How to Raise Boer Goats? Main Measures to Improve Fertility

The Boer goat is a precocious, high-yielding meat-type sheep breed. It is a year-round polyestrous animal and can come into estrus in all four seasons, but most often in autumn. Its peak estrus period is from August to November, when semen quality is at its best. Generally, in regions between 35° north latitude and 35° south latitude, they can come into estrus year-round. In high mountain areas, the estrus season of Boer goats is short, while in plains areas it is long. In warm regions, the estrus season of Boer goats is long, while in cold regions it is short. How can the fertility of Boer goats be improved?

1. Select and retain prolific breeding sheep. The number of lambs born to Boer goat ewes has strong heritability; therefore, breeding sheep can be selected and retained from the offspring of rams and ewes that have multiple births and multiple lambs.

2. Increase the proportion of breeding-age ewes in the flock. Timely cull old, weak, diseased and disabled sheep, and replenish young ewes every year, so that breeding-age ewes account for more than 60% of the flock.

3. Cull infertile sheep. Timely cull sheep that do not come into estrus, do not conceive, frequently abort, or produce inferior or weak lambs.

4. Supplementary feeding to stimulate estrus. One month before mating, improve the composition of the daily ration and raise the nutritional level, especially the protein level. This can promote estrus in ewes, increase the number of ovulations, and raise the rate of twin or triplet lambs. Green, succulent feed has the function of promoting gonadal activity, follicle maturation and multiple ovulations in ewes. If ewes consume more of this type of feed before mating, their fertility can be significantly improved.

5. Mate or inseminate at the proper time. Accurately grasping the time of estrus and the duration of estrus in ewes is key to improving the conception rate during the estrous period. If insemination is too early, especially for ewes with a long estrus duration, and if the survival time of sperm in the body is shorter than the time to ovulation, the sperm will already be dead when the egg is released and fertilization cannot occur. The time during which the egg retains fertility after release is shorter than that of sperm. If insemination is too late, after the sperm capacitate and reach the site of fertilization, the egg has already lost its fertility, which will also cause fertilization failure. Usually, the conception rate is high when mating occurs within 8-20 hours after the ewe comes into estrus.

6. Adhere to the repeat-mating system. For a ewe in estrus, after the first mating, mate again 8-12 hours later. For repeat mating, the same ram or a different ram may be used.

7. Use ovulation-promoting hormones reasonably. LH (luteinizing hormone), HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) and LRH-A3 (ovulation-promoting No. 3) all have the effect of promoting ovulation in animals. Injecting this type of hormone into ewes at mating can promote ovulation and also has the effect of promoting corpus luteum formation and secretion, with good results for improving the conception rate at mating. The application doses for Boer goats are LH 50 units, HCG 500 units, and LRH-A3 40-60 micrograms.

8. Use sperm-transport-promoting hormones reasonably. Oxytocin has the physiological effect of promoting uterine contraction. Before mating, infusing a certain number of units of oxytocin or prostaglandin into the ewe's uterus or adding it to the semen can increase the speed of sperm movement in the ewe's reproductive tract and improve the conception rate at mating.