Pinoyagribusiness

2008/04/17

Hard work pays off for Jamnapuri goat breeders


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Mohd Rezal Ayub with a full-grown Jamnapuri goat at the farm in Yangon, Myanmar.


KUALA LUMPUR: After nine years and a lot of hard work, three brothers will soon be importing 50,000 goats from Myanmar for sale to agencies and individuals here.

Mohd Rezal, Mohd Zabri and Mohd Hashim Ayub have also succeeded in taking trade between Malaysia and Myanmar to a new level.

The RM30.5 million deal will involve the purchase of individual goats at between RM600 and RM620 each.

The first batch of 1,500 Jamnapuri goats will arrive later this month.

Rezal, who is Intan Farm (M) Sdn Bhd executive director, said the goats were affordable and expected to adjust well to Malaysian weather.

"We see the project as something very appropriate, given the common elements in weather and the affordability of the goats," he said.

The remaining 48,500 goats will be sent from Thilawa Port, Myanmar, to Lumut, Perak, in stages over the next two years.

Rezal added that the goats would be distributed to agencies and individuals interested in breeding them.

Intan Farm will work with Syarikat Dagang Ritz Sdn Bhd and Raz Intan Industries in the distribution process.

Rezal said the brothers had been drawn to the livestock industry by their grandfather's experience in the field through the Hameed Farm in Ulu Bernam that opened in 1940.

"He was an inspiration to us which resulted in the formation of Intan Farm focusing on farm animals, which include the exporting of goats, cows and farm-based food."

Intan Farm was awarded a 8.1ha plot in Kampung Kayan, Sitiawan, by the Perak government in 2004 to breed goats.

The company also runs Intan Farm (Myanmar) Manufacturing and Industry Co Ltd in Yangon, where it has been breeding Jamnapuri goats for nine years

   
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Kenya: Wild Animals Compete With Humans for Scarce Water Resources


 
 
   
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

16 April 2008
Posted to the web 16 April 2008

Garissa

Ahmed Diriye had taken his goats to a stream in Mogogashe near the northern Kenyan town of Garissa and was waiting for them to drink when he was attacked by baboons.

"I killed a baboon after they tried to force me from the 'lagadera' [stream in Somali]," he said, holding out his bandaged arm. "They were thirsty and wanted water just like my goats. The well is the only one with water."

 
At another well, four girls abandoned their water containers after thirsty baboons attacked them. The next day, five goats were killed by the creatures while two herders sustained serious injuries following an attack by a lion.

A month after the rains were expected to start, northern Kenya is still gripped by drought conditions. Water pans, boreholes and wells have all dried up, creating problems for the pastoralist communities of the region.

"We are in the middle of a very serious crisis," said Hussein Ali from Sericho, a remote trading centre along the Isiolo and Garissa district boarder. "We are faced with the problem of water, pasture and now wild animals have worsened our situation."

Like domestic livestock, the wild animals have also been affected by scarcity of water. Local residents of Isiolo and Garissa say the situation has forced the animals to struggle for the little available water with humans.

At least 20 people, they say, have sustained injuries in the past month from animal attacks, while one pastoralist and a number of livestock have been killed by lions at wells.

Apart from protecting water wells, Ali said, local people in the affected areas had also resorted to killing the animals whenever they could catch them.

"Girls and women who were entrusted with fetching water have also been advised not to visit the wells alone," he added.

Yussuf Dogo from the Friends Of Nomads International organisation said some residents had sought water and pasture in nearby protected game reserves.

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The area, which suffered a severe drought two years ago, is expected to receive some rain soon. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), moderate amounts of rainfall are expected to alleviate the long-term dryness that has affected many areas of northern Kenya.

In a 10-16 April assessment, FEWS Net said significantly below-normal October-December rain had led to reduced crop yields, poor pasture and insufficient water resources in parts of Kenya, as well as poor soil conditions.

Uganda: More Reasons to Crossbreed Goats


 
 
   
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The Monitor (Kampala)

COLUMN
16 April 2008
Posted to the web 15 April 2008

Michael J. Ssali


Goat rearing is increasingly getting popular among small scale farmers and it is not hard to understand why. A goat is a small animal.

It is cheaper to buy than a cow and feeds on less fodder than a cow would need.

 
And with the introduction of exotic breeds and subsequent cross breeding, some dairy goats produce even more milk than an average local, Ugandan, cow.

Hybrids grow faster and are easy to feed. Above, eating mango tree leaves said to be rich in carbohydrates. PHOTO BY MICHAEL J. SSALI

With the introduction of the Boer Goat and other exotic breeds into the country, we now have far bigger and heavier goats through cross breeding. Selling a bigger and heavier goat is a lot more profitable than selling a small local goat.

The new breeds grow much faster than the traditional goats. The dairy goats have a much longer lactation period than the local East African goat whose milk production is negligible.

Government programmes, church organisations and several NGOs are now encouraging small land holder farmers to take up goat rearing.

The major campaign also involves teaching the farmer to integrate goat keeping with soil fertility development, soil erosion prevention, better feeding and income generation.

A Boer he-goat is ready for stud purposes at the age of 12 months, according to Dr Nicholas Ssekabunga of Kamenyamiggo District Agriculture Training and Information Centre (DATIC) in Masaka District and costs Shs350,000 at any of the country's DATIC farms, in Tororo, Palisa-Budaka, Fort Portal, and Rakai. Agriculture extension workers in every sub-county have useful information about how to get one.

Many goat keepers who keep a Boer he-goat charge between Shs1,000 and Shs1,500 for each successful stud service. Farmers who keep local breeds such as the Mubende goat are encouraged to have their own Boer he-goat on their farms for cross breeding purposes. A 50 percent cross breed, when well taken care of, may weigh as much as 30 kilogrammes at 10 months and may be sold at as much as Shs70,000. As these cross breeds grow older, some of them may weigh up to 50 kilos.

The 75 percent breeds weigh even more, grow very fast and fetch more money. Some pure Boer he-goats have been found to weigh as much as 100 or more kilogrammes. Dr Ssekabunga gave an example of Mike Johnson, a farmer in Buwunga sub-county near Masaka Town, whose he-goat weighs 104 kilogrammes and is about two years old.

Some farmers have opted for the dairy goats. An official of the Uganda Goat Network, (UGONET), Mr David Daudy, keeps over 300 goats at Kayunga, Mukungwe sub-county, in Masaka District and tried the new breeds better suited to resist diseases and adapt to local climatic conditions by crossing the small East African goat with some of the best dairy goat breed like Sannen, Toggenburg and Alpine.

The 50 percent crosses typically yield 1.5 litres of milk per day at peak and 0.5 litres per day after six months. One gives 3 litres of milk per day and he is making exceptional observation of its development and its offspring. Some of his 75 percent crosses give 2 to 3 litres a day.

Since a dairy goat is a small animal and is affordable to a peasant farmer living on a small piece of land, it is the best chance he has to improve his family's diet with some milk. Daudy and his wife Jackie are British Christian missionaries engaged in equipping orphans and other vulnerable youths with farming skills at Joy Children's Centre, a non-profit organisation. They provide information and advice about goat farming and often sell dairy goat breeds to interested farmers. The goat's urine and droppings make good manure for the farmer's crops such as vegetables.

The droppings may even be used in the making of composite manure. Goat rearing should lead to better soil management; better crop yields, better feeding and improved incomes. The farmer is encouraged to plant fodder trees such as calliandra and sesbania which are said to be rich in protein and can improve a goat's lactation period and the taste of the milk itself.

Some tree leaves such as those of the mango tree, grivelia, and the mutuba tree are said to be rich in carbohydrates and very good fodder for goats.

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Most of the fodder trees have a nitrogen fixing element and not only do they enrich the soil but also prevent soil erosion.

They provide shelter for some of the farmer's crops, act as wind breakers and ultimately provide fuel for the home. Keeping exotic breeds or their crosses requires more care as the animals are not yet used to tropical climatic conditions and diseases.

They need regular de-worming and spraying with acaricide to prevent such dangerous tick borne diseases as heart water. It is also important to ensure constant supply of clean water for the goats to drink.

 


Dogs suspected of killing goats nabbed

By John Tompkins
The Facts   

Published April 16, 2008

ALVIN — Three of six dogs still roaming free after suspected in a fatal goat attack have been captured, including a Rottweiler that had to be stunned with a Taser after moving aggressively toward an officer.

Alvin police came upon the pack of six dogs in the 1400 block of FM 1462 at about 7:45 p.m. Monday, reports state.

While following the pack into a nearby trailer park on CR 424, officers hit three of the dogs with a tranquilizer dart and took them to the city’s humane shelter, Alvin Police Lt. Todd Arendell said.

“They’ll try to find the owners,” Alvin Police Sgt. Jaime Crabtree said.

Three other dogs eluded police, Arendell said.

Police were looking out for the dogs, most of which are believed to be wild, since a homeowner reported last week that eight of his goats were killed by a pack of seven dogs off CR 172, reports state. The homeowner said he shot and killed one of the dogs.

The dog killed by the homeowner last week has tested negative for rabies, Arendell said. There were no other reports from residents in the area about the pack, he said.

“It appears to be isolated,” he said.

A woman near where the pack was found told police Monday she believes the Rottweiler belonged to her sister, though no one has called to claim ownership, he said. Someone has called claiming ownership of a yellow Lab-mix taken by police but had not followed through as of late Tuesday, he said.

The owners “most likely will be cited for allowing animals to run at large,” Arendell said, which is a Class C misdemeanor.

If the dogs are not claimed within 72 hours, police will try to find a rescue operation to take them, Arendell said. If they are determined to be too vicious, they could be euthanized as a last resort, he said.

“We hate to euthanize,” he said.

John Tompkins is senior reporter.
 
 
 

By Donathan Prater

Published: April 18, 2008

It’s one of the fastest growing animal industries in Alabama and the rest of the United States.

We’re talking about goat farming.

No kidding (pun intended).

This weekend Tuskegee University will host its Annual Goat Day, which will feature presentations on goat breeding, alternative feeding and animal identification.

The event is sponsored by TU’s College of Agricultural, Environmental and Natural Sciences.

Some of the recent statistics on the goat industry would seem to verify the potential for expanding the production market for the animal domestically.

“Imported goat meat from Australia and New Zealand has been increasing almost 10 percent per year, totaling almost 750,000 goats per year in 2007,” said Sandra Solaiman, professor and director of small ruminant research at Tuskegee University.

Solaiman partially attributes the increased demand for goat products to the growing numbers of Latino, Asian and Muslim immigrants to the U.S.

There are more than 60 different breeds of goat in the world, according to Solaiman. The most meat-goat breeds in Alabama and the rest of the U.S. are the Boer from South Africa and the Kiko from New Zealand. Dairy goats like the Sannan, Alpine, Nubian, Toggenburg and LaMoncha are also common in the U.S.

Tuskegee professors are looking at ways to breed goats that are more resistant to parasites and that do well in humid or hot climates.

“Tuskegee is the leading institution in Alabama for goat research and has been working with goats for more than half a century,” Solaiman said. “We hope to continue our work in the selecting and proper management of goats in the state.”

Fainting goats' coming to Spring Festival


Published: Saturday, April 19, 2008 12:49 PM CDT
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MOJAVE - Ancient Valley Ranch and Mystic Valley Ranch invites the public to come and watch the 1st California Show featuring the unique Tennessee Myotonic (fainting) Goat on April 26th at the Desert Empire Fairgrounds. This is the first time these animals have shown east of the Mississippi River.

Tennessee Myotonic Goats, also known as fainting goats, wooden-legged, stiff-legged, nervous, and Tennessee scare goats, have a condition known as Myotonia which causes them to stiffen and/or fall over when startled.

The condition lasts for ten to fifteen seconds after which time the animal will rise and walk off stiff-legged; after a short time this stiffness will disappear and they will walk and act like any other goat. This condition only affects their external muscles, so while in a myotonic state the animal is fully conscious and fully aware of its surroundings. The condition does not hurt the goat in any way.

 
This breed is valued for its environmental adaptability and they are easy to fence in, since they do not jump or climb fences easily. In Tennessee, these goats were developed as a local meat source. The meat is consistently praised for tenderness, which at first thought might seem at variance with the stiffness encountered while the goat is alive. It is important to realize that the stiffness in no way results in tough meat, but rather just the opposite!

This unique Tennessee breed was first documented in the 1880s when a farm worker named Tinsley arrived in Marshall County, Tenn., with three nannies and a billy that fainted. Tinsley was thought to have come from Nova Scotia. He worked in the area for a few years, and then moved on, selling his goats and their offspring to Dr. Mayberry. This was the beginning of the breed.

