The effect of cold acidified milk replacer on productive performance of suckling kids reared in an extensive farming system

- Artificial milk replacers are alternative feeds to produce goat meat.
- We examine the effect of acidified milk replacer on goat kids in extensive farming.
- In vivo and post-mortem data were registered.
- Milk replacer provides carcasses similar to those obtained with natural milk.

This study was conducted, in an extensive farm, to assess the effects of artificial feeding with an acidified milk replacer on productive performance of goat kids. Thirty-two Sarda kids, randomly divided into two feeding groups of 16 kids, (NM, naturally milk fed by their dams, and AR, artificially bottle-fed with an acidified milk replacer) were weighed at weekly intervals until slaughtering, at 42 days of age. A blood sample was collected from each goat kid before slaughter for the assessment of the metabolic status. Post-mortem data were registered: carcass characteristics; percentages of commercial cuts; muscle, separable fat and bone + tendons percentage. Results were analysed by a General Linear Model procedure. The two feeding groups showed similar live weights, except for the period between 7 and 21 days of age. As regards slaughter data, AR kids had a reduced fat deposition and carcasses with shorter diameters and a longer leg. Measurements after dissection showed that the muscle/fat ratio was more favourable in AR kids. Although there were some differences between the groups, haematochemical parameters of both NM and AR were in the range reported for goat kids. On the basis of the results of this trial, artificial feeding with an acidified milk replacer can provide carcasses similar to those obtained with natural milk feeding and can be used both for goat kid meat production and eradication schemes of diseases transmitted by milk-feeding.