Diet selection of goats in Namibia during the rainy season

Abstract

Abstract by author:

A study has been carried out to figure out forage preference of goats at Neudamm. The goats were roaming freely in the 112 ha of a highland savannah veld with a flock of 47, water freely available, supplemented with molasses-based lick blocks. In the trial systematic step-point sampling of veld's botanical composition was used and the results were compared with the preference of goats. Bite count technique has been used to quantify individual preferences of three marked goats. It was found that individual goats prefer different plants even if they are in the same veld, but the difference was so small that it can be due to other factors such as hindrance by the kid. However, the goats consumed about the same proportions of forages (Goat 100: woody plants 52. 7 percent; grasses 29. 1 percent; herbs 17. 5 percent / Goat 200: woody plants 48. 0 percent; grasses 29. 2 percent; herbs 22. 1 percent and goat 300: woody plants 52. 9 percent; grasses 30. 1 percent; herbs 16. 5 percent). The overall consumption shows that over half the diet were woody plants (51. 2 percent), whereas grasses and herbs were 29. 4 percent and 18. 8 percent respectively. The species favoured the most was Phaeoptilum spinosum (13. 0 percent) even though its occurrence in the veld was only 1. 5 percent. However, one goat preferred Acacia mellifera (l 1. 5 percent) above all. Acacia mellifera (an invasive species) contributed significantly to the diet (10. 7 percent) with its availability almost the same (10. 4 percent) in the area. This shows that the plant was consumed by chance. But, some species were consumed more while they occur very rarely in the environment. Perennial grasses contributed to the diet more than annuals according to their availability. Only few bites were unidentified. The trial showed that during the rainy season goats can consume grasses to a greater extent, but still shows that woody plants are preferred