Shepherds often kept the goats in with their flocks as insurance in case of predator attacks. The theory went something like this - as wolves would come down from the hills to attack a flock of sheep, the goats would become startled and, as per the name of their breed, they would faint. The sheep would make a clean getaway, as the wolves would focus on the stunned goats rather than pursue the fleeing sheep. This is thought to be one reason for the phrase, scapegoat.

 
 
These goats come in a variety of colors. They can be horned or polled and are generally 17" to 23" at maturity. They have an excellent temperament, are very laid back and gentle, and also make great family pets.

'We don't want goats round here'



PASTURES NEW? 400 goats could be moving to Newmillerdam.


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HUNDREDS of goats could be coming to a village near Wakefield to help supply school milk – and nearby residents don't like it.
Up to 400 goats would be reared at the new farm in Newmillerdam if a planning application from school milk provider Fresh Pastures is passed.

The company, which supplies milk to 132 of the district's schools, says 10 per cent of this could eventually come from goats because many children are intolerant to cow's milk.

It has applied to build the farm, which would eventually produce up to 1,500 litres per day, on a former colliery site on School Hill.

Residents fear the farm will bring noise, smells and increased traffic on local roads.

But Fresh Pastures insists the development would have no adverse impact on the local environment and would benefit the community.

Irene Goodman-Fisher, of School Hill, said: "It could be a beautiful area for people to come with their children. There would be wagons going up their every day and we don't have enough room to park here as it is."

The new farm would include seven goat housing sheds, a milking parlour, processing plant and visitor viewing area.

Graham Morley, director with Fresh Pastures, said its status as a Community Interest Company meant it was committed to providing school milk to promote healthy living.

He said: "Everything we do goes back into the community. We would start off with a herd of around 50 goats and it would take about three years to reach 400. People won't be able to see onto the site and goats don't make as much noise as sheep or cows."

He added that full traffic and environmental assessments were included in the plans, which are being considered by Wakefield Council's planning department.

    TSE testing for sheep and goats for human consumption aid schemepublished on Friday, April 18, 2008 under Agriculture & Fisheries

The European Commission (EC) has released information from European institutions and bodies regarding the Authorisation for State aid pursuant to Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty Cases where the Commission raises no objections (2008/C 97/01). One aid scheme focused on was the TSE testing for sheep and goats for human consumption scheme.
The TSE testing for sheep and goats for human consumption aid scheme that was adopted on the 4th December 2007 will provide aid in the form of subsidised services to the agricultural sector  in England. The scheme will function nation wide complimenting other more focused aid schemes to have come out of the EUropean Union recently. The TSE testing of sheep and goats fallen stock, concerned with the control of animal diseases was published on wednesday 16th 2008.

The legal basis for the scheme is Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22nd May 2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. The granting authority DEFRA (Department of Food and Rural Affairs) will dispose of an overall budget of 6,300,000 Pounds (9,58 million EUR) and is due to last until 1st of March 2014. The annual budget works out to be 0,9 million Pounds (EUR 1,37 million).

What is DEFRA?
DEFRA (Department of Food and Rural Affairs), which is based in Westminster, London, is a UK Government Department, with the overarching challenge for Defra is to enable everyone to live within our environmental means. Its mission is to enable everyone to live within our environmental means. This is most clearly exemplified by the need to tackle climate change internationally and through domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to secure a healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment.

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 Page last updated at 12:02 GMT, Friday, 18 April 2008 13:02 UK
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Rustling fears for ancient goat herds 
By Arthur Strain
BBC News 


 
Campaigners believe the native strain needs protection

They are one of County Clare's oldest residents but there are fears that the feral goats of the Burren are under threat from rustling.

In the latest incident 50 animals were removed early on Saturday, and campaigners believe they are most likely destined for the meat trade.

Goats have a close association with the Burren, and it is thought that they were first introduced by Neolithic farmers 4,000 years ago.


Many of the animals loose on the Burren are more recent additions, imported dairy stock abandoned by their owners in the 1970s during changes in farming practice.

The wild population exploded causing problems for farmers by damaging boundaries and spoiling pastures.

There was a clearance of 5,000 animals six years ago to address the problem, but there have been recent instances of more animals being taken.

Within the goats on the Burren campaigners say there are a number with distinct native characteristics and they want them to be protected.

  There is the impression that in areas where the goats have been removed there is growing scrub invasion

Colin Johnson
Old Irish Goat Society

Colin Johnson of the Old Irish Goat Society said that the native type tended to be smaller, wirier and not white, like the imported Swiss strain.

He said that a combination of cross-breeding with the non-native goats and removals was causing them concern for the future of the indigenous animals.

Since the animals are feral their protection is a grey area, and farmers are allowed to dispose of any of the animals they find on their land.

Mr Johnson said that they have a herd of 30 'old Irish' goats enclosed on 22 acres, but no other herds in the region had protection.

He said they wanted anyone seeking to remove the goats to have to apply for a licence, so that conservation issues could be addressed.

Mr Johnson said the goats formed part of the character of the area and their presence may also have some ecological benefits as eaters of scrub and whitethorn.

"There is the impression that in areas where the goats have been removed there is growing scrub invasion," he said.

He said it was hard to determine the final fate of the goats taken from the Burren, but that anecdotal reports indicated they were being sold to ethnic butchers in the UK and also ending up as rugs or the skins of the popular Irish drum, the bodhrán.

Gardai in the county have said that they are investigating the latest remov



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Last updated at 8:54 AM on 19/04/08   


 Ernie Penney feeds a group of goats at his farm just east of Moose Jaw. Penney is the vice-president of the Saskatchewan Goat Breeders association. Colin Dewar photograph 
 
Association vp hopes others will consider goat farming

CARTER HAYDU
The Moose Jaw Times Herald

Moose Jaw’s Ernie Penney hopes Saskatchewanians won’t be sheepish when considering goat farming as a potential revenue source.
    Penney, who has several goats himself, said getting into this type of animal farming is rather inexpensive (about $1,000 minimum), the animals are low maintenance and the industry doesn’t have complicated regulations surrounding it as with other livestock.
    “It’s an industry you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get into,” he said, adding the hardest thing about raising goats is the animals are so smart and friendly, sometimes farmers become attached to them.
    Penney said promoting the province’s goat industry was one key topic during the Saskatchewan Goat Breeders Association (SGBA) 2008 annual general meeting at Moose Jaw’s Parke Lodge Motor Inn last weekend.
    Current membership in the association hovers around 40, although Penney said many farmers who keep goats aren’t part of the group.
    In case such farmers aren’t aware, he said anyone with with any number of animals can join.
    “If you have a goat or a hundred goats, it doesn’t matter.”
    Because getting into it is so easy, Penney said SGBA hopes a lot more people will consider goat farming. He said the biggest problem facing the industry is an inability to meet demand.
    Currently, a lot of the goat meat found in Canadian grocery stores has to be shipped in from New Zealand.
    Also, because so few people farm goats or sheep, Penney said there isn’t a large abattoir in Saskatchewan.
    Therefore, most those goats produced in Saskatchewan are shipped either to Alberta or Ontario for slaughter.
    Penney wishes more goat processing could occur in-province.
    As with any AGM, members voted in their board of directors. Edenwold’s Darlyne Hoberg was elected president and Penney was re-elected vice-president.
   


 
 
 

Bring back our favourite ferals
April 19, 2008
 
ACTING THE GOAT: Paul McCarthy has a bright idea to bring back the goats that once lived on the cliffs around the Byron Bay Lig
By RACHEL AFFLICK
FIVE years have passed since the goats were removed from the Cape Byron Lighthouse, but now Byron Bay real estate agent Paul McCarthy is spearheading a campaign to bring them back.

The iconic goats, which once famously roamed the Cape, were removed in 2003 because of their destructive impact on native plants.

Mr McCarthy yesterday said that was a mistake.

His renewed calls to bring the goats back come after an announcement by the National Parks and Wildlife Service that aerial spraying would begin this winter to remove bitou bush weed from the Cape.

Mr McCarthy said the bitou bush had sprung up in problematic proportions at the lighthouse since the goats were taken away.

"Now the only way to get rid of the bitou bush is aerial spraying," he said.

"Bringing back the goats would be a far better alternative."

But Cape Byron Headland Reserve manager Sue Walker yesterday reaffirmed that the ecologically important area should remain goat free. She said since the goats had gone native swamp wallabies were increasing.

"Feral goats are recognised as one of the highest priority pests in Australia as they threaten our native species, cause soil erosion, spread weeds and have the potential to introduce diseases," Ms Walker said.

"While goats may have browsed weeds such as bitou they also eat the native plants we are trying to save."

Mr McCarthy said the goats were a part of local history.

The goats were imported to Australia in the early years of settlement and were 'dropped off' on islands and various parts of the continent to be used by settlers. Mr McCarthy said over the years they became as big an icon as the lighthouse.

"People would pay to see the goats as much as they would the lighthouse," he said.

"There is no native vegetation to eat now because it's all been taken away by bitou bush."

When the goats were removed it was not without a community uproar.

A 'Save the Goats' committee was formed and more than 1500 signatures were collected in the space of a week petitioning the decision. "The goats have been there over 100 years," Mr McCarthy said.

"Do we need aerial spraying or do we need goats?"

By M.A.C. LYNCH | Special To The Courant
April 10, 2008
Article tools
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo  Print Reprints Post comment Text size:  Paul Trubey has five day-old kids in a corral in his kitchen while he's out in the shed, bottle-feeding 20 frisky week-old baby goats. It's 11 p.m. at Beltane Farms in Lebanon, and the kids bounce up on all fours, lighter than air, after they're fed.

At Oak Leaf Dairy in Lebanon, Mark Reynolds abruptly ends a phone conversation when he hears, through the baby monitor connecting his barn to his home, a doe go into labor.

Kris Noiseux comes home from his mechanical engineering job to four or more hours of milking, feeding and cheese-making at his goat dairy, Meadow Stone Farm in Brooklyn. At 10 p.m., he's chopping wood.

"Farming is not easy," says Nancy Kapplan, a full-time intensive-care nurse at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington and proprietor of Bush Meadow Farm in Union.



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 Connecticut Goat Dairy Farms Photos
Five Dairies Make Up The State's Informal Goat Trail
"Most people probably would say we're crazy," Reynolds, a civil engineer, says of the dairy goat business. "It's not for everyone. There's not a lot of people who would do it." But for Reynolds, his wife, Jackie, and others, "It's something we've always wanted to do."

Goat dairy farms are new to Connecticut, but they are filling a seemingly insatiable consumer appetite for exotic goat cheeses and raw goat milk, an appetite driven by educated consumers seeking fresh, healthy, locally produced foods and buyers with allergies to cow products.

There are five dairies in the state licensed by the state Department of Agriculture to sell goats' milk and cheeses. "There are very, very few people who have their license for raw goat cheeses or goat milk," says Joan Lamothe of Falls Village, whose most popular Rustling Wind Creamery cheeses are soft-herbal spreads and plain, hard-pressed goat cheese.

Buying local is the latest nutrition mantra, and Connecticut's goat dairy farmers are meeting the escalating demand with goat cheeses wrapped and washed in riesling leaves, rolled in sun-dried tomatoes and basil, aged in grape-leaf ash powder or rubbed with nut oil and aged. Connoisseurs and curious neophytes can meet these farmers and sample their edibles at farmers' markets throughout the state, or enjoy a country ride to the goat dairies and buy on-site.

At this time of year, cheese-makers are inundated with goat milk, which they convert into raw or pasteurized soft, semi-soft or hard cheeses. Everyone pitches in on the farms — grandparents, who are called in to milk goats at Griffin Farmstead in East Granby, or teenagers, who herd the animals into the barns at night at Bush Meadow Farm in Union.

Peak milk production, which yields one to 1 1/2 gallons per goat daily, coincides with summer, the peak daylight season, which means farmers are making cheese from dawn until well past dusk, carting their milk and cheeses to outdoor farmers' markets and specialty stores across the state, and filling online orders from as far as China.

The goat cheeses are as varied as the farmers' personalities. Growing up, Trubey helped on his grandfather's farm in Massachusetts. "I always did want to have a goat and goat farm," says Trubey, who began tending goats 10 years at his neighbor's Highwater Farm in Glastonbury. He moved his herd to Beltane Farm in Lebanon in 2002 and currently has 45 goats at Beltane and another 45 at the Reynoldses' nearby Oak Leaf Dairy. Trubey knows each buck, doe and kid by name, from Cappuccino, Espresso and Java to Cantata, Allegro and Adagio.

The Reynoldses, whose specialty is goat soap, milk the goats that Trubey keeps on their farm, enabling him to concentrate on cheese-making.

"Fresh cheese is by far the most popular," says Trubey, whose velvety, cream-flavored chevre won a blue ribbon in the American Cheese Society's national competition in 2000.

"But taste in cheese is changing. There is more interest in mold-ripened cheeses." That interest prompted Trubey to adopt the French technique of rolling cheese in burnt grapevine ashes. He also makes British Isle Farmstead Cheese, Camembert, Gouda and chevre rolled in herbs that he grows.

