The Australian goat industry would like to improve the reproductive rate by increasing survival of kids born. The parameter estimates for kid survival and correlated traits are yet to be reported. A preliminary analysis of birth weight and survival was conducted using 16,281 records from industry herds.

The heritability for birth weight (0.31) was similar to previous reports but the heritability for survival (0.24) was higher than expected in comparison to other breeds of goats and also sheep. The phenotypic variance for birth weight is similar to those reported for Boer goats previously. For a binomial trait there was moderate variation in survival with a phenotypic variance of 0.0807 and a large amount of variation for birth weight 0.35kg². The lowest survival rates occur in animals less than 2.5kg with survival rates between 67% and 85%, while animals over 2.5kgs have survival rates between 92% and 98%, the overall mean for survival was 85%. The phenotypic correlation estimated of 0.16 is low but positive for birth weight and survival. The genetic correlation was also positive and high at 0.47±0.067SE. Improving survival could potentially be achieved either with direct selection or indirect selection with birth weight.