Characterization of male Sahel goat population at an abattoir in northeastern Nigeria: coat color, age and live body weight

Abstract Sahel goats are long-legged with a variety of coat colors which may be linked to body weight gain. Male goat population presented for slaughter in an abattoir in northeastern Nigeria was demographically characterized based on coat color, age and live body weight. The study was to provide features of the slaughter population, and to assess the impact of coat color on body weight at various ages. Sahel goats (n = 6653) at slaughter in Maiduguri (March-August, 2007) were identified by coat color, aged by dentition and weighed. Coat color proportions were 30.1%, 29.1%, 13.2%, 10.7%, 6.5%, 5.9% and 5.5% for white-and-black (WH-BL), white (WH), white-and-brown (WH-BR), brown (BR), black (BL), black-and-brown (BL-BR) and multiple-colored (MC), respectively. The WH-BL and WH were most common, but WH was the most consistently slaughtered. All goats had mean age and body weight of 1.8 ± 0.7 year and 17.6 ± 5.2 kg, respectively; and coat colors did not influence body weight at various ages. Age correlated positively (r = 0.96, p = 0.007) with body weight and negatively (r = -0.97, p = 0045) with number slaughtered. Most of them (91.0%) were 1.0-2.5 year old. In conclusion, male Sahel goats presented for slaughter at the abattoir were predominantly WH and WH-BL phenotypes and mostly young adults, and the groups with various coat colors at matched ages had comparable body weights with one another, showing that coat color may not be significant trait relevant as probable criterion for breeding selection to improve body weight.