Creating the cheese is the passion of the goat dairy farmers, a passion paralleled by their love of their kids, does and bucks. "My mission first and foremost is the quality of life for the animals," says Trubey, who, after a career as a social worker, became a full-time farmer this spring. Trubey's goats graze on open fields, and he grows hay without pesticides to feed them over the winter. "We don't use any hormones or antibiotics," Trubey says, a statement reiterated at all the licensed goat dairies.

The milk is more easily because of the smaller size of its proteins and different sugar compounds, says Kapplan, who owns Bush Meadow Farm in Union. "Goat milk is so good for you," she says.

Goat dairy farmers find there is more demand for the milk and its byproducts. "Goat products, there's such a big call for them," Lamothe says. "Everybody is looking for natural foods."

More local stores and restaurants are seeking out farmers who can supply them with locally grown or produced foods. Stores such as Whole Foods and Highland Park markets sell local goats'-milk cheeses, while upscale restaurants also feature select goat cheeses from local dairies.

Trubey at Beltane Farms is planning to host two summer feasts prepared by chefs from Grants Restaurant in West Hartford who will use local products from the state's specialty farms.

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Transgenic Goats' Milk Helps Fend off E. coli-related Illness in Pigs
April 21, 2008

Pigs fed goats' milk that was genetically modified to carry an important antibacterial enzyme found in human breast milk showed signs of better resisting attack by common E. coli bacteria than did pigs fed unmodified goats' milk without the human enzyme, report researchers at the University of California, Davis.

The findings, published in the May issue of the Journal of Nutrition, provide evidence that milk carrying high levels of the human lysozyme enzyme -- produced by genetically modified, or transgenic, goats -- may improve the gastrointestinal health of pigs and other animals that consume the milk. Pigs were used in this study because they have digestive systems that are similar to those of humans.

"These results demonstrate that biotechnology can be used to improve the healthfulness of the milk of dairy animals by introducing beneficial properties of human milk," said James Murray, who led the study with animal scientist Elizabeth Maga.

"We are hopeful that milk with similar benefits one day will be available to protect infants and children against diarrheal illnesses, which every year kill millions of children around the world," Maga said.

The enzyme lysozyme is found in the tears, saliva and milk of all mammals. While lysozyme is found at high levels in human breast milk, goats' milk contains only 0.06 percent as much lysozyme as does human milk. In this study, the transgenic goats produced milk with 67 percent as much lysozyme as human milk.

Lysozyme inhibits the growth of bacteria by destroying the bacterial cell wall, causing the cell contents to leak out. Because lysozyme limits the growth of bacteria that cause intestinal infections and diarrhea, and encourages the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria, it is considered one of the main human-milk components that contribute to the health of breast-fed infants.

In this study, the researchers gave the young pigs solid feed and pasteurized, lysozyme-rich milk produced by transgenic dairy goats. A control group of young pigs received solid feed and pasteurized regular, non-transgenic goats' milk that did not have human lysozyme.

Half of the pigs were also given a dose of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli), a common bacterial strain known to cause gastrointestinal illness. During the study, the researchers found that the pigs fed the lysozyme-rich milk from transgenic goats had significantly lower levels of coliform bacteria, including E. coli, in their small intestines, than did the control group of pigs fed regular goats' milk.

Furthermore, the pigs receiving the lysozyme-rich milk and the pigs in the control group demonstrated normal weight gain, growth and blood composition.

These results substantiated findings from a similar 2006 study by the researchers, which investigated the impact of transgenic goats' milk with human lysozyme on young goats and pigs.

The researchers note that further studies are needed to more completely characterize and understand the full impact of transgenic lysozyme-rich goats' milk on young pigs' intestinal bacteria, including potential positive effects on beneficial bacteria.

The research was funded by a grant from the UC Davis Academic Federation Committee on Research.

Media contact(s):

NISARD distributes
goats to farmers
BY MARICAR ARANAS
 
The Negros Island Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Foundation Inc.  distributed Thursday an initial 20 Anglo Nubian breed  of  dairy  goats  to  farmers  in Sibulan  and  Valencia, Negros  Oriental.

NISARD president Rep. Henry Teves (NegOr, 3rd district), executive director Ernesto Quiamco spearheaded the turnover rites held at the NISARD office, Provincial Agriculture compound, Barangay Piapi, Dumaguete City.

The goat dispersal program is barangay-based with barangay captains as overseer, while the cow dispersal project of NISARD is Barangay Agricultural Development Center-based, Quimco, whose five-hectare land in Barangay San Antonio, Sibulan is used as demonstration farm of the project.

Last year, NISARD distributed 218 hybrid cows all over the province.

Quimco said recipients undergo training and enhancement skills on the proper raising and how to collect milk from dairy goats. They will also learn to convert goat waste into a component for organic fertilizer.

Anglo Nobian goats produce an average of one liter of fresh milk per day.

Quiamco said they will place the program under crop insurance coverage, and will ensure that these are free from diseases.

Teves, who visited a farm in Naawan, Misamis Occidental with Rep. George Arnaiz, meanwhile said the government should address the lack of  nutrition  among school  children, and milk production would help.*MA

 
 

'Bends' goats to get foster homes 
 
The MoD announced a halt to testing using goats in February

A search for foster homes for a herd of goats used in Navy decompression experiments has been launched.

The 28 goats were used in trials for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the effect of pressure on submarine crews during emergency escapes.

The tests were designed to help crews judge whether to abandon a stricken vessel or wait for rescue.

The animals are being sent to the Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats in Maidstone, Kent, before being re-homed.

  With limited space and resources at the sanctuary we really need to identify new homes as quickly as possible

Bob Hitch, Buttercups

The MoD announced in February that it would end the testing following controversy about the use of goats in such experiments.

Buttercups Sanctuary founder Bob Hitch said the goats were aged from 18 months to eight years and included a mix of male and female Saanan, Toggenburg and Anglo-Nubian breeds.

Mr Hitch said: "With limited space and resources at the sanctuary we really need to identify new homes and conduct the necessary home visits as quickly as possible."

Mr Hitch said Buttercups was unable to financially support the goats but would continue to oversee their welfare, so was looking for suitable homes in the Kent and East Sussex areas.

Deadly effects

Defence research group QinetiQ carried out the tests to assess the risk of Navy personnel getting "the bends".

The "bends" - the effect of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream - is the sickness caused when divers rise to the surface too quickly.

Tim Sharman, team leader for maritime life support at QinetiQ, said they are giving Buttercups financial support to help re-home the healthy animals.

He said: "We simply no longer have a requirement to conduct animal trials and are now making every effort to find suitable and appropriate new homes for all of them."



 

At Kingston goat farm, spring brings wealth of curious, nuzzling baby goats
At Kingston goat farm, spring brings wealth of curious baby goats
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos
Photos
 
Amelia Kunhardt
Beth Corbettis surrounded by the goats she breeds and sells at Center Stage Farm in Kingston. Over the years, Corbett says she has developed a rapport with the animals.


 

  By Edward B. Colby
GateHouse News Service
Posted Apr 23, 2008 @ 03:56 AM
Last update Apr 23, 2008 @ 09:05 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KINGSTON — As she milked goats at her small farm off Wapping Road, Beth Corbett singled out the best of the 18 kids born there since February.

Appraising half the additions to the herd as they scampered about a pen at Center Stage Farm, Corbett picked Lady in Waiting — who has a ridge of black hair going down her back surrounded by light brown on either side, with a swath of white around her belly.

The kid got her name because she was born more than a day after her two brothers last month.

“They were born, and I thought the mother was done,” Corbett said. ‘‘But Topaz didn’t seem right afterwards,” so Corbett checked her again the next night.

“Thirty-four hours later, the kid came out alive. I think that’s a record,” she said of Lady in Waiting’s birth.

Corbett said the birthing season, which lasts until June, is her favorite time of year.

“The babies are so much fun. No matter what happens the rest of your day, you come out to the barn and the goats entertain you to death,” she said.

“They love to play king of the mountain,” she said.

The animals are also smart: Corbett said a baby goat will learn its name within a few weeks.

Corbett, 54, began raising goats in 1979 on the Cape, then in Tennessee and New Hampshire before moving to Hanover in 1987 and to Kingston in 1991.

She juggles goat farming with driving a UPS tractor-trailer overnight around Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island five nights per week.

Some of the goats at Center Stage Farm are owned by Ladies Choice, a partnership that Corbett started with her friend Jen Abdelnour, who has since moved to New Hampshire.

Corbett’s goats start at $300. She said she mostly sells them for “show stock,” and also as pets and livestock.

One of her customers, LaShawna Ayala, 27, said she is trying to convince her husband to buy two baby goats for their place in Pembroke. Ayala brings her 21-month-old son, Kingston, to see the goats every week.

“They are awesome with kids,” she said. “They nibble on his fingers.”

Ayala buys goat milk for her son, who is sensitive to dairy products.

Corbett said the milk is creamier and sweeter than cow’s milk, which she finds bitter.

Her herd only eats high-quality clover and alfalfa hay, which results in better milk.

“My goats won’t eat bad hay,” Corbett said. “I can put it in the hay rack, and they just plain won’t eat it.”

Published Thursday, April 24, 2008
County extension offers goat care tips
State sees growing demand for easy-to-maintain, tasty animal


By Jason Morton
Staff Writer


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A herd of graze in a pasture off Tingle Tangle Road in Vance in June 2007. More Alabamians are raising goats these days.
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GOAT FIELD DAY

What: Tuscaloosa County Extension Office’s first Meat Goat Field Day
When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Ralph Stutts’ farm, 14526 Forest Drive in southern Tuscaloosa
Cost: Free and open to the public
RSVP: Call ahead at 205-349-4630 so organizers can plan.


 
TUSCALOOSA | “Goat” is the term given to an athlete that fails in the clutch. Its image has even been adopted into Satanic culture, with its ears, beard and horns drawn into inverted pentagrams.

That’s a raw deal for an animal that comes across more as a pet than a beast, and it’s an image that, in recent years, seems to be changing.

The Tuscaloosa County Extension Office has witnessed a steady increase in goat-related inquiries and will host its first the Tuscaloosa County-area Meat Goat Field Day on Saturday.

“The challenge is how to cope with parasites, or problems with goat health,” said Wayne Ford, coordinator for the Tuscaloosa County Extension Office. “We’re trying to train people [so] the goats will be healthier.”

While popular in many regions of the planet, goat meat, or chevon, is not common in Western cultures, particularly the U.S., though that too appears to be changing.

According to statistics compiled by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, an outreach group that develops research-based educational programs, there were about 51,000 goats on almost 2,300 goat farms across the state in 2002. Ford estimates that Tuscaloosa County residents are raising about 1,000 goats.

Of those, 28 percent were being raised for commercial slaughter, 25 percent were being raised as pets or as a hobby and another 24 percent were used for brush control.

Ease of entry

Darrell Rankins, an extension animal scientist at Auburn University who plans to attend Saturday’s field day, said their popularity appears to come from the relatively low cost and little space needed to get started.

“A lot of people, for whatever reason, want to have some animals,” Rankins said. “Obviously, if you go out and buy 10 cows, it’s a pretty substantial investment. But with goats, it’s not that much. You don’t have to have a large parcel of land and it doesn’t take a large amount of initial capital to get in.”

That’s why Tuscaloosa resident Ralph Stutts began looking into goats about four years ago, when he purchased his first three. That and he didn’t need a lot of space to raise them.

“We live out here in the county, and I just wanted something eat the grass,” Stutts said.

Since then, his goat herd has grown to 23. Ten are babies, or kids, ranging in ages from 4 years to 6 months.

Stutts said he initially looked into raising show goats, which can fetch thousands of dollars, but soon realized he lacked the connections to do so.

Now he raises them to sell to others looking to start their own herds.

“I just predominantly raise them for breeders,” Stutts said. “I’d rather sell my goats to someone who’s starting a herd than someone who’s just going to take them to slaughter.”

Americans essentially are playing catch-up in the market for goats, which have been domesticated and raised for food, clothing and other purposes for about 10,000 years.

The animals produce a meat that nutritionists say is healthier than beef because it’s lower in fat and cholesterol. The taste has been compared to lamb or deer, depending on the breed.

Saturday’s field day is open to the public and intended for novice to experienced goat farmers. It will cover feeding health management, hoof trimming and properly giving shot and ear tags and feature experts from Auburn University and Alabama A&M University.

