There is increasing interest in the diversification of animal production systems to produce products which are not in surplus nationally. Fine fibre production from goats is one such subject area. Previous studies (e.g. Huston, 1980; Calhoun et al, 1988) in other countries have suggested that the yield and quality of mohair fibre may be influenced by nutritional factors such as protein and energy. The aim of the work reported here was to investigate the effects of differences in dietary protein and energy on body growth and yield and quality of mohair fibre produced by British Angora goats.

Twenty four male castrate British Angora goats of Australasian origin with an initial liveweight of 23.5 kg were used in a 112 day study. The goats were housed in individual pens and introduced to pelleted diets over a period of three weeks. The animals were allocated to four dietary treatments by randomised block design according to liveweight. The animals received diets containing, per kg dry matter, concentrations of estimated metabolizable energy of 10.2 MJ (LE) or 11.9 MJ (HE) and crude protein concentrations of 108 g (LP) or 180 g (HP) in a 2 x 2 factorial experiment. The animals were offered high energy diets (30 g/kg liveweight) which were increased when live weight increased by 1.0 kg. The goats on the low energy rations were offered amounts equivalent to 0.85 of the ME intake from HE diets. The live weight gain and food intake were recorded weekly.