Essay On Goat

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INTRODUCTION India is the abode of rich and diverse livestock genetic resources encompassing economically valuable species of livestock and a large number of breeds/strains. Recognizing the importance of indigenous animal genetic resources and their dwindling populations, there is an obligation to conserve this in a sustainable manner. To make a sensible conclusion about which breeds to conserve, the breeds need to be characterized and evaluated. Goat is a multipurpose animal, which is appropriately called as "Poor man's cow" in India and as “wet nurse” in Europe. The goat can be maintained with meager resources. Goat milk is consequently, low-cost and healthy/nutritious, which is best suited to infants, pregnant ladies and the ailing and elderly people. The domestication of animals was commenced during Neolithic times along with the cultivation of cereals. The goat was perhaps the earliest ruminant to be domesticated (Randhawa, 1980). First goats and sheep, followed by cattle and pigs, and finally draft animals such as horses and asses were domesticated. Adaptable, curious, and sociable, goats were among the first animals to be domesticated. The wild goat (Capra hircus), the chief ancestral stock from which the various breeds of domestic goats have been derived, is found in the barren hills of Baluchistan and the…show more content…
The goat population has increased from 47.2 m in 1951-52 to 115.3 m in 1991-92 and 120.6 m in 1996-97 with annual growth rate of 3.6 and 3.4 % respectively with reference to the population in 1951-52. The estimated 122.72 m goat population in 1997 reached to 124.36 m in 2003 and is estimated to reach to 137 m (approx.) by 2005. This is despite a staggering current mean rate of slaughter of goats around 41% and the mean rate of mortality around 11.5%. Goats along with sheep have an important role in income generation, capital storage, employment generation and improving house hold

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