BackSirohi Goat gave birth to 5 kids at a time at CSWRI Avikanagar

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Genetic improvement programme in Sirohi Goat is going on in the institute flock of Animal Genetics & Breeding Division (ICAR-CSWRI) for improvement of growth and milk characteristics. Intensive selection without any additional input (Semi-intensive management system) is being practiced to produce elite germplasm which can be easily adapted at farmer’s flocks in field condition. This kidding season, one Sirohi goat (I-Tag: 5742) gave birth to 5 alive kids on Tuesday (12.12.2017). Out of 5 kids, 2 were males and 3 females and weighed 11.1 kg in total with average birth weight of each kid to be 2.22 kg. Weight of the dam at kidding was 47.2 kg. This was an exceptional feat as in-spite of thefact that Sirohi is known for its prolificacy and hardiness, kidding of 5 kids at a time is rarest of rare event. Four kids are now healthy, however, due to wrong posture at birth, one kid could not survive long after kidding.

ICAR-CSWRI Avikanagar has a flock of nearly 700 Sirohi goats and on average nearly 200 goats are given to farmers for uplifting the genetic potential of their goat flocks. Sirohi goat is dual purpose breed and well known for its growth and adaptability in Rajasthan as well as distant parts of India. Dr.Arun Kumar, Director CSWRI visited the facility immediately after this event and appraised that prolificacy trait in the Sirohi goat will be given more importance in the genetic improvement programme. This will help for realising the dream of Prime Minister for doubling the income of farmers as farmer can fetch more money by sale of more kids.