Peanut meal supplementation for growing doe kids on woodland range
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Goats raised on range in the south-central United States often face a forage quantity and quality deficit from July through August that may be mitigated with inexpensive agro-industrial byproduct supplements. Peanut meal was tested in north-central Texas as a 0, 0.25 and 0.50% BW supplement on 20kg Spanish X Boer goat doe kids that rotationally browsed native hardwood under-story from May to mid-August during two low-rainfall summers (42 and 78% below the 30-year average). Average daily gains were measured and goat browse selectivity, ADF, AD-lignin (ADL) and CP concentration of the primary forage leaves were determined. Goats in the 0 and 0.50% supplement group obtained the lowest (70.05g, year 1; 43.38g, year 2) and highest (87.56g, year 1; 72.64g, year 2) ADG (P<0.05), respectively, during both years. Goats showed consistent preference for plant species across years as indicated by percent of foliage browsed, including greenbriar (88.2%), post oak (83.3%), hackberry (74.8%), live oak (74.3%), and elm (37.7%). Browse plant leaf number, CP, ADF, and ADL content decreased over time in all observed species as new growth replaced older browsed leaves. Of the plant species and leaf components studied, kids selected species with higher CP but did not select against ADF or ADL. Supplementation was most cost effective at the 0.25% rate indicating that minimal amounts of peanut meal enhance ADG of doe kids on warm season woodland range. 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
