Dystocia in goats from Djelfa in Algeria

Dystocia, or difficult birth, is defined as prolonged and difficult parturition. It may be either of maternal or fetal origin. To our knowledge no study has been made on dystocia in goats. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe the common causes of dystocia in goats from Djelfa, in Algeria. Among the general causes, fetal causes dominants the maternal once with a rate of 68,75% and 31,25%, respectively. Regarding specific causes, mal-disposition, specially malposture, was the most frequent (54,54%), followed by emphysema (25%) and finally oversized fetus (9,09%). For maternal causes of dystocia, narrowing pelvis was the predominant causes with a rate of 80% and it was specially observed in primiparous does. The present survey has shown that fetal dystocia are more frequent in multiparous than in primiparous does with a rates of 100% and 0%, respectively. While maternal dystocia are very frequent in primiparous than in multiparous does (80% vs 20%, respectively) (table 2). In addition, dystocia was strongly associated with double litters size (50%), followed by single litters size (37.5%).