 


 

GENERAL NEWS Expert: Getting your goats is not enoughby Brian Brus
The Journal Record April 25, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY – The meat goat industry has a lot of potential to enter the general market, but many small Oklahoma producers are still floundering for lack of a business plan, book author Ellie Winslow said.
“I’ve lived in rural America all my life, and I’ve watched people around me who don’t have much experience in business and marketing kind of flounder because they don’t know what to do,” Winslow said. “They like the lifestyle, but at some point they realize, ‘Holy cow, this is costing me a lot of money and I need to bring in some income.’”Article Tools Printer friendly edition E-mail this to a friend RSS Feed Digg this history Add to Del.icio.us Winslow is one of several speakers scheduled for the annual Goat Field Day at Langston University on Saturday. The event is planned as an opportunity for rural entrepreneurs to share information about animal husbandry and marketing.
Among the presentation topics planned are: herd health, goat farm budgeting, federal government programs and even barbecue preparation. Experts from Langston, Oklahoma State University Extension Office, state Department of Agriculture and private industry will lead the sessions.
Raising meat goats can be attractive to experienced ranchers as well as new entrepreneurs because overall operations can be scaled down, much like the animal itself when compared with cattle. Investments in the livestock can be much less expensive, experts said. But a business of any size is still a business, Winslow said.
Winslow, now retired and living in Oregon, wrote Making Money With Goats, Marketing Farm Products and Growing Your Rural Business. She has experience with raising goats for milk products, “but goats are goats,” Winslow said.
“You have to understand that you’re fishing for customers,” Winslow said Thursday. “And you’ve got to bait your hook with something the fish want to bite on. … People like to talk about their farm and their animals and their stuff. But when they finally grasp the idea that running a business isn’t about them, it’s about the customer and marketing their animals, it makes a huge difference.”
Winslow said she’s observed the same growth pains in the nation’s fledgling emu and alpaca markets: “What they’re experiencing is very similar, because you find people attracted to the lifestyle but they don’t understand marketing yet,” she said.
Oklahoma is ranked fifth in the country for meat goat production, behind Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and California, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported. The state is gaining on California for fourth place – that state maintained a steady herd of about 100,000 head while Oklahoma grew to 86,000 in this year’s count, up by 5,000 head. Nationwide, meat goat production grew by 98,000 head, the USDA reported.
James “J.J.” Jones, a meat goat producer and educator with the OSU Extension Office, said many of Oklahoma’s goat ranchers still default to a marketing plan that involves sale barns, or collection points for large sales, much like other livestock such as hogs and cattle. The number of those sale barns is still small, however, which drives up travel expenses.
Some have discovered alternatives more closely aligned to the ultimate market niche that meat goats fill.
“There are certain ethnic groups that buy the goats right off the farm and slaughter them themselves,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of home slaughtering that goes on. And a lot of these animals are only 25-70 pounds, so you don’t need big machinery for harvest; a sharp knife will work real well.”
Goat meat is a mainstay in many countries and more goat’s milk is consumed worldwide than cow’s milk.
 

Deworming goats and sheep
published: Saturday | April 26, 2008


Dr Graham Brown in his veterinary laboratory.

Worms are the number one health problem affecting small ruminants, especially in tropical climates. Sheep and goats are more susceptible to these parasites due to their grazing behaviour and poor immunity. Most farmers rely heavily on anti-parasitic drugs (anthelmintics) to control these parasites. Unfortunately, drug resistance has become an increasing problem.

The parasite that is most problematic for goats is Haemonchus contortus, also called 'barber pole' worm. This worm feeds on blood and lives in the abomasum (stomach).

The signs associated with this worm are anaemia, characterised by pale or white gums and inner eyelids, and 'bottle jaw' - an accumulation of fluid under the jaw. Diarrhoea (scours) does not usually occur with barber pole infestation.

Other parasites of concern include the brown stomach worm (Ostertagia circumcinta) which causes diarrhoea and weight loss, tapeworms, lungworms, liver flukes and occidian.

Recommendations for deworming your goats


1. Consult with your veterinarian.

2. Dose, using the heaviest animal as a guide.

3. Under-dosing results in resistant worms.

4. Oral drenching is the recommended method of treatment and the drug should be placed over the back of the tongue.

5. Fasting animals for up to 24 hours before drenching may improve efficacy (do not restrict water).

6. Drugs should NOT be rotated after each use. Use for at least one year or until it is no longer effective.

7. Do not deworm your goats frequently (for example, more than three times per year).

8. Always deworm newly purchased goats.

9. Deworm two to four weeks before kidding/lambing.

10. Goats require higher dosage. (one and a half to two times higher than for sheep or cattle. In the case of levamisole the dose is one and a half times).

11. Do not treat every animal in your herd at once, since approximately 20 per cent are responsible for pasture contamination.

FAMACHA

This technique uses a colour eye-chart depicting degrees of anaemia to determine the need for anthelmintic treatment. It only works for 'barber pole' worms.

It was developed for sheep, but works with goats with slight modifications. The FAMACHA technique reduces the number of animals treated because only animals showing physical signs of infestation are dewormed.

Some uses and advantages of FAMACHA

1. A significant drop in the frequency of deworming, reducing the amount of money spent on drugs.

2. Because fewer animals are treated, the development of worm resistance will be slowed.

3. Inspecting the eyes is quick.

4. If examined regularly, animals can be treated before the signs and effect of anaemia become too severe.

5. Individual animals that repeatedly fail to cope with worms, in spite of the control programme, can be identified and culled.

6. Build-up of infected larvae on the pasture can be detected early by the sudden increase in the number of anaemic animals.


- Adapted from FAMACHA Training Course, University of Maryland, USA.

Contributor: Paul O. Clarke, DVM.

U.S. raising more goats for meat


Published: April 28, 2008 at 5:03 PM
Print story Email to a friend Font size:HILLSBORO, Mo., April 28 (UPI) -- Goat farmers in the United States say they are seeing growing demand for meat, especially from immigrant communities.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Monday that the U.S. goat herd has grown from 2.5 million in 2002 to about 3 million today with more than 80 percent of the animals being raised for meat.

"It's the No. 1 consumed meat in the world," said Scott Hollis, a goat specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "It's very popular, except here."

Much of the demand comes from Muslim and Hispanic communities where goat has often been a staple of religious holiday dinners.

Farmers say goats are relatively inexpensive to purchase and raise and don't require a lot of land. That means small and weekend farmers find it an attractive niche market, the Post-Dispatch said. On the downside, goats are vulnerable to disease and major supermarket chains aren't big buyers of goat meat.

UCD researchers alter goats with human genes
By Chris Bowman -
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, April 28, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B1

Print | E-Mail | Comments (8)| 

 
UC Davis animal science professor James Murray tends a herd of goats that have been genetically altered – with human genes – to produce milk that contains more of an antibiotic-like protein.
José Luis Villegas / jvillegas@sacbee.com

Click on photo to enlarge

 
UC Davis professor James Murray knows his experiments with human genes and goats give some people the creeps.

Crossing anything human with four-legged hoofers evokes images of mythical half-man, half-animal centaurs from ancient Greece.

In reality, genetically altered goats look and behave no differently than regular ones – both are just as eager to gnaw Murray's sleeves and untie his shoes at the university goat barn.

 
"Could you get your grubby paws off?" Murray asked of his inquisitive test subjects during a recent tour.

Murray and fellow animal scientist Elizabeth Maga engineered a small herd of Alpine and Toggenburg dairy goats to produce high levels of a human antibiotic-like protein in their milk.

Just as mother's milk helps protect infants from germs, the researchers figured, humanized goat's or cow's milk would better defend dairy animals and their offspring from illness. Germ-fighting milk might also slow spoilage, prolonging the shelf life of dairy products.


The big question

The scientists' ultimate question, though, is a humanitarian one:

Could the same procedure produce fortified powdered milk and, eventually, genetically modified goat herds for poor regions of the world?

The beneficial protein, lysozyme, destroys bacteria that cause intestinal infections and diarrhea, which every year claim more than 2 million impoverished young lives. That's a toll among children under age 5 higher than from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, according to the World Health Organization.

"If we can prevent some of that, I think we should do it," Murray said, mindful of long-standing protests from animal rights activists, ethical concerns and fears of messing with Mother Nature.

The goat's milk represents one of the first genetically engineered food products designed to improve human health, though none has been approved for human consumption.

Scientists have been manipulating animal genes for nearly 25 years. They've changed properties of milk for human food and as raw material for pharmaceuticals - turning animals into virtual medicine factories. Murray himself has changed the genes of cows, sheep, pigs and mice.

The goat's milk experiments, however, are among the few to transfer human genes to animals, said Michael Fernandez, former director of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology.

"It's certainly not the predominant practice right now," Fernandez said. Private biotechnology companies and universities usually obtain genetic material from microbes or plants, not humans, he said.


Concerns about technology

Sacramento's Ventria Bioscience is a prominent exception. The company is growing genetically altered rice that contains lysozyme and another antibacterial ingredient in human breast milk. The company aims to produce an over-the-counter rehydration solution made from the fortified rice.

Ventria recently found a place to farm their patented rice in Junction City, Kan., after running afoul of Sacramento Valley and Missouri growers who fear medical rice might mix with their grains.

Doug Gurian-Sherman, a biotechnology specialist with the Union of Concerned Scientists advocacy group, said he has similar concerns about transgenic goats.

Should the goats get into the wild – their altered genes indeed make them more fit to survive – they could more easily multiply and over-browse a landscape, threatening native species and causing erosion, he said.

"We don't have a regulatory system that addresses these kind of environmental issues in this country, let alone developing countries," Gurian-Sherman said.


Allergy protection

Why human genes for goats?

Goats, humans and all other mammals have lysozyme in milk, saliva and tears. Human breast milk, however, carries at least 1,600 times more than goat's milk.

UCD dairy goats born with the human gene that regulates lysozyme in mammary glands have far more lysozyme in their milk than they would naturally - 67 percent of human levels compared with 0.06 percent, Murray said.

While other animals carry high levels of the protein, Davis researchers chose to inject the human gene to minimize chances of an allergic reaction, should people ever drink the modified goat's milk.

"You drink lysozyme every day in your saliva, so the chances of you reacting to it are pretty small," said Maga, a research biologist in the animal science department.

Several more studies are needed to satisfy food safety regulators in the United States and elsewhere that this medicinal milk would be safe to drink, researchers said.

The latest findings, published in the May issue of the Journal of Nutrition, show altered goat's milk helps fend off common E. coli-related illnesses in pigs, which have human-like digestive systems.

Pigs fed the lysozyme-rich milk from transgenic goats had significantly lower levels of harmful bacteria in their small intestines than those raised on regular goat's milk.

Dr. Miriam Aschkenasy, a public health doctor with the nonprofit humanitarian aid group Oxfam America, doesn't share Murray's optimism that the goat's milk would provide comparable protection for children.

While human breast milk is considered beneficial to infants, "there is, as far as I know, very little evidence that if you feed it to an older child these same affects apply," Aschkenasy said.

Said Murray: "The absence of evidence does not mean it isn't so, it just means we do not yet know. Hopefully studies with our transgenic goat's milk will help to answer this question."

The UCD Academic Federation Committee on Research funded the experiment with pigs. Murray is seeking additional funding from philanthropies interested in improving health in developing nations.

For the next experiment, Murray wants to see whether modified goat's milk not only prevents intestinal illness in pigs but also treats it.

"We'll make them sick and see if they get better," he said.






 

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« Video: Israel's Robocop Draws Drool | Main | Killer Drone Strikes Hit New High in Iraq »

Iraq WMD Evangelist's New Crusade: Secret Ray Guns
By Sharon Weinberger April 29, 2008 | 8:00:00 AMCategories: Animal Kingdom, Lasers and Ray Guns, Less-lethal   
Dave Gaubatz is no stranger to controversy.

The former Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent maintains he found Saddam's WMD bunkers, but that the U.S. military declined to follow up. His repeated allegations were picked up by a number of media outlets -- and attracted the attention of prominent Congressmen, like then-Sen. Rick Santorum, then-Rep. Curt Weldon, and Rep. Peter Hoekstra. There hasn't been any confirmation, however.

Lately, Gaubatz has been pushing another eye-opening assertion. Earlier this month, Gaubatz claimed that the Active Denial System, the military's allegedly-nonlethal "heat ray," is really a killer weapon, after all. It's an allegation that, if true, would mean the entire public face of the program is a cover up of sorts. Gaubatz says he saw first hand the military testing the ray gun on... goats.

DANGER ROOM caught up with Gaubatz recently to quiz him a bit about his claims:

DR: Can you tell me about your involvement in the Active Denial System?

Gaubatz: My background in directed energy was from July 2000 till right after the war, September 2003. I was involved with active denial. I was the point of contact [for security] at [Air Force Research Laboratory] AFRL at Kirtland where it was tested and evaluated. Anything they did went through us for security. We had the Chinese, Russians, and many countries trying to steal this technology. Anything they did, bringing in the animals, or testing, had to go through me. I signed off on it, whether it could move or not move forward on this particular day.

