Individually-penned Matebele does were randomly allocated to three
dietary treatments during
gestation (0·66, 0·50 and 0·33 MJ ME/kg metabolic
weight) and subsequently offered either 0·95 or
0·6 MJ ME/kg metabolic weight during lactation in Gwanda, south
west of Zimbabwe, in 1990. The
diets offered consisted of veld and lucerne hay and maize grain in proportions
of 0·56, 0·24 and 0·2, respectively.
Reducing the amount of energy consumed from 0·58 to 0·26 MJ
ME/kg metabolic weight in the
last 7 weeks of gestation resulted in does suffering a net loss in body weight
(−2 kg) and body
condition score, although it had no significant effect on the birth weight
of single kids.
Reducing feeding in the first 15 weeks of lactation from 0·95 to
0·59 MJ ME/kg metabolic body
weight only had minor effects upon liveweight and body condition score change
of the does and had
no effect on the growth of kids. Amount of feed offered in lactation had a
positive effect upon milk
yield and there was a trend for yields to increase proportionally to
pre-partum dietary intake. Diet
had no effect upon milk composition. It was concluded that the benefits of
supplementary feeding are
small and may not justify the extra costs entailed in smallholder systems.