Volume: 57 Issue: 2
Year: 2026, Page: 271-276, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2026.57.2.271-276
Received: Jan. 30, 2026 Accepted: April 10, 2026 Published: June 30, 2026
A study was conducted in the University Goat and Sheep Farm, Mannuthy for a period of three months in twenty four selected kids. They were divided randomly into four groups consisting of a control group (C) and three treatment groups (T1, T2, T3). The milk feeding regimens varied in quantity and frequency: Group C received milk at the rate of 1/6th, 1/8th and 1/10th of body weight during 5-30, 31-60 and 61-90 days respectively, fed four times daily. Group T1 received the same quantity as C but was fed thrice daily. Groups T2 and T3 received lower quantities (1/8th, 1/10th and 1/12th of body weight across the same periods) with frequencies of four and three times a day, respectively. All the kids received solid food from day 15. Kids were observed for various parameters such as feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain and average daily gain. All the observed parameters were significantly higher (P<0.01) in C and T1 than in T2 and T3. It was concluded that Malabari kids fed with milk at the rate of 1/6th, 1/8th and 1/10th during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd months, respectively, showed better growth performance, whereas feeding frequency had no influence on the growth performance of Malabari kids.
Keywords: Malabari goat kid, milk feeding, quantity, frequency, growth
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© 2026 Varsha et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Varsha, R., Sasidharan, M., Balusami, C., Geetha, N., Thomas, M. & Sahib, L. (2026). Evaluation of different milk feeding practices on the growth performance of Malabari kids. Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, 57(2),271-276 https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2026.57.2.271-276