Nutritional characterization of goat forage resources in extensive systems

Abstract

The main fodder species preferred by goats were identified through surveys to farmers in natural prairies of semiarid region of Lara state, Venezuela. The annual mean of rain fall and temperature for the region is 450 mm and 27ºC’s respectively. Mineral and chemical compositions of six of the predominant foddering species were used to characterize nutritionally the main foraging sources commonly consumed by goats under range management. Only 17% of the farmers use molasses, entire corn, crop residues, concentrate or minerals (mainly red salt) as feeding complementation of herds. From surveys, the main nutritional sources for goats were legumes and columnar and no columnar Cactaceae. Grasses are available only during the rain period. The protein content of the evaluated vegetables species ranged from 16.3 to 19.3%. They were also a good source of fiber, low in lipids and minerals, with high values of calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc, but deficient in phosphorus content. The evaluated feeding resources have good nutritional quality, the problem seems to be associated to fodder available to animals, due probably to an overgrazing of the prairies