Feeding dairy ewes and goats and growing lambs and kids mixtures of protein supplements

Abstract In two trials, with 86 lactating Chios ewes and with 66 Damascus goats, the effect of protein source (soybean (SB) or mixture of SB and meat meal (MM)) on pre- and post-weaning lactation performance and the pre-weaning growth rate of their offspring was studied. In another three trials with early weaned Damascus kids (50 ± 3 days of age) and Chios lambs (42 ± 3 days of age) the effect of level of inclusion of soybean meal (SB) and of partial replacement of SB with either fish meal (FM) or MM on their performance was studied. The diets in Trial 1 with a total of 81 kids were SBH (high level of SB), SBL (low level of SB) and FM (partial replacement of the low level SB with fish meal); the diets in Trials 2 (112 Damascus kids) and 3 (165 Chios lambs) were SBH (high level of SB), SBL (low level of SB), MMH (partial replacement of high level SB with MM) and MML (partial replacement of low level SB with MM). Total milk yield, milk suckled, milk sold, BW changes of ewes and goats on the two diets and growth rate of their offspring until weaning did not differ between supplements ( P > 0.1). During the post-weaning period, there were no differences ( P > 0.1) between diets in either milk yield or milk composition. Kids fed the SBH diet grew faster ( P P P > 0.1). In all three trials, males were heavier than females at the commencement and at the end of the trial. We conclude that partial replacement of SB by MM will not increase milk yield of ewes and goats. However, meat and soybean meals can replace each other. With regard to fattening offspring it is concluded that (1) MM and FM can successfully replace SB, (2) their inclusion may improve animal performance and (3) combination of SB with either MM or FM will result in satisfactory growth even at lower levels of dietary CP. The selection among the protein supplements used can be made on the basis of cost per unit of protein.