Small Ruminant Research 83 (2009) 7–13 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Small Ruminant Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smallrumres Performance of Toggenburg dairy goats in smallholder production systems of the eastern highlands of Kenya C.O. Ahuya a,∗ , J.M.K. Ojango b,d , R.O. Mosi c , C.P. Peacock a , A.M. Okeyo b a FARM-Africa, Kenya Country Office, P.O. Box 49502, Nairobi, Kenya b International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya c University of Nairobi, Department of Animal Production, P.O. Box 29053, Nairobi 00200, Kenya d Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Egerton University, Box 536, 20107 Njoro, Kenya article info Article history: Received 19 March 2008 Received in revised form 12 September 2008 Accepted 17 November 2008 Available online 6 May 2009 Keywords: Toggenburg Smallholder farming Genetic parameters Goat milk abstract The use of exotic dairy goats in breeding programmes for smallholder production systems is popular in Eastern Africa. However, information on the performance of exotic breeds within these systems is scarce. This paper presents information on performance of Toggen- burg dairy goats under smallholder production systems in a medium to high agricultural potential environment in Kenya under a community-based set-up as part of the character- ization of its adaptive and productive attributes. Environmental factors affecting growth of 646 goats born in the environment, and fertility and milk production of 160 does from 1997 to 2005 were evaluated. Genetic parameters were also estimated for early growth traits. The average birth weight (BW) for 607 kids was 3.27kg. Corrected weaning weights (CW), and average daily gain to weaning (ADG) for 646 kids were 19.12 kg and 136 g/day, respectively. The results indicated that the smallholder farmers were able to maintain comparably high levels of milk production in the first three parities (LMY), with yields of 475 ± 9l in 201 days for 160 does in the first parity, 507 ± 9 l in 264 days from 130 does in the second parity and 513 ± 13l in 296 days for 82 does in the third parity. Kidding intervals though initially long decreased with time to reasonable levels (302 ± 117 days). The heritability estimates obtained were low (0.23 ± 0.13 for BW, 0.18 ± 0.11 for CW and 0.14 ± 0.11 for ADG). Genetic correlations between the traits were also low. Genetic and phenotypic trends indicated lit- tle change in BW, CW and LMY over the years. The phenotypic trend in the kidding interval showed a reducing interval over time. The results demonstrated that the Toggenburg goats were able to perform and thrive reasonably well under the low-input farming conditions. © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction Goat improvement programmes, when well planned and executed, offer great opportunities for improvements of livelihoods of some of the poorest farmers in developing countries (Okeyo et al., 2001; Peacock, 2005). Dairy goats have become increasingly popular among development ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +254 20 2732203. E-mail addresses: Camillus@farm-africa.org, camillus.ahuya@yahoo.com (C.O. Ahuya). agencies that target the resource poor smallholder farmers in mixed crop-livestock production systems in the East- ern African highlands where farm sizes are small, and crop yields are low (Peacock, 2005). These goats can play a signif- icant role in improving the livelihoods of poor smallholders in these areas. Their small size and early maturity makes them especially suitable for use as a first step towards wealth creation. Dairy goat improvement strategies have mainly been crossbreeding of indigenous goats with exotic dairy types, resulting in crossbred populations with varying levels of exotic genes (Bradford, 1981; Ruvuna et al., 1988; Das et 0921-4488/$ – see front matter © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.smallrumres.2008.11.012