Abstract

A cross sectional survey was conducted to characterize production system and to identify breeding objectives of Maefur goat population in the eastern zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. A pre-tested questionnaire was used for the personal interview with purposively selected 150 households. The data collected through personal household interview were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Indices were used to provide the ranking. The mean (±SD) family size of the household was 8.5±2.1. The average (±SD) livestock holdings of the sampled household for goat, chicken, sheep, bee colony, and cattle were 31.0±11.1, 12.2±4.2, 6.8±4.5, 3.7±3.7, and 3.0±1.5, respectively. Does are mainly reared for milk, breeding, meat and for manure production with an index value of 0.25, 0.24, 0.17 and 0.14, respectively. Average composition of goat flock was 50, 22, 15, 10, and 3% for does, gimmers, bucks and wethers, respectively with an average ration of intact male to female goat was 6.3:1. Male and female goat reached for sexual maturity at the average (±SD) age of 11.1± 1.5 and 12.7±2.1 months, respectively with an average (±SD) age of 21.1±2.0 months at first kidding of the female goat. The average (±SD) kidding interval was 7.1±0.6 months.

Key words: Maefur goat, breeding objectives, selection criteria, reproductive performance.