Journal of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine

In the Sudan, the husbandry system of goats in urban and peri-urban areas subject them to kid in streets, under vehicles and in dirty environments thus exposing the newly born kids to the risk of predators, crush under vehicles, exposure to diseases and occasionally death due to the unattended difficult birth. Therefore, need to control time of kidding for survivability of kids and future fertility of the dam was the overall objective of this study. In a randomized block design experiment, twenty mid-term pregnant Nubian goats were assigned to four treatment groups namely, control (1), prostaglandin F₂α (PGF₂α) treatment (2), dexamethasone treatment (3) and cesarean operation (4), with an overall aim of selecting an appropriate tool for elective induction of parturition that preserves life and health and future fertility of does as well as production of viable kids. The hormonal treatments and caesarean operation were performed on day 140 of gestation in all the treatments. The shortest induction time was seen with caesarean section (1.25±0.72 hours) and dexamethasone showed the longest time for induction (57.40±9.21 hours) followed by PGF₂α treatment (29.00±1.37 hours). All the treatments resulted to ease of kidding, preserved the reproductive life of does and produced viable kids, except caesarean operation that significantly resulted in delayed placenta expulsion (22.20±2.86 hours) and delayed the time for resumption of ovarian cyclicity (58±5.25 days). In conclusion, the study recommended the use of prostaglandin F2α hormone as a valuable tool for strategic elective induction of kidding in the Sudanese Nubian goats because of its shortest induction time, early placental expulsion and return to ovarian activities.