DR: What sort of animals would they use?

Gaubatz: Goats, primarily.

DR: Can you describe what took place with the animals?

Gaubatz: They’d bring the animals in, put them in the pens. They'd put curtains down, or a wall, to see if [the beam] could go through walls. And it would. You can go to different degrees; you can do nonlethal. But it was not designed as nonlethal.

DR: Would the animals die quickly?

Gaubatz: It was quick.

DR: I hate to be gruesome, but what did the animals look like after they had been killed? Did they have visible burns.

Gaubatz: No, not visibly, I didn’t get right up to the cages.... I’m a big animal lover, it was very hard for me in 2000 to see that. I know it has its purpose, but it’s very difficult for me to see the animals suffer like that.

DR: You talk about changing the dial between lethal and nonlethal. As I understand it, the nonlethal version of Active Denial System operates at 95 Ghz, which heats up the top layer of skins. What frequency then does the lethal version operate in?

Gaubatz: We get into the technical [details], I’m not the one who can give you the technical aspects. All they had to do was change a dial if you wanted a nonlethal form. And then it could be pumped up to whatever range you wanted.

Okay, the lack of technical details leaves me with some doubts, but I don't doubt his account of using goats. I mean, the military just loves to test things on goats. Poor goats.

These days, Gaubatz is involved with another project sure to stoke controversy (depending on what he finds). The Mapping Sharia project is gathering intelligence on U.S. mosques to determine which ones may pose a threat to U.S. security. How do they do that? Infiltration.

"People go in under the guise of being long-term Muslims," he says.

Posted: Tuesday, 29 April 2008 7:37AM

Fire Season Starts Early, Good News for Hungry Goats

 
SAN JOSE -- Dry grass and warm weather have prompted fire officials across the state to ramp up their suppression efforts early this year. San Jose plans to activate its brush patrols this week, and Cal-FIRE will start training and putting other resources in place over the next few weeks.

In Southern California, more than 500 acres have already burned since Saturday near a popular hiking area at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains near Sierra Madre. At least 1,000 have been forced from their homes and evacuation orders remain in effect for hundreds, but the blaze is likely to burn for at least another week.

There have been no major fires in the Bay Area yet, and 800 goats chomping on the tall grass around the Santa Teresa Water Treatment plant are also doing their part to keep it that way.

  KCBS's Mike Colgan reports
 

SAN JOSE -- The Santa Clara Valley Water District is turning to grass-eating goats, hoping to prevent wildfires this summer.

Water District Spokeswoman Susan Siravo says 800 goats leased from a company called "Goats are Us" are now eating their way up a hillside near the district's Santa Teresa water treatment plant.

She says the goats are working in sections and should be finished clearing the grass and brush in about a week.

Siravo says the area's steep terrain makes it difficult to use mowers and other heavy equipment to cut the overgrowth.

And she adds, goats make less noise and don't pollute the air.
Copyright 2008 by KTVU.com. All rights reserved.

Goat surprises owner by giving birth to quintuplets
4 hours ago

MECHANICSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Ralph Burge had to count three times to make sure what he saw was real. His reliable nanny goat, Honeybear, had given birth to five baby goats, or kids.

Burge, a longtime goat owner, says he's never seen anything like it. A year or so ago Honeybear had another litter — with just three kids.

Scientists say that Burge is right to be amazed. Curt Youngs, an associate professor in animal science at Iowa State University, says that while goats can have up to six or seven kids at a time, they rarely do.

He says estimates show quintuplets happen in about one in 10,000 goat births.

Burge and his wife, Helen, have yet to decide on names for the five kids. For now, they're calling them A, B, C, D and E.
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Goats for Africa are put in prison
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Thursday May 01 2008

Shelton Abbey got some new arrivals recently, but not of the human kind. Thirty young goats landed up at the prison which are part of the Bothar charity project to help people help themselves in Third World countries.The goats arrived and were housed in a purpose-built shed designed and constructed by volunteer inmates.
Shelton Abbey got some new arrivals recently, but not of the human kind. Thirty young goats landed up at the prison which are part of the Bothar charity project to help people help themselves in Third World countries.

The goats arrived and were housed in a purpose-built shed designed and constructed by volunteer inmates.

They will now take on the task of feeding and raising the goats before they are shipped off to Tanzania to be distributed among families.

As a large area of grass land was going to waste behind Shelton Abbey it was decided that this project would be a winner all round.

Speaking of the arrival of the goats at Shelton Abbey the Director General of the Irish Prison Service, Mr Brian Purcell, said I am delighted that Shelton Abbey and the Irish Prison Service are able to assist Bothar in the fine work that they do. This is a very positive partnership which will benefit Bothar in a very practical way, and also has very real benefits for our prisoners and the rehabilitation process. Engaging prisoners in these types of projects helps to strengthen their links with wider society and the communities to which they will return upon release.'

'Hard case' boy killed chasing goats
Sunday, 04 May 2008

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A neighbour of a 12-year-old boy, who died chasing wild goats in hill country on the East Coast, says the boy was "a bit of a hard case".


Bradon Lee John McKie was chasing goats with his 10-year-old brother on a farm at Kotemaori, 45km south-east of Wairoa when he plunged over a 60m cliff yesterday.

His brother raised the alarm.

McKie family neighbour Leonard Griffin told the Herald on Sunday Bradon was a friendly and mischievous kid - "a bit of a hard case".

His parents worked on a dairy farm and it was believed they also had two daughters.

Mr Griffin said children often chased wild goats around the hills.

"There are heaps of wild goats round here. All the kids are into it. The land can be steep - but a 60m cliff? I don't know where he might have been playing," he said.

"My young fella saw the police car rushing past and the ambulance. The kids are the same age as those boys. They'll be pretty upset."

Wairoa mayor Les Probert said Bradon's death was a tragedy.

It happened on the last weekend of the school holidays and Mr Probert said young people at home on farms during holidays could be left in dangerous situations.

 - NZPA

Watsonville slaughterhouse owner accused of animal neglect; goats, sheep seized
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/04/2008 12:45:17 PM PDT


WATSONVILLE (AP) - Animal control officers are accusing a slaughterhouse owner of animal neglect after seizing sick livestock from his Watsonville ranch.
Santa Cruz County officials said eight emaciated goats and a sheep were all suffering from respiratory infections when they were removed from Toledo Harkins Slough Ranch on Saturday.

County animal control supervisor Todd Stosuy said officers returned to the facility Saturday after a veterinarian found several animals taken Thursday were sicker than initially thought.

Owner Efrain Toledo was cited with having a non-ambulatory animal at a slaughterhouse, failing to provide vet care and depriving an animal of food and water, all misdemeanors.

State agriculture officials said there was not an imminent food-safety concern at the slaughterhouse, which has not been closed.

 
Home> National/Politics Updated May.7,2008 07:19 KST 
 
 
 

Authorities Hunt Down Disruptive Wild Goats
 
Wild goats are reportedly destroying habitats in quite a few islands in Korea and relevant authorities are choosing to hunt them down. Many of these islands are so overpopulated with domestic goats, normally all black in color, that some people are opting to shoot them on the spot.
The problem, hunters say, is the goats are eating up anything that's edible, including rare plants and upsetting the local ecosystem. One rare multicolored bird, the fairy pitta, is only found in small numbers in certain areas, including on these islands.

At one island off the shore of Boryeong city in South Chungcheong Province, all that remains are plants with thorns; the only thing goats won't eat.

Nobody thought the goats would get out of hand when they were first introduced to these islands in the early 1970s. Through a government-backed project back then, farmers used the islands to raise goats, which eventually turned wild.

Environmental officials say 4 percent of the nation's 2,000 islands are overrun by goats. And they are growing fast in population -- a goat on average gives birth three times a year.

Environmentalists agree that the number of goats needs to be contained but advise caution for those holding the guns, asking them to take alternative measures such as nets and traps. But one good thing is they could be a great opportunity for doctors who use goat material in traditional medicines.




 
 
 
 

Gawk at grazing goats at the Getty
6:28 PM, May 6, 2008
 

The Getty is grateful for goats.

Travelers on the 405 Freeway between the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles will see about 60 goats roaming the hillsides, along with goat-herder Hugh Bunten and two dogs, Steve and Boo, for two to three weeks, The Times' LA Now blog reports.

The Getty Center, about 110 acres, contracted the goats to munch away at brush that could serve as fuel for wildfires, Veronique de Turenne writes.

For the story behind the goats, step back in time to 2005 by clicking on our jump for a more in-depth look at the Getty's acquisitions.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

Herd mentality in Brentwood

The Getty Center's artful approach to clearing treacherous hillsides of brush: Rent a few hundred goats.

By Merrill Balassone, Times Staff Writer

It's 9:30 in the morning, and visitors at the Getty Center in Brentwood are enjoying the mild weather as they stretch out under shady walnut trees. Some crowd the gates expectantly, eager to get in on the action.

"Ready, goats? Let's go!" yells goatherd John Adams.

And on command, a team of 300 goats files out of the pen in an orderly line down a dirt road on the museum's north side, tearing away mouthfuls of dry foxtails and buckwheat from the hillside.

For the last three weeks, the all-goat landscaping team has been eating away at the dry brush on 8 acres of land at the Getty Center, too treacherous and steep for the maintenance crew to reach.

"At first I thought, 'Oh, my God, will they have dogs chasing the goats?' And you think of those sheep competitions," said Lynne Tjomsland, manager of grounds and gardens at the Getty Center. "But there's a real hazard of one of our guys getting hurt, and if there's a way to avoid the risk, we'll do it."

For Tjomsland, the goats have provided an ideal solution to the threat of brush fires. The goats are mostly attracted to low-lying brush and grasses and can stretch up to 8 feet to strip low branches off trees while leaving the canopies intact. The animals naturally "recycle" the plants, fertilizing the soil and reducing the chance of mudslides.

Sarah Bunten and her husband, Hugh, manage the goats, and their company, Nannies and Billy's, was spawned after a co-worker gave them a goat as a wedding present.

Since that quirky gift, goats have become a way of life for the Bunten family. For the last year, the Buntens and their daughter Annie, 25, have been living on the road, away from their house in Lakeview, Ore. They have set up a base camp next to the goat pen -- a small teal-and-white trailer where Annie sleeps, with a dusty easy chair and a refrigerator outside and a small tent for Bunten and her husband. At the opposite side of the pen is another trailer, where Adams and his friend Keith Pugh, a fellow goatherd, stay. While Adams has lived outdoors for the last three years, he says that the lack of modern conveniences can still test his patience.

"It can be great because you get to travel and have crazy experiences like living at the Getty, but then you have to deal with the weather and the bugs, and you don't have a couch and a remote control," he said.

"But there's no rent and no dishes," adds Annie, who met Adams while attending the University of Oregon. "When you tell people you're a goat herder, they always ask you where your staff is."

The Buntens use Boer goat mixes, developed in South Africa to feed miners. They started their business selling goat meat to some of Portland's upscale "sit-down suit-and-tie" restaurants, where the entrees were as much as $40 a plate.

They soon realized the goats were more valuable as landscapers than as meat. Goats can be easily trained and are able to memorize the terrain and obey spoken commands. Tjomsland said she was surprised to find how easily the goats navigated the twisting access roads at the Getty a year after they first cleared brush on the property.

The goats finish their tour of duty at the Getty on Friday. Then they travel south to their next gig, at Peck Park in Palos Verdes.

While the Buntens use three dogs as guides, the goats aren't always easy to handle. The goatherds must tap into the herd mentality and take the role of the "lead goat." If not led correctly, the goats can wander into people's homes. Bunten's goats have chomped on tobacco plants and survived rattlesnake bites.

"There's a lot of strategy involved," Annie said. "Sometimes they get a little tricky, and they divide and conquer. Other times, they don't think the food is as good as we're telling them it is. But basically, it's just about being smarter than the goats."

Posted by Francisco Vara-Orta on May 6, 2008 in Goats

 

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'Judas' goats help in cull
Posted Thu May 8, 2008 4:41pm AEST
Updated Thu May 8, 2008 4:48pm AEST

 
The device emits a beeping noise and gets stronger when getting closer to the Judas goat. (ABC Rural : Lorna Perry)

Map: Kingscote 5223
 A feral goat culling program that uses the goats themselves has cut numbers by more than half.

The program has cut feral goats on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia from about 2,500 to 1,000.

Park ranger Mike Penhall says the program involves fitting goats with satellite tracking devices.

The so-called Judas goats are released into the wild, where they mob with feral goat herds.

Mr Penhall says once the Judas goat has tracked down a herd the culling process is straight-forward.

"Because the vegetation's quite low or quite open, you're able to visualise the goats and the mobs quite easily," he said.

"We're also in a program of - on a periodic basis - of organising a closure of parks to go and actually target those feral mobs and destroy the feral animals, leaving the Judas animal to then mob-up with others."

