ANN 121: Applied Animal Nutrition-I (2+1)

FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF GOATS

• Goats are considered to be the best converter of fibrous feed into good quality meat called as 'Chevon'.
• Goats have upper mobile lip and very prehensile tongue, which helps them to graze on very short i.e. near to earth grasses and browsing on plant leaves which are not usually eaten by other species of animals.

• Goats are more or less susceptible to toxic plants than other species, also they are less sensitive than cattle to the toxic effects of tannic acid.
• Goats refuses any kind of feed which has been soiled.
• It has been observed that goats can distinguish between different tastes however they have higher tolerance for bitter taste plants than cattle.
• They consume certain species of plants at definite stage of growth and may reject them at other time.
• Goats have high efficiency for utilization of cellulose.
• As a result of metabolic reactions after feeding NH3 and TVFA are produced in highest concentration in goats than other species of animals, which is because of solubility of feed, digestibility, particle size, amino acid composition of protein, presence of other nitrogenous compounds and the level and nature of carbohydrates in diet.
• In goats the BMR and Thyroxine production is higher than other species, and that is why goats require somewhat greater maintenance ration than sheep and cattle.
• The nutrient conversion efficiency for milk production in goats ranges between 45-71%.
• They are easily tired off consuming the same fodder for longer duration.