Identifier

etd-07082015-223841

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Animal Science

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The available supply of domestic goat meat has not matched the increased demand for goat meat. High cost of production is a concern of goat producers, with feed being a major factor in input expenses. Increasing slaughter weight of kid meat goats would increase the available goat meat, but requires added nutrition beyond that obtained from typical forage based systems for goat production. Savannah bucklings (n=31) and Boer bucklings (n=28) were stratified by weight and breed and were randomly assigned a treatment of 0 (T1), 15 (T2), 30 (T3), or 45 (T4) percent dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS). One goat from each pen was harvested on day 0 (H1), and every 21 days (H2, H3, H4) so that equal numbers of goats from each breed were sacrificed each harvest time. Bucklings and feed refusal were weighed weekly. Data was analyzed for ANOVA using Proc Mixed for fixed effects of treatment, harvest time and breed. There were no significant interactions for any traits measured. Breed did not affect (P>0.05) live performance, carcass traits, or cutability. Average daily gains (ADG) tended to linearly decrease with inclusion of DDGS, but significant difference were only observed in the second 21 days with T4 goats having the lowest (P<0.05) ADG. Treatment had no effect on feed efficiency. Goats in H4 had the highest (P<0.05) 1 and 3-hour temperatures and goats in H1 had the lowest (P<0.05) 1 and 3-hour pH values. The H4 carcasses had the largest ribeye areas and heaviest weights for most primal cuts. Carcasses and most primal cut weights of T4 goats were lighter (P<0.05) than those of goats in T1 and T2. Percentage of primal cuts in relation to the cold carcass did not differ (P>0.05) for treatments, but were influenced by harvest time. Warner-Bratzler shear force did not differ (P>0.05) for treatments and harvest time. The level and length of time feeding DDGS can affect goat carcass characteristics. This study found no differences in live traits, carcass characteristics, or meat from Boer- and Savannah-cross buckling kid goats.

Date

2015

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

McMillin, Kenneth

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.4142

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