Assessment of conventional and non-conventional estimation of live weight, carcass characteristics and dressing percentage of Nigerian breeds of goats as panacea for livestock entrepreneurship

The price tag on goat at the farm gate or market is usually by visual appraisal as the use of weighing scale for body weight determination is cumbersome and technical. This study was carried out to determine the reliability of using the girth tape as a non-conventional method of live weight, carcass characteristics and dressing percentage estimation for economic gain of goats. Female goats (n=75) were purchased from Akinyele goat market to comprise of WAD (n=25), Sahel (n=25) and Maradi (n=25) with the age range of 22-24 months. The weights were measured using a conventional weighing scale. Also, a calibrated girth tape was used to measure the heart girth of the circumference of the chest. The goats were humanely slaughtered and properly processed for the determination of dressing percentage. The carcasses were carefully sectioned into five parts namely: neck, right forearm, left forearm, right thigh and left thigh and the weights were determined. The values for scale and girth tape measurements were 15.90±4.15kg and 16.28±4.17kg, 20.81±5.80kg and 19.97±5.56kg, and 25.47±3.70kg and 25.20±3.48kg, respectively. There were not significant (p>0.05) differences between scale and girth tape measurements for the goats. The dressing percentages were 51.29±3.87%, 49.26±3.51% and 43.11±4.17% for WAD, Maradi and Sahel goats, respectively. There were apparent (p<0.05) differences in the dressing percentage among the breeds. There were significant (p<0.05) variations in the neck (0.87-1.21kg), right thigh (1.09-1.50kg), left thigh (1.85-2.42kg), right forearm (1.79- 2.45kg) and left forearm (1.82-2.39kg) among the breeds. There were significant differences in the weights of liver (0.41-0.51g) and kidney (0.11-0.15g) but none for heart and lungs among the three breeds of goats. There was also significant (p<0.05) difference in the weights of liver and kidney (0.51±0.12g) for Sahel goats. The results of the coefficients of correlation between weighing scale and girth tape measurements of body weights of goats were significant, positive and high. The result of the regression analysis showed an adjusted R2 of 0.992. It can be concluded that the girth tape may be a reliable tool without weighing scale while the WAD goats may also be more economical to slaughter for sales as it yielded more meat than Maradi and Sahel goats.