Caprine

Question 1

Describe goat behaviour.

Answer 1

• Highly social creatures
• Forced isolation can be stressful
• Goats are more aggressive than sheep
• Goats are exploratory and reactive, they face attackers when threatened
• Fighting behaviour of sheep and goats is related to horn structure
• Horn size is related to social rank

Because of this, it is harder to keep goats in a pen than a sheep and must have higher up mesh and places to climb as environmental enrichment. Housing must be robust as they get nibbled on and bashed upon.

Question 2

What identification is used for goats?

Answer 2

• Farmers must identify goats as a legal requirement due to disease outbreaks and food safety. This must be done within 6 months of birth is housed overnight or within 9 months of birth if not housed overnight, or whenever they move off the holding of birth.
• If goats are kept longer than 12 months, both ears must be tagged and both show an individual ID tag. If sent to slaughter before 12 months, only 1 tag is necessary and an individual ID tag is not needed. Collars often used.

Question 3

Describe nutrition in goats.

Answer 3

• In the wild they browse low branches and shrubs.
• They also graze but develop little immunity to worms, which is an issue is commercial farms.
• Often zero grazed in the UK so are often housed with graze brought to them
• 0.5MJME per Kg body weight and 5MJME per litre of milk produced
• Maize silage, alph alpha, pea haulm
• Goats are very selective and if given enough feed they can select out the most nutritious part of the forage compared to cattle.
• Mineral imbalances are rare.

Question 4

Why are grazing goats hard to manage?

Answer 4

Goats that do graze are hard to manage because they have no developed immunity to parasites like sheep do and it is difficult to keep them in paddocks.

Question 5

What is the most important feature to help body condition score a goat?

Answer 5

Sternal fat: a method not used in sheep but important in goats.

Question 6

Describe oestrous cycle in goats.

Answer 6

• Females should be at least 70% of their expected adult weight to mate.
• Puberty is usually around 6-8 months old when their first heat is seen.
• Like sheep, they are short day breeders and come into season in the autumn.
• Gestation is 150 days/ 5 months approximately
• Number of kids dependent on breed and nutrition
• Dairy breeds tend to have larger litters at 2,3,4,5 kids

Question 7

What are the signs of oestrous in the doe?

Answer 7

Usually in heat for 36 (24-48) hours:
• Vulva may swell 
• Vocalising 
• Tail wagging 
• Parading in front of buck 
• May mount/fight other goats 
• Often decreases milk production 
• Doe cycles every 21 days

Question 8

What type of breeders are goats and how does this mean they are managed?

Answer 8

Goats are seasonal breeders, so their cycles are heavily influenced by daylight intensity and length. If left to natural conditions, the milk profile produced is very season.

• Extended lighting regimes are used to maintain as level a milk profile as possible in the off season.
• Naturally goats in Europe will start their oestrus cycles as the day length diminishes in the autumn.
• In order to get more does pregnant in the off season, we need to influence the natural oestrus cycle of the doe so that she can breed when required by milk profile demands.
• Billy goats need to be kept in the same lighting regimes as does.
• Billies are usually kept in a pen next to the does, in sight and smell of the does.

Question 9

How are kids castrated?

Answer 9

• Many billy kids are euthanised, parallel to bull calves, dairy kids are not suited to carcass production
• Rubber ring within the first 7 fays of life
• Docking is not needed in goats

Question 10

How are kids disbudded?

Answer 10

• Anatomy of the horn bud is different than sheep and is not solely innervated by the cornual nerve as in cattle.
• Virtually impossible to anaesthetise using only local anaesthetic due to the amount that would have to be used.
• Best done at 2-3 days old and should be done no more than 10 days old at a maximum.
• Usually done under general anaesthetic (using Saffan or IV propofol).
• The skull of the goat kid is much tinnier than the calf so is very easy to cause thermal injury to the brain.
• Only done by a veterinary surgeon.

Question 11

Describe the goat dairy industry.

Answer 11

• 45000 milking goats produce 34 million litres
• 755 litres per goat per year
• Big market is for human babies that have an intolerance to cow’s milk.
• More protein in goat milk than cows.
• Goat parlous tend to be a lot cleaner than cow’s milking parlour, as goat faeces is more pelleted and firm.
• Can be artisan or highly intensive.

Question 12

How does foot trimming in goats compare to sheep?

Answer 12

Goats are pushed a lot harder in production and have much higher nutrition than sheep, so while sheep are not foot trimmed, goats need some form of regular foot trimming.

Can be stood or turned for foot trimming.

Question 13

What is Johne’s disease in goats?

Answer 13

• Endemic in UK goat population
• Chronic wasting
• Diarrhoea
• Most herds are vaccinated

Question 14

What are the TB compensation arrangements for goats?

Answer 14

1 year old or younger = £80

Non-breeding over a year old = £160

Breeding female over 1 year old = £250

Stud male over 1 year old = £350