Eleven young male goats (kids) were purchased at approximately 7 days of age and fed a milk substitute (Kidolac, Volac Ltd. ) by means of teats supplied by plastic tubing. Consumption of substitute was restricted to 150g/day suspended in 1 litre of water. A pelleted complete diet (Start-to-Finish, Volac Ltd.) was introduced at 21 days and fed ad libitum. Milk substitute feeding was discontinued on day 49.

At 21 days of age kids were blocked for age and allocated to one of two groups: Entire (E, n=6) and Castrate (C, n=5). Mean weights at this time were 6.1 ± 0.42kg and 6.1 +0.37 kg for E and C respectively.

Immediately following allocation to treatment, group C animals were castrated by means of a bloodless emasculator. Feed consumption was recorded weekly and animals weighted monthly until slaughter at 159 days of age.