A production programme for goat meat would begin
with the choice of breed that could be adapted to the climatic
and topographic environment, or that is suitable
for a particular production system. The breed must have
the characteristics of a meat-producing animal. It must
be robust for extensive rangeland conditions and be resistant
or tolerant to endemic diseases, with high fertility and
fecundity. Females must have excellent mothering abilities
with sufficient milk for the number of suckling kids
to grow to a heavy weaning weight. Weanlings must be
strong and adapt well to foraging, with high post-weaning
growth rates to a point of market readiness. Males must
show prominent masculine features, have high pre- and
post-weaning growth indices, display keen libido and be
fertile. The goats must be responsive to and thrive on the
available feed to deliver carcasses with adequate proportions
of tissue composition and distribution for a given
market (Sebsibe et al., 2007).