Goats throw lifeline to inseminators

Asaph Murage, a veterinary officer, saunters into the homestead of a farmer keeping goats in Ndia, Kirinyaga County.

Dressed in a brown overcoat, a blue shirt and jeans trouser, he is carrying his signature green denim bag on his back.

After exchanging pleasantries with the farmer, Murage, who inseminates goats artificially, is shown the animal to fertilize – a brown Toggenburg doe. He then gets down to work.

He is one of the growing number of goat inseminators in the region, who are highly sought by farmers, as dairy goat-keeping surges amid shrinking land sizes and high price of their milk.

And as many farmers embrace dairy goats, artificial insemination (AI), which initially was restricted to cows, is picking up, handing inseminators like Murage a new lifeline.

“I have been an inseminator for last seven years, initially specialising on cows, what I studied at the Animal Health and Industrial Training Institute in Ndomba, Kirinyaga. But as goat rearing soars and demand for AI grow, I went back to school for a course in goat AI,” he recounts.

Goat AI is considered a difficult task because of the animal’s body shape, says Murage, who mainly works with Dairy Goats Association of Kenya (DGAK) members spread in Nyeri, Embu, Murang’a and Kirinyaga.

“The cervix of a cow is straight while that of a goat is spiral. It requires a lot of expertise to carry out AI in a goat successfully as it is easier to injure the animal in the process because of the complicated reproductive system.”

He uses semen obtained from Toggenburg, Saanen and Alpine dairy goats because of their high milk production.

Successful goat insemination

In the denim bag, he carries a 10kg container filled with liquid nitrogen that freezes the stored semen.

“To inseminate a goat, I place a spectrum outside its body to enlarge and provide passage to the cervix. I then draw semen from the liquid nitrogen tank using a straw that must be placed in warm water to attain a high temperature before I put it in an insemination gun that is used to deposit the semen in the goat’s uterus.”

He buys the semen from DGAK at Sh350 per straw and charges Sh1,500 for the exercise, exclusive of his travel costs.

Just as with cows, for successful goat insemination, Murage advises that one has to be keen to detect heat signs.

“Once a goat starts showing signs of heat, it is best that it be served in the first 24 hours. However, goats unlike cows, extend their heating period past the 24 hours.”

According to him, a goat that is on heat will be restless, reduce feed intake and milk production if lactating.

“It is also likely to mount others, wag its tail continuously and constantly bleat. The heat period of a goat will depend on its hormones, if they are good, it will display clear signs.”

But there are goats that have silent heat, only seen by excreting mucus from their cervix. Such goats don’t display any other signs of being on heat, says Murage.

For the goat to come on heat, Murage says it should be fed well, including a mixture of the dairy meal supplement with mineral salts, soya and sunflower which is rich in proteins. The mixture will be a balanced diet.

According to DGAK, there are 58 certified and practising dairy goat inseminators in  central Kenya.
Before one trains as a goat inseminator, they must first be experts in cow insemination.

This is obtained by having certificate or diploma in animal health, a certificate in cow insemination and  a certificate in goat insemination.

In a month, Murage serves at least four different farmers with varying number of animals.

One farmer may have up to three mature goats that are on heat at the same time.

Some farmers, with the help of experts, do heat synchronisation by injecting them with hormones. In such a case, he will inseminate all of them in about a week.

Some inseminations are unsuccessful and Murage blames this on poor semen storage.

“The liquid nitrogen tank should be filled all the time to ensure the functionality of the semen,” he says, adding in case of failure, the exercise is repeated and a farmer pays the full amount.

After insemination, he leaves the used straw with the farmer since it contains recordings indicating the type of semen that has been given to the goat.

“The numbers on the straw are important as they are used for future reference to prevent inbreeding, which leads to poor quality animals.”

Maintain high hygiene

According to him, big body goats are the best for insemination because they are capable of successfully carrying pregnancies

Semen is mainly collected from bucks with big bodies thus the preference for big-bodied does, he says.

“A small-sized doe may develop health complications during pregnancy or even die while giving birth because of the large size of the kid.”

To repeat insemination after a failed exercise, he advises that one should wait for at least 18 days.

“Goats that have conceived will no longer display signs of being on heat anymore 18 days after being served. If the farmer was milking the goat, after three months, the goat will no longer produce any milk,” he says, adding a goat has a gestation period of five months.

In cases where an AI has failed more than twice, one should use hormonal treatment on the goats.

Murage advises farmers to increase supplements in the meals of a pregnant doe, deworm it often, maintain high hygiene at the goat shed and ensure pest control.

James Ondieki, a senior lecturer at the Department of Animal Science at Egerton University, says that most students study AI of cows due to the belief that the animals are highly valued than goats.

“But goat-keeping is picking up and farmers are embracing AI for quality breeds. This is the next frontier for service providers.”

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