Effect of Non-Genetic Factors on Reproduction of Extensive versus Intensive Florida Dairy Goats

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the production system and other environmental/phenotype factors on age at first kidding (AFK), kidding interval (KI) and prolificacy of 19,772 Florida goats reared between 2000 and 2019 on 49 dairy farms (38 farms intensively managed and 11 extensively managed with grazing). AFK was lower on intensive (490.2 ± 0.9 days; n = 13,345) than on extensive farms (511.7 ± 2.5 days; n = 2357; p < 0.001), and highest during the spring season (533.9 ± 2.7 days; n = 1932; p < 0.001) in both production systems. The average KI was 355.7 ± 0.4 days, mainly varying according to dry period, kidding season and lactation number and kidding type (p < 0.01). A significant interaction between production system, kidding season and dry period was observed with the highest AFK on intensive farms during spring and summer for goats presenting a dry period of up to six months. The overall prolificacy (1.64 ± 0.01) increased in recent years in both systems, and it was affected by the production system, but with different patterns; so, the highest prolificacy of primiparous and multiparous goats was observed on extensive and intensive farms, respectively. Besides that, the prolificacy and other reproductive parameters, such as AFK, significantly increased in the last decade, which could be related to management improvements. Besides that, the existence of inter-annual variations should be considered to compare data between farms and years, and to establish the farms’ objectives according to their production systems and production goals.