Goat 1 Flashcards
multi-purpose goat
-more people eat goat than beef
-more people drink goat milk than cows milk
-hides
-fiber
Goat behaviour
-very social; have hierarchy
-like affection
-easily accept humans
-escape/jump
-eat anything
-cannot be driven
Goat breeds
> 70breeds; few in Western Canada
Saanen
-prolific milker (Holstein of goat world)
-big and white
Alpine
-relatively good milker
-white nose with brown body
Nubian
-general purpose breed
-good milker
>higher protein and fat
>Roman nose with droopy ears
*floppy ears and milk
Toggenburg
-used for milk production and especially cheese. Milk tastes bad!
-recognize by lines on side of face
La Mancha
-Small spanish, multi purpose goat
-no ears
-mostly milk, and males used for meat
Golden Guernsey
Rarer breed
-high protein and fat milk
Boer
-typically white with brown markings
-Standard meat goat
**meat and floppy ears
Pygmy
-small and cute
-acreage people love them but no large purpose
Cashmere
-used for fiber production
*harvested by brushing not shearing
-mainly in China and Turkey
Angora
-high quality fiber production
Fainting Goat
-Breed for congenital myotonia
*collapse when frightened= “faint”
Specific competitions
Required facilities
-Need Shelter (cold, rain)
-Pen space with fences and good gates because they can escape easily
-Need shade (because don’t sweat)
Goat meat
-production same as sheep meat
-Final market: Mediterranean, Mid-eastern, Asian
-producers have to develop their own markets and make arrangements for slaughter
Goat milk
-highly digestible
-non-allergenic because different casein proteins
-amino acid protein similar to humans
-Naturally homogenized
-low in folate, B12, lactose
-accepted as being good for babies
Milk production
-Same as cattle; parlors and milking machine with 2 cups, and vacuum set for goats
-But Seasonal breeders so difficult to have milk production in winter
Blood in the milk
-common
-caused by ruptured blood vessels in the udder due to normal post-partum, kid trauma, mastitis
Problems in milk production
Taint
-Bucks (smelly and cause females to pick up smell and pass to milk)
-certain feeds (wild onions, pine needles)
-Exposure to UV light (breaks down goat milk fat)
-Breed= Toggenburg
-Chemical odors
**not due to hygiene/bacterial issue because goats are very clean
How to prevent taint?
-Supplement vitamin E (anti-oxidant)
-Pasteurization
-Rapid cooling
Abnormalities of milk production
-witch’s milk
-maidens milk
-Gynacomastia
-run through
-stimulation of milking
Witch’s milk
milk from very young (neonatal) females
-maternal hormones at placenta trigger pre puberty in young
Maiden’s milk
milk from females in puberty
-response to hormones at puberty
Gynacomastia
-lactation in the buck
-may get mastitis
-don’t want to milk them because taint
Run through
continue lactating even without breeding
Milk stimulation
mature dry goat, put in pen with goat kid’s and will begin producing
Body condition scoring Goats
-Difficult; fat stored in abdomen, goats always look skinny
-Look at lumbar region and brisket
Normal BCS
Kid: 3-3.5
Mid lactation: 2
Dry off: 2-3.5
Avg milk production
10 month production period
-10lb per day
-3000-3500 lbs in lactation
Typical Kid procedures
- Castration
- Disbudding
- De-scenting
Kid castration
-difficult, scrotum is shorter than sheep
-completed at 24hrs of age
Disbudding goats
-difficult; 2 nerves (and nerve blocks) and skull is very thin
>close to toxic dose of lidocaine
>cornual branch of infratrochlear nerve and lacrimal nerve
-done in first 5 days of life
De-scenting
-completed at same as de-horning
-scent glands on top of head near horns
Reproduction
-puberty at 5 mths; don’t breed until 8mths
-seasonal breeders
-estrus: 21 days cycle, 36hrs estrus
*signs related to buck exposure; can use billy rags
Goat medications
-almost everything is extra label
-need to be careful with producers because it will get in milk
*milk production companies test for antibiotics not parasiticides
Common disease of goats
-Caseous lymphadenitis
-CAE
-Johne’s
-Parasites
-Clostridial
-Mastitis
-Abortion
Caseous lymphadenitis
-lesions occur around head
Caprine Arthritis and Encephalitis
-retrovirus infection spread in milk
1.Young get arthritis
2. Older get encephalitis and mastitis
Parasites
- Roundworms
-typically infections are more severe
-never mix with sheep
Mastitis
**rare because goats are quite clean
-peracute gangrene mastitis=lymphocytic infiltrate
=hard/blue bag
