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(284) Arsi-Bale

1.General breed information

Species:	Goat
Breed Name/Strain :	Arsi-Bale
Common Name/Synonym:	Arsi, Gishe, Sidama, Manta, Awarch
Breed Group Name:	Short-eared Small-horned
Subgroup Information:	Ethiopian Rift Valley Family
Group Origin:
Domestic goats with scimitar-like horns are considered to have descended from the Bezoar goat (Capra hircus aegargus) in south-west Asia, where the wild form still exists. The time of domestication was before 7000 BC around the borders of the present-day Iran and Iraq. Goats had reached Egypt by the 5th millennium BC and the small short-eared, sabre-horned, generalized type was occasionally illustrated on the tomb paintings of the 4th millennium. It appears that as these types of goats were gradually replaced in Egypt by goats with spiral or corkscrew horns, which had originally entered Egypt from the east about 3500 BC. However, the short-eared and short-horned goats maintained their presence in the equatorial west, central and east Africa. In humid and hot climate of west and central Africa, the present-day goats of this type tend to be dwarf, which is believed to be due to natural selection on thermoregulation under the unfavourable humid and hot climate. In addition the West African Dwarf goat often has short bowed legs attributed to achondroplasia. It is possible that this characteristic was deliberately selected for by owners just for its oddness. The distribution of this goat type extends southwards through central Africa as far as Zaire, Angola and the north of Namibia (Mason, 1984).
Breed Origin :
(Part of the Rift Valley family of goats in Ethiopia).
Main Location:
Distributed throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, up to an altitude of 4000 m in the higher altitude areas of Sidamo and western Hararghe; also occupies all the agro-pastoral lowlands within the Rift Valley from Lake Abay in the south to Zwai in the north (FARM-Africa, 1996).
Special Characteristic:
Medium to large in body size (66-73 cm height and 30-42 kg weight); 25% of the population shows hairy coat on parts of the body; pied colour pattern; predominantly straight facial profile; horn length ranges from 12 to 24 cm; polledness occurs in 6% of the population; ears are fairly long (14 cm); 92% of males and 52% of females have beards (FARM-Africa, 1996).

2. trait data

2.1 Adult Heart Girth (cm)

No.	Sex	Mean	SD	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Male	85	7	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system.	（1516）
2	Female	74.9	4	The same as above	The same as above	（1516）

2.2 Adult Live Weight (kg)

No.	Sex	Age	Mean	SD	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Male		42.1	9.6	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system.	（1516）
2	Female		30.4	4.5	The same as above	The same as above	（1516）

2.3 Adult Wither Height (cm)

No.	Sex	Age	Mean	SD	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Male		73.2	6.9	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system.	（1516）
2	Female		66.1	3.5	The same as above	The same as above	（1516）

2.4 Average Daily Milk Yield (lts)

No.	Age	Mean	SD	SE	Sample Size	Trait Value	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1						Range: 0.25 - 0.50	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system	（1516）

2.5 Beard Description

No.	Sex	Trait Value	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Overall	Beards occur on 92% males and 52% of females. Ruffs occur only on 33% of males. About half of the females and 75.5% of males in Sidamo are bearded, but in the agro-pastoral areas beards on females are less frequent (38.7%). Wattles are present in 14% of males and 11% of females.	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system	（1516）

2.6 Coat Colour/Pattern

No.	Sex	Trait Value	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Overall	The coat colour varies between any of the seven types (white, black, brown, fawn, grey, roan and red), with the first three being most dominant. Colours appear more in patchy combined patterns than in plain or spotted ones. The most frequent colours are mainly white in males (35%), and brown in females (40%). Black is found in 20% and grey in 22% of goats. They have a hairy coat (25%).	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system	（1516）

2.7 Ear Type

No.	Sex	Age	Trait Value	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Overall		The ears are fairly long. About 10% have a semi-pendulous ear form, the rest being erect or horizontal. Ear length (mean盨D) was 14.1?.3 cm in males and 14.0?.3 cm in females.	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system.	（1516）

2.8 Horn Description

No.	Sex	Age	Trait Value	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Overall		Males have curved (47%) and straight (41%) horns mainly pointing backwards (58%) with some pointed straight upwards (28%). Polled goats were 6% in both sexes.	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system.	（1516）

2.9 Horn Length (cm)

No.	Sex	Age	Mean	SD	Location of Study	Management Condition	Source
1	Male		23.7	7.2	Throughout the Arsi and Bale regions, Ethiopia.	Mixed farming system.	（1516）
2	Female		12.5	3.3	The same as above	The same as above	（1516）

2.10 Litter Size (nos)

No.

Parity

Mean

SD