Socio-economic aspects and farming practices of goats in Southern Tunisia.

This study aims to describe socio-economic aspects, farming practices and production limitations of goats by surveying 53 farms holding 5507 head in the regions of Tataouine-Tunisia. It was revealed that goats represented a major source of income for most of the producers (66.1%). Approximately 35.8% of the farmers had not received formal education, with the majority (56.6%) having been engaged in goat breeding for over 10 years. Additionally, 50.9% of stockholders relied on technical knowledge for animal breeding. The investigated herds were mostly (97.4%) comprised of local goat breeds. The most common management system was semi-intensive (49.1%) based on grazing in communal rangelands and supplementation with agricultural by-products and concentrates. The fertility, fecundity and prolificacy rates were 91.3 ± 8.3, 109.8 ± 19.5 and 127.0 ± 15.4%, respectively. The main reasons for keeping goats were their major contribution to the income by the sale of male kids and the provision of milk for home consumption. Sale of male kids at an age of 7.7 months was practiced mostly via intermediaries (94.3%) and rarely directly to butchers and markets (5.7%). The total amount of milk produced on each farm was on average 15.1 l/day, and more than half of farmers (54.7%) consumed goat milk as part of their daily diet. The majority (71.7%) of respondents locally processed milk into Leben, Rayeb and cheese because the goat milk market faced constraints in the Tataouine regions, mainly in terms insufficient milk production and low consumer acceptability. Goats contribute to the income source in rural zones of southern Tunisia, where their breeding is mainly for the purpose of meat sale and the provision of milk for home consumption. The development of goat milk market can represent an added value to this sector.

Factors affecting the milk yield and composition over lactation of prolific D'man ewes in Tunisian oases.

This work aimed to investigate milk potentiality and the influence of some non-genetic factors both on milk yield production and composition in prolific D'man sheep. Observations were performed in eighty lactating D'man ewes maintained under an intensive oases system in Southern Tunisia. Daily milk yield was determined at 7-day intervals using oxytocin + hand milking method. Chemical milk composition was determined by Lactoscan. Total productions over lactation (milk, fat, and protein) were estimated using the Fleischmann method. Daily milk yield averaged 1.64 ± 0.02 l. It increased to a plateau from the third to the fourth week of lactation, and decreased gradually to the tenth week. D'man ewes produced 128.91 ± 3.14 l of milk, 9.23 ± 0.26 kg of fat, and 5.26 ± 0.12 kg of total proteins. Overall, milk contained 16.17% of total solids, 7.08% of fat, 4.04% of proteins, 4.32% of lactose, 9.09% of solids-not-fat, and 0.73% of ash. Lambing season affected the daily milk yield and milk composition, where fat and total proteins were highest in autumn. Total solids, lactose, solids-not-fat, and ash were higher in winter than in autumn and summer. Ewes reared multiple lambs produced more milk than those reared singles. Dams nursing triplets or more had the highest milk total proteins, and the lowest total solids and fat levels. Adult ewes produced more milk compared to younger and older ewes, and their milk contained higher total solids, fat, and ash levels than milk from young ewes. Ewes with asymmetric udder produced less and more concentrated milk than ewes with symmetrical udder. Daily milk yield was negatively correlated to total solids, fat, and total proteins amounts. In contrast, litter survival at weaning was positively correlated to the amounts of total milk, fat, and total proteins.