Feeding of feral goats before live export by ship.

Feral goats were lot-fed for either 7 or 14 days before a simulated shipping voyage of 20 days, to examine whether period of lot-feeding affected the proportion of goats that ate pelleted feed and the subsequent liveweight changes. During the period from the start of lot-feeding to the completion of the simulated voyage, liveweight losses were similar and underestimated true losses because of the removal of goats which lost more than 20% of their initial liveweight to days 7 or 14 of simulated shipping. Also period of lot-feeding had no effect on either the proportion of non-feeders during the simulated voyage or the proportion of goats that completed the voyage. It was postulated that the failure of the goats to eat in the feedlot was a likely cause for their poor performance. The results of this study suggest that there was no advantage in increasing the period of lot-feeding of feral goats from 7 to 14 days. However, further studies are required to define the optimum period of lot-feeding of feral goats before live export by ship.