Responses of Tswana goats to various lengths of water deprivation

The aim of this trial was to determine the water intake of Tswana goats and investigate the effects of short term water deprivation in summer or winte r (6000 ml water offered either once every 72 h, 48 h, 24 h or ad libitum) on feed intake, dry matter digestibility, growth rate and health. Goats wer e fed a diet comprising 50% Cenchrus ciliaris hay and 40% Medicago sativa h ay. Feed intake per kg metabolic weight was inversely related to water inta ke. Body weight gains decreased with longer watering intervals, rectal temp eratures were unaffected but respiratory rate, packed cell volume, pulse ra te, haemoglogin level and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration was hi ghest with the 72 h watering interval. Feed intake and daily weight gains w ere higher in winter than summer, but animals drank more water in summer th an in winter, and showed more signs of dehydration in summer. Dry matter di gestibilities (%) were 66.8, 66.7, 64.2 and 65.2 for water intake intervals of ad lib, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h respectively; digestibilities of organic ma tter, crude protein and crude fibre followed the same trend. Urine output, faecal output per kg metabolic weight and faecal moisture content decreased with increased length of water deprivation. It was concluded that Tswana g oats are well adapted to semi-arid zones and can be watered once in 72 h wi thout severe dehydration.