Breeding objectives, selection criteria and breeding system of indigenous goat types in bale zone, oromia, Ethiopia

The study was undertaken in bale zone to assess farmer's selective breeding objectives, trait preferences, selection criteria and breeding system October 2012 to November 2013. A purposive and multistage sampling technique was applied for selection of 3 district and 9 kebeles. Then 360 households were selected by using simple random sampling techniques after the list of pastoralist having goats was identified. Statistical analysis system version 9.1 was used for analysis of data. Indices, effective population size and rate of inbreeding were calculated on average each respondent holds about 14 goats. Milk production is the main reason of goat keeping in the study area. Appearance is the first rank as selection criteria for male and female in all studies area. About 47.8% of the respondents have their own buck. The main use of breeding buck in the study area was for mating purpose (76.2%). Mean estimate of effective population size and mean rate of inbreeding was 2.43 and 0.21, respectively when a household flock is herded alone and under random mating. Therefore, any breed improvement strategies that are intended to be implemented in the study area and else- where should consider the traditional breeding practices and breeding objectives of the community.