Improvement of Dairy Goat Productivity in Tanzania

This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of dairy goats introduced in rural areas of Babati and Kongwa districts, Tanzania. In addition, the study was aimed at developing good quality and cheap supplementary feed rations based on locally available feed resources for use by small-scale goat farmers. The diets tested were based on sunflower seed cakes (SFSC), Melia azedarach leaf meal (MLM) and Ficus spp leaf meal (FLM) as protein sources. These diets were fed to does for 90 days and their effect on milk production and growth performance of growers assessed. The average number of dairy goats per household was 7.45 in Babati and 4.25 in Kongwa. The main breeds kept in the villages were Toggenburg and Saanen. Lactation performance and reproductive performance of the two breeds were not significantly (P=0.05) different. Overall, lactation length, open period and dry period were 5.6, 3.7 and 1.9 months, respectively. Mean lactation milk yield was 254.0 l while average daily milk yield was 1.45 l/day. Age at first kidding and kidding intervals were 13.2 and 9.4 months, respectively. Lactating does supplemented with diets containing SFSC, MLM and FLM as protein sources produced significantly (P<0.001) more milk (3.11 – 3.77 l/day and total milk yield of 279.98 – 339.33 l) than those under farmers’ practice (1.94 l/day and total yield of 174.99 l). Similarly the weight gain (6.58 – 8.92 kg) and growth rate (72.67 – 119.89 g/day) of growers supplemented with the three diets were significantly higher than those under farmers’ practice (56.36 g/day and 5.09 kg mean weight gain). It is concluded that the performance of Toggenburg and Saanen under village conditions is not significantly different, implying that both breeds can be used for milk production in rural areas. Supplementation of the dairy goats with diets containing SFSC and MLM significantly improved the growth performance and milk production of dairy goats in rural.