Effect of birth type on body measurements and growth in Surti goat kids

Abstract

The goat contributes 4% of the total milk and 16% of the total meat production in India. As Goat is called as poor man’s cow because it provides milk, manure and protein source at low cost. Goat is gaining recognition in backyard industry because of less space necessities and better efficiency than cattles. The current study set out to investigate the goat's body weight as well as the biometry of the twin kid and singlet. 14 Surti goats were used in the data analysis, and the mean body weight values of the Surti kids on days 0, 7 and 15 did not differ significantly (p>0.05) between the twin and singlet groups (2.21±0.10 vs. 2.07±0.07). When twins were 60 days postpartum, their height at wither was significantly (p<0.05) higher (45.00±0.48 vs 42.28±0.89). According to the findings, the increased muscle and fat deposits in uniparous goats that give birth to singlets may be the reason why Surti goats that bear them have larger body weights.