WEANED VERSUS UNWEANED—A STATISTICAL STUDY OF AN EX-
PERIMENT CONDUCTED ON GOATS
By S. S. PRABHU and V. N. AMBLE, Imperial Council of Agricultural Research
(Received for publication on 26th January 1946)
I N December 1939 at the suggestion of the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, a small
scale experiment was started on goats at Etah, to investigate the possibilities of introducing
weaning on a large scale, as an economic measure in the rearing and breeding of goats. The experi-
ment was designed specifically to test,
(i) The effect of weaning on the milk-flow of the dams, and
(ii) The effect of weaning on the growth of kids.
It was conducted simultaneously on two breeds of goats. One was Jumnapari—the largest and
most handsome of the long eared indigenous goats of India that combine milk with meat qualities,
and the other was Barbari—the essentially milk producing dwarf goats of Central and West Africa,
that are being bred in certain parts of Northern India. The present statistical study was under-
taken in order to see whether significant conclusions, if any, have emerged bearing on the specific
points mentioned above.
DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT
In each breed, 20 does in differing lactations, were selected soon after parturition, and they were
divided into two groups of 10 each. Kids from one group (Group A.) were weaned at birth, i.e., they
were separated from their respective mothers soon after birth and later brought up through hand-
feeding. The second group (Group B) kids however, were not weaned at birth, but were allowed
to suckle their mothers till the age of four months, when they were weaned. As regards the record-
ing of milk given by the does, the method differed in the two groups. In Group A, the milk yields
of the does were recorded daily ; in Group B, milk recording of yields was done only one day in a
week. On that day, the kids were not allowed to suckle their mothers who were completely 'stripped'
and the milk drawn recorded. The total weekly yield of milk was obtained by multiplying this
figure by seven. Thus it would be clear that the methods of milk recording followed in the two
groups were distinctly different and it is reasonable to expect that it would make the result of the
experiments on the two groups not strictly comparable. It can be mathematically shown, however,
that the possible error, when such comparisons are made, is in fact small and can safely be neg-
lected. Finally, care was taken to see that animals in each group, were identical, as far as possible,
as regards age, level of production and general constitution. As regards the kids, their weights were
taken at regular one-monthly intervals, till they attained the age of one year.*
The experiment was repeated over a period of five years, i.e., from 1940-41 to 1944-45, not always
using the same does each year. In the analysis reported herein, Barbari breed data alone have
been utilized, as it is in this breed that weaning may hold out commercial possibilities.
RESULTS
For the purpose of statistical analysis, the experimental results are split up into two main heads
and are considered separately:
(i) Results pertaining to the effect of weaning on the dams, and
(ii) Results pertaining to the effect of weaning on the kids.
(I) Effect of weaning of kids on dams
Lactation-wise enumeration of the does used during the entire experimental period of five years,
is given in Table I. It may be seen from table I that during the five years, in all a total of 123 does
*For details of husbandry followed in this experiment the reader is referred to an article by S. S. Bhatia in Indian
Farming (1942) and to the Annual Progress Reports of the Etah Goat Breeding Scheme (1940-1945)
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