Do not freeze the goat's ears: dairy goat breeding in the USA from the point of view of practitioners and theorists

Dairy goat breeding is becoming popular and requires special training programs to ensure that animal owners respect the welfare of their horned pets.

A team of scientists from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University conducted a study on animal husbandry practices at 30 dairy goat farms in the US Midwest to understand how goat farmers can be advised to improve animal welfare. The work was published in the journal Animals 2021 on the MDPI portal.

“There are approximately 2.7 million goats in the United States (usa), of which 440,000 are dairy goats. Demand for goat MILK products such as cheese and yogurt is on the rise, spurring more herds.

However, to date, information on goat breeding practices is limited due to the fact that goats have historically been considered secondary in importance to cows.

Welfare assessment of dairy goat farms is constantly carried out, for example in the UK and Europe, while this approach is not common in the US.

The purpose of this study was to survey 30 dairy goat farms in the US Midwest (participating in the Welfare Survey) to provide insight into current animal husbandry practices regarding HEALTH, welfare and production and to identify potential areas for future improvement.

This study was conducted between January and December 2019 in the form of a questionnaire of 163 questions divided into 11 main topics, including information about producers (e.g. farming experience), staffing, information about goats (e.g. herd size, breed ), housing and environment, goat behavior, feeding and nutrition, milking practices and milk production, keeping of kids, management practices (e.g. dehorning, castration, hoof trimming, euthanasia), sanitation, and so on.

The mean age of the respondents was 44 years (range = 17–62 years) and 64% of the participants were male.

The average number of years of goat breeding experience was 14 years, with 73% of those surveyed having experience in a dairy.

Based on the producers' responses, the average herd size was 185 HEAD with an average lactation of 314 days, with an average annual production of 3,100 per goat per day.

Ten percent of growers responded that they were certified organic.

Ninety-three percent of producers breed Saanen and Alpine breeds. American Lamancha, Anglo-Nubian, Toggenburg, Oberhazli, Sable and Kiko were present on 60%, 37%, 33%, 20%, 7% and 3% of the holdings respectively.

The most common diet included hay and grain/concentrate, which were about four times more popular than fermented feeds or other feeds.

Access to open spaces is provided for 73% of farms, of which earthen and pasture surfaces are more common compared to concrete paddocks.

This reflects the preference of owners to allow goats access to an environment that encourages natural behaviour. As for the concrete paddock, this can be associated with the difficulties of keeping a highly productive herd on pasture and the susceptibility of goats to gastrointestinal parasites, including nematodes.

Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed reported that they provide anthelmintic and antinematode treatment at least once a year.

However, anthelmintic resistance in nematode populations is a significant problem and is associated with multiple factors, including rapid drug metabolism by goats and excessive use of anthelmintics at the wrong dosage.

Another strategy involves using plants that are rich in tannins and have natural anthelmintic properties to control nematode populations in goats. (We talk about how to make an esparent corral here).

There is also a need to accelerate the search for tannin-rich plants that consistently demonstrate efficacy in vitro, or the addition of products containing Duddingtonia mushrooms to grazing animals against nematodes.

Returning to the topic of the concrete pad, goat breeders have canceled that hard surfaces increase the natural wear of the hooves. In addition, according to their observations, goats spend more time lying on rubber mats and plastic grates than on wood shavings, that is, they prefer to lie on hard surfaces than on straw or wood chips. This opinion needs to be verified.

All reported that they confidently and themselves carry out trimming of hooves and cauterization of horns, weaning.

it is generally considered good practice to dehorn after the antler buds are palpable and within a week.

The majority of owners (77%) in the present study dehorned goats before 2 weeks of age, although 23% removed antlers at older ages. But dehorning goats older than two weeks of age increases the complexity of complete removal of the horn bud and lengthens the healing process.

Seventy percent of manufacturers have used a cauterizing iron for 8 seconds or more, which can increase the risk of thermal brain damage. In a recent pilot study by our group on the effect of duration of cautery iron on traumatic brain injury in goats, we observed brain injury in at least some goats at any duration of use (5, 10, 15, and 20 s) and more. long-term use led to more severe and permanent brain damage.

Procedure times of 15 and 20 s should be avoided because such durations lead to severe histopathological changes, including an area of ​​edema branching through several convolutions, hemorrhage, and microscopic lesions consisting of leptomeningeal and cerebrocortical necrosis. Thus, it is necessary to educate and train goat breeders in this aspect with the involvement of practicing veterinarians.

Pain relief was used on 70% of the households in the present study, with injuries and illnesses being the most common causes. Factors that influenced the use of painkillers on farms were associated costs (including veterinary staff) and the time it took to administer, but most manufacturers used painkillers because of the benefit to the animals.

Interestingly, only half of the producers used heating in the goat rearing areas, even though ambient temperatures reached -20°C (or colder) in winter, so ear frostbite is not uncommon.

It is important that owners provide the best care for newborn kids in extreme temperatures by drying them completely after birth and moving them to a warm environment.

Baby goats exposed to cold (-3 to -10°C) for at least 5 days postpartum have lower survival rates.

The behavior of adult goats is also affected by temperature, as lying time was reduced in goats experiencing low (-6 to -8 °C) ambient temperatures compared to moderate (10 to 12 °C).

Additional educational and training programs are required for indoor animal care.

Machine milking was used in 93% of farms, manual milking in 7% (2/30) of farms. Basically, everyone did udder treatment and actively checked for mastitis by evaluating milk quality, swelling, color and hardness, udder temperature.

In the present study, 27% of producers neutered their animals to reduce the smell of MEAT or because they were pets. Owners who did not castrate tended to keep the goats for breeding purposes.

Castration was performed by the owners themselves using a ring or bandage, most likely as the practice requires minimal training and is not as complex as a surgical procedure.

Goat farmers generally agreed that animal welfare is a key priority for their farms, but noted that consumers may choose products based on price rather than ethical standards.

Our research has identified many potential areas for future research to improve the welfare of dairy goats. This includes educational programs such as the use of painkillers for castration and dehorning, caring for newborn kids, programs to eradicate common contagious diseases, training programs and education on hoof trimming and udder health, grazing practices.”