A study
was undertaken to characterize production system, breeding practices and
production constraints of Begait goat in Kaftahumera district, northwestern lowlands of Ethiopia.
Personal observations, focus group discussions and a detailed structured
questionnaire were used to collect data from 150 respondents (99 small-scale
and 51 large-scale farmers). Mixed crop-livestock production system was found
to be the dominant farming system in the study district. The farmers kept a
variety of livestock species including goats, sheep, cattle, chickens and
donkeys. Small ruminants are the most numerous and are of great importance in
the area. Goats are herded with sheep in the open fields by the young boys in
the family/hired grazers. They have a number of roles though mainly kept as a
source of cash income. Breeding was generally uncontrolled. Size, growth rate
and libido were the most frequently reported traits in selecting bucks, whereas
does were selected based on size, twining ability and milk yield. Effective
population size and rate of inbreeding were calculated by considering random
mating and flocks were not mixed. The major constraints hampering goat
production in the area were water scarcity, feed and grazing land shortages and
insufficient veterinary services among the others. Therefore, addressing these
constraints is important to design a successful genetic improvement scheme in
the area for goat.
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