Onkaparinga Gorge goats culled

Jai Bednall

06May08

 
FERAL goats the number one pest in the Onkaparinga River National Park have had their numbers wiped out by a team of crack gunmen from the Sporting Shooters Association.


A team of about 20 shooters patrolled the park late last month after being called in by the Department for Environment and Heritage.

A total of 55 goats were killed, which senior ranger Bryn Troath says is about 80 per cent of the total goat population in the 14sqm park.

``We think there's about 10 to 15 left in there,'' he said.

``Removing so many feral goats will go a long way towards helping to conserve native and regenerating vegetation in the park.''

The park was closed on Tuesday, April 29, while three teams of about five shooters and spotters tracked down the goats.

It is the first time the department has been forced to call in a team of shooters.

``We've done it before with just one shooter but never on this scale.

``We didn't think the goat population was that high but we did a survey and were surprised at how many there were.''

He said the program would probably be run again, in September or October.

Council orders villager to stop rearing goats


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Zainal Rashid showing Seberang Jaya assemblyman Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah the directive, issued by the Seberang Prai Municipal Council, to remove the goats from his compound. — NST picture by Rosli Ahmad.


BUKIT MERTAJAM: A villager who turned his compound into a mini goat breeding farm has been ordered to remove the animals by the local council here.

Zainal Rashid, 50, was also ordered to tear down the sheds that he had built for his 30-odd goats.

The directive was issued by the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) following complaints from Zainal's neighbours that they could no longer bear the stench.

An MPSP spokesman said Zainal had applied to rear goats last year but it was turned down by the council as the site was not suitable for farming.

"His house is too close to a housing area. We also issued a notice to him December last year to get rid of his goats. However, he did not do so and we compounded him in March," he said.

The spokesman said Zainal would have to abide by the council's latest directive or face the consequences.

Meanwhile, Zainal contended that the goats were always kept within his house compound and there was no reason for his neighbours to complain. He claimed to have spent RM15,000 to improve his goat sheds early this year.

"I handle their waste properly to ensure the smell does not affect my neighbours," he said, adding he had been keeping the goats for four years.

Zainal said he had no other place to shift the goats and hoped that the council would consider his appeal to be allowed to keep the animals.

Meanwhile, Seberang Jaya assemblyman Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah said he would arrange a meeting between MPSP, the residents and Zainal next week to solve the matter.

"I understand that he is depending on the goats to supplement his income but at the same time we must also take the other residents' complaints seriously."
 
 
 

Farmer: Vandals spray-painted goats


Published: May 15, 2008 at 7:06 PM
Print story Email to a friend Font size:CLEARFIELD, Pa., May 15 (UPI) -- A Clearfield County, Pa., farmer said vandals snuck onto his property under cover of night and spray-painted obscenities on three of his goats.

Evan Bellin said the crime, which took place during the weekend, could set him back hundreds of dollars as the goats' wool is used to make cashmere and the paint could take months to grow out, WPXI-TV, Pittsburgh, reported Thursday.

"It's really bad to think they would do that to innocent animals. I mean if they have a problem with me, to come to me. I mean, I have all of my vehicles up here and they didn't touch anything," Bellin said.

He said he plans to keep the goats closer to his house for the foreseeable future.


© 2008 United Press

Goats and hens gleeful as utopia beckons on animal farm
Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font Ian Munro, Woodstock
May 17, 2008


Jenny Brown, who lost a leg to cancer as a child, with Albie, who lost a leg following mistreatment. Ms Brown is going to great efforts to have him fitted with a prosthetic leg.
Photo: Ian Munro

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"LOOK at this, it's like I can move my ankle."

Jenny Brown leans forward, shifting her weight to where her right leg should be, but where an elaborate device of metal, carbon fibre and a hydraulic pump links her knee to a flexible "foot", which under pressure simulates the give of a natural joint.

This is possibly her 20th artificial leg, at $20,000 the most expensive, and clearly the most satisfying. With this leg she walks, hikes and jogs.

Now she wants something equally liberating for her friend, Albie, the goat who found a new life at the farm animal sanctuary she started with her husband four years ago.

Ms Brown lost her lower right leg to cancer at the age of 10. Albie lost his left foreleg in January after he was found wandering in Brooklyn having escaped an even grimmer fate.

He had been hogtied, his legs bound together, the way goats are often transported to market, Ms Brown said. The skin of his left foreleg was broken and the wound infested with maggots.

"We started him on antibiotics, poultice ointments — we tried everything and it wasn't working and you could tell in the X-rays that the infection was in the bone," she said.

Amputation followed, as have three attempts at creating a goat leg prosthesis. On three legs, Albie pitches himself forward in an awkward lunging motion.

Ms Brown's prosthetic specialist has agreed to work pro bono on the project, which involves giving Albie an artificial leg much simpler than her own.

The problem is not with the prosthesis, but with anchoring it to the stump that remains of Albie's leg.

"He's got all this loose skin and that loose skin moves up and down — it's called pistoning in the prosthetics world — so we are trying to find the most comfortable way to keep it on him," Ms Brown said. "He has walked with three different varieties of artificial leg and he has actually done pretty well.

"When people get artificial legs it takes months to get the proper fit, and here we are dealing with an animal that can't tell us 'it's a little tight over on the right', or 'I feel I am kicking my leg out too far'. We are just working on it to make it the most comfortable it can be, but it will definitely work."

Exhaustive treatment is no rarity at the sanctuary. Another goat, Olivia, is recuperating after chemotherapy and homeopathic treatments for cancer. Another goat, recovering from a broken leg, has physiotherapy twice a day. And broiler hens found abandoned and dehydrated in New York were revived with intravenous lines.

Ms Brown abandoned a career in film production to start the sanctuary near the Catskill Mountains after experiences as an occasional undercover investigator for animal rights groups changed her life. The sanctuary survives on donations and with the support of Doug Abel, her husband, who works in film production.

"It is truly farm animals that are the most abused and exploited animals in the world. They suffer beyond our imagination and because they can't speak in ways that enable our comprehension, we do whatever we want to them," Ms Brown said.

As for Albie, the adjustments continue. This week Ms Brown, with her specialist, was considering a revised design for Albie's fourth limb. "I look at him and I can't imagine him having to go around without a leg on," she said.

"I want him to have something that makes him comfortable, that makes his quality of life better. I want him to have the best life possible."

Troubled Riverland abattoir closes
Posted 4 hours 52 minutes ago
Updated 4 hours 23 minutes ago

 
The operator of a Riverland abattoir has gone into receivership (file photo).

Map: Waikerie 5330
 More than 30 abattoir workers at Waikerie in the South Australian Riverland have been left without jobs.

The operator of the abattoir, Kerridale International Trading, has gone into receivership.

It had closed the facility recently, citing financial troubles.

The abattoir was linked with an outbreak of Q fever at Waikerie last year, in which a woman died.

Sixteen Vietnamese men and women who were told they could take holidays had been expecting to return to work this week.

But they now find themselves without an income.

A former Kerridale worker, Victor Pickford, says locals will not let them starve.

"Some personal friends have assisted the Vietnamese families with food," he said.

Abattoir owner Cleco Nominees blames adverse publicity for the company's demise.

Director Tony Burge says a New South Wales company which slaughters sheep and goats is interested in taking over the abattoir.

Loxton Waikerie Council has taken legal action against Cleco Nominees to try to stop the slaughter of goats.

That case is continuing.

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Meatworks demise blamed on US woes, public opposition
Posted 1 hour 15 minutes ago

Map: Waikerie 5330
 Waikerie abattoir operator, Kerridale International Trading, has blamed community opposition and poor market conditions in the United States for its economic downturn.

The company, which ran the abattoir linked to an outbreak of Q fever in Waikerie last year, has gone into receivership.

More than 30 former employees have no work, and South Australia has lost its only goat slaughtering site.

Kerridale director Mark Gothard says bad publicity and opposition from some locals and the Loxton Waikerie Council contributed to the company's demise.

"That cost us loads of money that we certainly weren't budgeting for," he said.

"To exacerbate the situation we had economic decline in the US which was our major market. We had also last year a very poor year in the second biggest market, so we probably had the worst period last year for sales of goat meats that we've probably seen in 10 or 15 years."

South Australian goat breeders say they will now have to send their goats to interstate abattoirs.

The owner of company Karbo Boer Goats, Pat Edson, says the impact of Kerridale's closure will be huge for suppliers.

Ms Edson says having goats slaughtered will now be an expensive cross-border exercise.

"The other options are, I guess the closest export works would now be Wodonga which is possible, not viable, to send them that far, it would be a huge amount of travel and costing ," she said.

Australia opens world's first goat museum
By Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 1:45PM BST 22/05/2008
A tiny town in outback Australia hopes to lift its fortunes with the world’s first museum dedicated to the humble goat.

PA
The museum will also feature a Goat Racing Hall of Fame
While the more exotic camel receives credit for its contribution to opening up Australia’s desert interior in the 19th century, goats were also vital to early settlers.

They provided not only meat and milk but were also used as miniature beasts of burden, the museum’s proponents say.

Their presence these days is less welcome – millions of feral goats inhabit outback areas, competing with sheep for food and contributing to soil erosion with their sharp hooves.


The museum, which it is hoped will open next year, will display old photographs, archive film footage and a stuffed goat or two.


It will also feature a Goat Racing Hall of Fame, which will tell the history of the unorthodox sport of goat racing, in which goats pull specially designed carts large enough to accommodate adult “jockeys”.


The museum is being planned by the town of Barcaldine, in the dry western reaches of Queensland.


The town, population 1,800, has formed a committee and aims to raise £150,000 in funding and sponsorship for the attraction.


It is the brainchild of solicitor John de Groot, who was a champion goat racer when he lived in Barcaldine as a child.


He now resides in Brisbane, but retains an interest in goats that some might regard as verging on the unhealthy.


“We used to ride them bareback, with a bridle,” he said yesterday [thurs]. “I had the most wonderful childhood because of my involvement with goats – I started racing at seven, on a goat called Thunder.”


“Australia was a nation of battlers and goats were crucial to the lives of working class families in the outback.


“They were the poor man’s cow. They provided meat and milk and entertainment, as pets and for races. We’re confident that this will be the first goat museum in the world.”


Dr de Groot is also writing a book, Goat Racing in Australia – Your Indispensable Guide – which will include goat racing tips.


Goats can be made to run faster by being tickled under the tail, or having the hairs on their back legs tweaked, he will reveal in the book.


The goat museum will be built next to the town’s other tourist attraction, the Workers' Heritage Centre, which commemorates a sheep shearers’ strike of the 1890s that led to the birth of the Australian Labor Party.


“We think the idea of the museum is absolutely wonderful,” said Vicki Lockie of the Barcaldine Tourist Information Centre.


The heyday of goat racing in Australia was the 1920s and 30s but the sport remains a highlight of the Barcaldine social calendar, forging a sense of community.


“We muster the goats in the wild and bring them in for training,” said Mrs Lockie. “Twice a week the school kids help train them. It drags them away from playing computer games indoors.”


Training a goat to accept a harness and pull a buggy is no mean feat. “It takes a fair bit of doing because they’re wild. Some of them are just too feral,” she said.

OK , fellow goat enthusiasts, here's the second half of my discourse concerning some reconsidered dos and don'ts of keeping caprine critters. As those of you who read Part I will likely recall, I've already discussed the number of does that (I think) make up the perfect farmstead herd ... told you how to avoid the pitfalls of "goatflation" . . . recommended qualities to look for when buying a good milk animal ... and advised you on where to keep your newly acquired charges once you get them home. (If you haven't looked at the first half of this feature, I suggest you pick up a copy of MOTHER NO. 82 and turn to page 34.)

And now that the preliminaries are out of the way, we can get on to some of the finer points of goat husbandry ... namely, breeding, milking, kid care, and home veterinary treatment. But before we launch into those subjects, let me reiterate something I said in Part 1: The following hints (most of which I've learned the hard way!) are meant only as suggestions-not as steadfast rules?to help you discover the most efficient and simplest means of rearing and handling your own milkers.

BRING ON THE KIDS
I used to tell folks to keep a buck around their homestead for breeding purposes. Now, however-having long tried in vain to deal with the cantankerous nature and malodrous scent of the male goat?I have to re tract that bit of poorly conceived advice, and offer in its place another, much more sensible, plan!

Why not get together with half a dozen or so other nanny owners in your community, and pool all of your resources to buy one exemplary buck that can serve all of your does. Then-and this is the tricky part!?see if you can't talk one of those other goat lovers into boarding (with the expenses shared by everyone, of course) "old whisker face" on his or her farm. Naturally, you'll have to go to the trouble of hauling your does over to this benevolent neighbor's barn at breeding time ... but-take my word for it that's a very small price to pay for keeping your backyard clean-smelling!

