By Our Reporter
NATIONAL
After years of Research, our National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB) has developed the Kasolwe brown goat breed.
Unlike the exotic goat breeds we have, the Kasolwe brown goat breed has been bred to be resistant to our local disease challenges especially Tickborne diseases and Haemonchosis.
This makes it, easy to keep and maintain. It’s going to be a game changer for our goat farmers.
The new breed developed at and named after Kasolwe stock farm in Kamuli district was undertaken by NAGRC&DB scientists alongside private goat breeders and custodians in Kamuli and Buyende districts through the dispersed nucleus breeding scheme.
Through several years of systematic selective breeding and conventional improvement methods among the indigenous goats of Uganda at the Kasolwe animal genetic resource centre, NAGRC&DB has come up with a foundation stock of more than 500 goats that are able to breed true to type based on phenotypic adaptive and production traits.
The Kasolwe goat breed is highly competitive on account of its ability to multiply very fast given its excellent twinning rates, enhanced growth rate (up to 127g/day), high weaning percentages, and its resilience to common diseases such as Haemonchosis and Heart Water that commonly affect goats in Uganda.
Its ability to thrive in marginal production environments, while remaining highly prolific, is what makes it a super breed of choice for smallholder farmers in Uganda and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
This goat product is a result of isolation, selection, and breeding of Uganda’s indigenous goats with a particular interest in specific traits and is characterized by several special features that include a shiny dark brown hair coat (resilient to both endo and ecto parasites), black mane running from the face to the tail along the spine as well as sturdy, stout limbs suited for movement in challenging terrain.
Other attributes include a large udder size able to breastfeed and sustain twins and triplets without supplementation, horns that vary from being straight (in females and young males) to curved (in adult males) and an average daily weight gain of up to 127 grams.
At maturity, a female Kasolwe brown goat breed weighs up to 65kg while males can grow up to 75kg. NAGRC scientists have so far conducted comparative analyses between the Kasolwe goat and other breeds available in Uganda, including the Savanah, Boer, Mubende, Kigezi, and Kalahari.Ugandan travel guide
The findings revealed that the Kasolwe goat performs remarkably well in most productivity parameters, especially, twinning ability, disease resistance, weaning percentage and adaptability to diverse agro-ecological zones. Dr Katali Benda, the head of the goat breeding program at NAGRC, says the program is steadily building a national resource of immense value to farmers and the livestock industry.
“The Kasolwe goat is just one of the many locally developed goat breeds in the pipeline, poised to support the sustainable commercialisation of goat farming in Uganda,” he says.
With this breakthrough, it remains to be seen how NAGRC&DB will spread out the goats to farmers, especially those under government programmes such as Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga but Dr Peter Beine, the NAGRC&DB executive director, says that with adequate support, Uganda will become the major exporter of goat genetic resources in sub-Saharan Africa.