If you can't find someone magnanimous enough to care for a "collective" buck, I'd suggest you utilize artificial insemination (Al). This method is well suited to goat raising and is the very best-and least expensive -way to upgrade your herd. (Semen from some of the top breeders in the country is available for as little as $5 to $25 a unit.) Unfortunately, Al requires that you artificially inseminate your does, and it's sometimes hard to catch the females in heat ... but you'll have to in order to do this. In fact, some gals won't come into season unless there's a male goat on the premises. However, you can fool them. Just take an old rag and-during the fall breeding period?wipe it on a buck's head, where the horns should be, and along its hocks. Then hang the dripping-wit h? maleness cloth where the does can smell it. Within 48 to 72 hours, your ladies should be in heat.

Incidentally, while we're on the subject of breeding, there are two often- recommended, tricks" that I would not advise. First of all, don't try (by artificially creating a facsimile of the declining daylight hours typical of "heat" season) to bring your does into heat during their off-breeding period in the spring. I don't feel that the results warrant all the extra time and effort that are involved in this particular technique. You see, the percentage of does that settle (get pregnant) when bred under such conditions is usually small, and oftentimes the buck just isn't interested in mating during the spring.


 

May 25, 2008

The beginner’s guide to Arabia
From goat auctions to Arabian princesses, you never quite know what you’ll find in Oman. That’s reason enough to goSally Emerson
The weekly goat auction in Nizwa, the former capital of Oman, is a mixture of Crufts gone wild and a Wall Street trading floor, and everyone is far too busy to give me, a western woman, even a glance.

Some men hold staffs, dead ringers for Abraham, their brown faces deeply furrowed as they watch the display of struggling goats and cows. It’s like stumbling into the Old Testament.

A shaggy goat and its sleek, golden baby are dragged round and round the stone marketplace while the crowds demand to examine teeth and orifices; know age, weight, health. Close on their tail, a man staggers in carrying two black kids. Another tugs three, and traders yell out their questions and bids. The men haggle, the sheep bleat, the goats complain and the hungry calves groan. One Moses of a man swings around to tell us the price he paid, bright-eyed with glee about the deal. The little goat he has bought stands wagging its tail.

This is Oman, an eight-hour plane ride from London, a four-hour drive from the glitz of Dubai – and 2,000 years back in time. This is a country of austere desert and hard people, yet it is full of wonders. It has hilltop forts, sultans’ palaces, medieval villages growing papaya and pomegranates, and old dhows in which Omanis sailed the seas and became a great maritime people. Many here live as they have for millennia, though oil money and the reforms of the present sultan have brought fine roads, hospitals and schools. As a visitor, you can go camel racing, take dolphin-watching trips on a glamorous catamaran or see turtles laying their eggs at night.

The mystery still abides – the Arabian Nights world of Sinbad the Sailor. Here, lean men with the faces of prophets command the streets in long white gowns, a few sporting curved silver daggers on their belts. Behind them lie the mountains, in front the blue waters of the Gulf of Oman, with its dolphins and whales, and so many fish that the catch at the morning market is the gaudiest thing I saw in this monochrome nation, all glistening parrotfish, orange-red snapper, shimmering tuna.

The market fascinated me: Dubai I spent ages observing the traders on their upturned buckets, brown legs astride under their snowy dishdashas, presiding over their catch. I saw silvery tuna with gashes in their flanks, baby sharks barely a foot long, black sailfish that appeared to be made of leather – and a mass of greyish-white squid guarded by a plump man who looked so like his produce, I feared a genie might have transformed him. Later that evening, I ordered tuna in the restaurant at my hotel. Its flavour was delicate yet rich, sinfully at odds with Oman’s unworldliness.

I STAYED at the Chedi, in the Omani capital, Muscat, which is very 21st-century and thoroughly worldly, though with a low-key, zen style. From the banquettes by the infinity pool, you can lounge like an Arabian princess and sip mint lemonade while gazing over the blue pool to the beach and the green gulf.

I watched an English couple steel themselves before running bravely into the sea – then pause for a shocked moment, allowing themselves beatific smiles, and submerge. The water is balmy here – in summer, they have to chill the pool.

The hotel was full of couples. They can indulge in a Love Bath at the spa – a sunken affair soaked in oils, scattered with petals and well supplied with champagne and canapés. And how I loved returning to the Chedi each evening as the sun died down, swimming in the hot ocean and watching the couples gathering around the coal burners, the flames illuminating their faces and dancing among the palm trees, the water gardens and the fountains, as the smell of dinner wafted through the still air.

You must not, however, allow the Chedi’s sultry seductions to prevent you from getting out to explore the desert, the mountains, the wadis. Safe and clean, Oman is huge and stark and uplifting in its beauty – 120,000 square miles of it for just 2½m people.

The country’s tribal customs and its domination by Islam have helped to preserve its toughness. As you drive, you see watchtower after watchtower on the desolate brown hills, and only the occasional minaret of a mosque. In The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, TE Lawrence wrote: “Bedouin ways were hard even for those brought up to them, and for strangers terrible: a death in life.” And: “The common base of all the semitic creeds, winners or losers, was the ever-present idea of world worthlessness. Their profound reaction from matter led them to preach bareness, renunciation, poverty, and the atmosphere of this invention stifled the winds of the desert pitilessly.”

Out in the desert of Wahiba Sands, our Jeep jitterbugged over 300yd dunes, plunging down and up and down again. We stopped and I floundered on foot over their shifting slopes, causing avalanches of the caramel sand to collapse in crescents as the wind whipped my face.

Later, we ate sweet watermelon beside a rocky wadi named Bani Khalid. It was good to cool off from the obliterating 40C heat in the wadi’s turquoise waters, fed from a mountain stream, though the interest my swimming caused among the young men took the edge off the magic – and I was extremely well covered up, shirt and all. I wish I’d been allowed to swim in peace; the wadi’s surface skidded with red dragonflies and swooped with swallows. Little fish nibbled at my feet and, on the banks, wild goats drank.

You seldom see a woman in the streets and shops of Oman; if you do, she is swathed in black, like a shadow. It is as though the women have vanished, been stolen away, and all that is left is men, stately men, like angels in their crisp, clean white gowns and fetchingly embroidered caps – no boring white cloths for headdresses here.

BACK AT the goat market, however, the dishdashas are not so spotless and the long, lean faces are less remote – especially when butted by a grand grey bull that objects to being dragged by the horns around the stone arena.

Here, I do see a few women – Bedouin in black face masks, wrenching open the mouths of kids and calves. One wears a gold mask. A few westerners hang about on the edges, taking pictures and looking astonished. Their bright clothes look absurdly out of place, like something Doctor Who brought in.

If you want to time-travel, Oman is certainly the place. Less conservative than Saudi Arabia, much less westernised than Dubai, it is the perfect introduction to the Gulf states. Flying home, I felt refreshed – perhaps in part by the barrenness. I felt as though I’d been on a retreat, rather than just a holiday. It was even oddly agreeable to feel invisible after a while.

While Dubai, it is said, is losing its soul, Oman’s is still intact, and its tourism is just beginning.

Biggs tames the beast
published: Sunday | May 25, 2008

Paul H. Williams, Outlook Writer,Jamaica


Kirkland Thompson of Longwood district, St. Elizabeth, feeds a kid form a bottle after its mother rejected it.

The dog is man's best friend. So the saying goes. But for Kirkland 'Biggs' Thompson, it is not true. His best friend is a big, variegated ram goat named Charlie. And should anybody have any idea of coming between them, be prepared to get the butt of their rebuff.

Yet, they are not a figment of this writer's overactive imagination. They live in the quiet rural district of Longwood, near Lovely Point, St Elizabeth. The surroundings are humble - greenish goat droppings abound, and the musky odour of goats is strong in the air. For Charlie is only one in a stock of 45, including 15 bucks and 30 ewes.

first big breed goat

However, he's the king. He was accorded this royal status from the very moment, about four years ago, when Biggs first set eye upon him.

'Charlie is the first big breed goat I ever raise ... When I buy Charlie, some people say to me, why buy this goat for such a dear (expensive) price (but) when I see the quality of Charlie, I say to myself I must get this breed of goat, so I put out every effort to get Charlie," he recalls.

Well, he got Charlie and treats him as royalty, and the animal has come to expect nothing less. "Charlie is a special goat to me and when me talk to Charlie, Charlie tend to react to what I say to him ... when me feed the rest of the goats without Charlie getting feed, Charlie intend to buck down the place," Biggs explains.

CONVERSATIONS

To appease the arrogant beast, he would speak with him. "Charlie," he shouts, "hold on man. Your thing soon come up you know. So you don't have to worry. A coming with your feeding now." And Charlie would calm down.

Charlie, Biggs says, can be quite "mannersable", but like that between two people, their friendship is sometimes very tense, especially in the mating season when Charlie is in 'heat'. He becomes very aggressive and disobedient, especially when he sees the ewes going by. When he's released from his enclosure, he would chase the younger and weaker goats away. "Charlie would even kill every male offspring to get to the females."

And that's why one day, in Biggs' absence, Charlie committed a very desperate act. He butted down the metal gate of his pen and went out to satisfy his primal needs. "I remember keeping Charlie behind this (grille) gate, and I find Charlie buck it and split it in pieces. When I come and see it, believe you me, it was amazing. I have to call the (welder) and show him," Biggs recollects.

A goatherd for as long as he knows himself, Thompson was perhaps destined to spend his life among goats. He was born under the sign of Capricorn! He's half man and half goat. "Right now, if you ask me what would I do apart from this, nothing. You couldn't give me nothing else to do. From I was born I have been doing this. I don't know nothing else."

decent burial

Though business is not as brisk as he would want it to be, he says Charlie has got him to where he had wanted to be, in terms of the number of offspring Charlie has sired. And should Charlie die now by accident or illness, he would be accorded a decent burial. He won't be buried as a dog. No. There is going to be a gathering with food and drinks.

Despite Charlie's contribution to Biggs' well-being, sadly, the two will soon have to part company. You see, Charlie is in his prime, and in the goat-rearing business an animal fetches a better price at this stage, when he is healthy and very productive. Charlie's new owner will have to make a promise to Biggs, not to kill Charlie, at least not now. Whatever happens, he says, "Charlie is my boy, and that's it."

Neighborhood Goats Are Facing an Uncertain Future
by KRISTEN ARMSTRONG, Staff Writer
(Created: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7:45 AM EDT)

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Carne is a Nigerian Dwarf goat that several North Arlington residents are keeping as a pet. County officials say Carne and another goat, Leche, can't stay. (Photo by Kristen Armstrong) 
 
What's an environmentally conscious and easy way to cut grass? For Arlington residents Bryant Nichols and Matt Haggerty, the answer was a pair of goats they bought on Craigslist.

But now, the county has stepped in, and the bleating duo, Carne and Leche, might be on their way back to the farm.

“We have until June 6 to get rid of them,” said Bill Daus, the owner of the property. “In [county zoning ordinance] section 5.A.2, it states you can't have livestock within 100 feet of a property line or road.”

But the goats' owners and other members of the house don't see the goats as livestock, and are trying to persuade the county to consider them as pets.

“We bought goat books and did lots of Internet research,” Nichols said. “The Arlington County Web site specified that swine and poultry were not allowed, so we thought we would have no problem with goats.”

Nichols and Haggerty bought the Nigerian Dwarf Carne and French Alpine Leche for $80 each from a farm in Nokesville, Va., and keep them in a fenced-off area in their back yard.

Although they've been using the goats' droppings to fertilize the garden, they said they are not using Carne and Leche to make money, as a farm would.

“Goats should be considered pets when they are kept for fun and as friends,” Nichols said. “Livestock animals are raised to be sold for profit. We never plan to make a financial profit on either Carne or Leche.”

(According to county spokesman Diana Sun, however, “the financial profit motive is not necessarily a definition” of livestock.)

And even though the goats escaped and ran down to the corner of Lee Highway and George Mason their first night in Arlington, they have been very well-behaved since then, Daus said.

“Originally I was a naysayer, but now I'm a supporter,” he said. “They don't smell at all. They're quieter than dogs, and make much less mess.”

“They are basically like a really shy, cute dog with no teeth that eats leaves, grass and weeds,” Nichols said.

The house's goat supporters have set up the Web site, www.saveourgoats.com (which has a live “goat cam”), to get people to sign petitions requesting that the county “exclude does (female goats) and wether (castrated male goats) from the definition of livestock.”

So far, they have 194 signatures, and hope to get 1,000 in the next two weeks.

What's the likelihood that the county will let Carne and Leche stay? “Anything is possible,” Sun said. “It's possible that the County Board would have to change the ordinance.”

But if the county doesn't allow the goats to remain in Arlington, Nichols, Haggerty and Daus are willing to battle to keep the pair.

“They're our pets now. We're attached to them,” Daus said. “We're really going to [fight] if we have to. We're ready to go to court for it.”

06/06/2008 Digg  Stumble Upon  Reddit  Facebook  Del.icio.us  Fark  Yahoo  Newsvine  Google  Font:
 PETTING ZOO HORROR STORY
Berlin Zoo Feeds Goat to Wolves
It's been a hard year for Berlin Zoo Director Bernhard Blaszkiewitz. First, he was accused of selling and mistreating animals. Then, he admitted he had killed cats with his bare hands. Now he let wolves rip a goat to shreds in front of zoo visitors.


 AP
Canadian wolves, such as the one pictured here in the wild, are being fed in Berlin's Zoo with goats from the petting zoo.
At the Berlin Zoo, it's a short distance between the petting zoo and the wolves' habitat. But it can apparently also be the distance between being lovingly caressed by children and being dismembered by bloodthirsty predators.

Crowds at the zoo were shocked Thursday as they watched wolves savagely jostle each other to get their piece of a recently killed goat.

The feeding of zoo animals to other creatures in the parks is an accepted practice in the European Union. And like those animals, this goat had already been killed before being placed in the wolves' habitat.

In simple terms, it's an issue of animal overflow in a man-made environment without any predators. As Ragnar Kühne, the zoo's curator, told the mass-circulation daily Bild: "When we have too many goats in the petting zoo, we usually give them to farms or private persons. But if we can't get rid of them, we have them appropriately slaughtered and fed to carnivores."

Although some people might find it troubling that the wolves were fed in broad daylight and right in front of zoo visitors, the real issue of controversy seems to be that it happened in the wake of a series of shocking and mistrust-fomenting revelations about this and other German zoos.

For one, it might strike some as strange that this goat -- which was in perfectly good health -- should be killed this way after Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, the zoo's director, told Die Welt a few months ago that the park didn't kill surplus hoofed animals and feed them to other animals. "We don't do this," he insisted. "But, of course, it might happen that a deer breaks its neck, and then we allow the corpse to be eaten."

A zoo spokesman later clarified the statement saying that Blaszkiewitz had been referring to "wild" hoofed animals, such as, antelopes, zebras and deer, rather than to "domestic" hoofed animals, such as sheep, goats, cows and pigs.

Then, in March, local Green Party politician Claudia Hämmerling filed a criminal complaint against Blaszkiewitz, accusing him of selling unwanted animals (more...)-- including a pygmy hippopotamus and a family of bears -- for slaughter and of letting tigers and jaguars be shipped to China, where they allegedly ended up being used for impotency cures. Blaszkiewitz has vehemently denied these charges, saying he was victim of a "smear campaign."


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 Soon after, Blaszkiewitz admitted to killing a number of wild kittens in 1991 by breaking their necks with his own hands, saying the animals could bear diseases threatening to the other animals. At the time, Blaszkiewitz defended his actions. "I still think it was the right thing to do," Blaszkiewitz told Die Welt in March. "Wild house cats can pose a big danger to people and animals, so they shouldn't be tolerated in (zoos)."

In addition, last month the animal-rights organization Peta filed another criminal complaint against Blaszkiewitz, alleging that he improperly treated 10 bears by not giving them sufficient living space in Tierpark Berlin, which he also oversees.

jtw/reuters

Goat farm producing natural, sustainable meat
Nancy Isles Nation
Article Launched: 06/07/2008 07:02:19 PM PDT


Click photo to enlargeGoats roam one of Big Oak Farm's pastures near Petaluma. Once focused on... (IJ photo/Alan Dep)«123»Big Oak Farms was a dairy producer for generations, but in recent years members of the Pomi family discontinued the milk operation and brought in beef cattle and goats. The change was key to keeping the 500-acre farm in the family and producing sustainable agricultural products that will make the operation viable for the next generation.
The Pomis were one of the first families to sign a contract with the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to guarantee that their land in Northern Marin near the Sonoma County border will remain agricultural forever.

In April 2007 the land was certified as organic, and in August 2007 the Pomis bought a herd of pure-bred Boer goat bucks and mixed-bred Boer does.

Goat might not be on a lot of dinner tables in the United States these days, but the Pomis say that is beginning to change. They say it's healthy and good for the environment and it's catching on.

"When you buy goat meat, you get something extremely healthy and fresh," said Helge Hellberg, executive director of Marin Organic. "It's good for family farms and you are helping the county. I think goat is underrated."

Hellberg said residents of Marin and the Bay Area will embrace the goat meat concept because they are aware of agricultural production issues and want to eat locally produced, naturally raised food.

"In Marin, they know it's an investment in their health and the health of the county," Hellberg said. "Marin is really far out when it comes to food diversity."

Cindy
Pomi runs the farm with her husband, Mark, his parents, Ron and Patty Pomi, and her sister-in-law, Kim, and her husband, Jim Naugle. Cindy Pomi said the family began planning the goat operation after it stopped dairy production and began the beef cattle business in 2004.
They diversified the business and now have about 180 does and 100 kids. The breeds are fast-growing animals that have a high percentage of meat.

The goats receive no hormones or antibiotics. They are harvested in six to eight months when they reach 75 to 80 pounds. Each goat yields about 40 pounds of meat. Customers can order it on the Big Oak Farms Web site and pick it up from a local butcher.

The goats are slaughtered humanely in a stress-free environment, according to Pomi, who grew up on a cattle ranch in the San Joaquin Valley and graduated from California Polytechnic State University.

A whole goat costs $300 and a half is $175, with additional charges for butchering, cutting and wrapping.

The meat is lean and higher in protein than beef or chicken, and has less fat, calories and cholesterol than other meats. Meat from young goats is tender and flavorful.

Pomi said raising animals for meat is something she has always known. "It's part of my life and it's part of my kids' life," she said.

Several other West Marin ranchers are raising goats for meat and say they complement other stock, eating thistles, Scotch broom and other plants that cows and sheep bypass.

"It's perfect nature," said Bill Niman, who raises cattle at his ranch in Bolinas.

In January, friends of Bill and Nicolette Niman hauled their herd to the ranch from Oregon to feed for the winter. By spring, 600 kids were born. Niman kept about 80 goats for harvest.

"They improved the pasture for the cattle that are also here," Niman said. "I think it is a very healthful and sustainable animal."

Niman, who is no longer associated with the Niman Ranch brand of beef and pork he created but remains a shareholder in the business, said goats are ideal for smaller farmers. He said they are labor-intensive and cannot be put into feed lots like cattle that are raised industrially.

"I think it's definitely the animal of the future," Niman said. "They are a benefit to the environment as well as the people eating them."

David Evans, whose Marin Sun Farms built its reputation on grass-fed beef, produces about 60 kids a year for harvest. He said it's a new meat to many people so there is a resistance to trying it. "In the past it's been more of a specialty ethnic-based meat," Evans said.

He said goats eat less than cows and help diversify the operation. "They are very durable animals and disease-resistant," Evans said.

Peter McNee, the chef at Poggio restaurant in Sausalito, occasionally serves goat as a special and recently included it on a spit-roasted meat cart that also offered suckling pig, rabbit and assorted game birds.

McNee said he likes to serve goat because when he lived in Italy it was a common food.

"It wasn't trendy or cool, it was what they ate," McNee said, adding that Spanish and Latino cultures also eat a lot of goat. "It's only beginning to catch on with the mainstream Bay Area but not mainstream America."

He said goat will never be an easy sell like steaks or chicken.


 

 

Charella goats cheese a winnerArticle from: Font size: Decrease Increase Email article: Email Print article: Print Submit comment: Submit comment Philip Johnson
June 10, 2008 12:00am

CHARLES Parsons has been breeding goats and making goats milk products in Mudgeeraba for the past 10 years under the label of Charella Farmstead Goats Cheese.

 The family is dedicated to the art of cheese making, winning gold awards at national and international competitions.

I was first introduced to their young, fresh goats curd many years ago and became an instant admirer, pairing it with simple salads of fresh peas and mint, roast baby beets, or my favourite way to enjoy this wonderful cheese – with baked fresh figs and vincotto.

Tagliatelle, goats fetta, fennel, peas & mint with breadcrumbs
Shaved baby beetroot, goats cheese & hazelnut salad
Fried goats fetta, serrano ham, figs & vincottoFossicking: Brisbane's Big Cheese BiteThe goats fetta is also a great cheese. Marinated with peppercorns, garlic and sunflower oil it's ideal to crumble over steamed broccolini or asparagus with ligurian olives.
In addition to exporting their breeding stock and supplying cheeses to top end restaurants, the Parsons also have a stall at two farmers markets on the Gold Coast, where you can buy the fresh curd and marinated fetta as well as probiotic yoghurt and fresh goats milk.

The Mudgeeraba markets are held at the showgrounds on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, and at The Marina Mirage on the first and third Saturday.

June 11, 2008 | CHARLTON, Mass. -- Encompassed by pastoral green fields, the headquarters of GTC Biotherapeutics looks like any other New England farmstead. But its serenity is deceiving. Behind barn doors, the farm's most valuable employees -- a herd of pygmy goats from New Zealand -- are working round the clock, their milk glands churning out hundreds of gallons of high-grade pharmaceutical compounds.

The white gold extracted from the goats' udders will someday command big bucks in the American healthcare marketplace -- or so GTC hopes. The company's genetically modified animals possess a human gene that allows them to produce milk rich with a protein called antithrombin, which helps prevent blood clots from forming and staves off related conditions like heart attacks and strokes.

Tom Newberry, GTC's vice president of corporate communications, leads me into a corrugated-metal hutch. Goats enclosed in pens train inquisitive rectangular pupils on us and poke their heads through the bars. "They're looking for a handout," Newberry says, chuckling. But we can't give these goats kibble or even a pat on the head; that would be a breach of strict sanitary regulations.

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ATryn, GTC's goat-derived antithrombin, cleared its first regulatory hurdle in 2006 when the European Commission approved it for sale in all 25 European Union countries. This past fall, GTC successfully lobbied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to designate ATryn as a "fast-track product," making it eligible for accelerated review on this side of the Atlantic.

But GTC is out to prove it's no one-trick ruminant. Staff scientists have created transgenic goats that can churn out a smorgasbord of human proteins, including compounds that halt tumor blood-vessel development and blood-clotting factors for hemophiliacs. Protein-based human antibodies that protect against all kinds of diseases -- from SARS to incurable cancers -- could be next in the dairy pipeline.

A bevy of biotech companies is crowding the drug market with takes on the transgenic-remix concept. Origen, located in Burlingame, Calif., is developing a transgenic production line that employs chickens instead of goats as drug incubators. The company has bred birds that produce a range of human anticancer proteins and other antibodies in their eggs. In Athens, Ga., AviGenics is using a transgenic-chicken system to make a protein compound that stimulates the bone marrow to make more white blood cells -- essential in helping cancer patients bounce back after chemotherapy.

"Transgenic drug technology has been in the incubation stage for a long time," says Robert Kay, president and CEO of Origen. "But within the next five to 10 years, we should be seeing many new products in the clinic and pushing their way toward approval." Future drug-producing menageries, he predicts, will include pigs, cows and rabbits.

While these transgenic pioneers might seem to be cruising toward FDA approval, the road is hardly without obstacles. To the frustration of executives like Kay and Newberry, most of the snags are not financial or logistical but arise from people's reflexive reactions -- as in, Omigod, they're putting human genes into animals! It's "The Island of Dr. Moreau" made real.

But the revulsion to transgenic animals is more than reflexive; some animal biologists say biotech companies are overselling the safety of the resulting drugs. Meanwhile, ethicists question whether we should be restyling animals as drug producers at all.

GTC transforms goats into drug factories thanks to a recently perfected biological sleight of hand. Once a goat embryo is artificially fertilized in the lab, technicians zero in on the portion of the goat's genome that codes for a sugar found in goat milk and insert a human gene that codes for a naturally occurring protein. When the animal reaches maturity and begins producing milk, every cup of the white stuff contains large quantities of the therapeutic protein, which can be chemically extracted in pure form. "The mammary gland is nature's way of making proteins that are nutritious for offspring," Newberry says. "All we're doing is placing extra DNA coding in this natural pathway."

Before transgenic breeding, pharmaceutical companies normally extracted such protein compounds from donated blood plasma. But to get the same kilogram of antithrombin that a single transgenic goat produces each year, you'd have to get 50,000 people to donate blood -- a time-consuming process with its own inherent risks. "It's so bloody expensive, excuse the pun," Newberry says, "and the Red Cross just got hit with another set of fines for insufficient screening. Now, would you rather have a drug derived from human blood donors, or from our goats, given that we know where they slept last night?"

That question ignores a key fact. "Using goats for drug production has unpredictable effects, and the genetic inheritance of the modified genes is not a given -- 90 to 99 percent of the animals bred are killed immediately because they don't incorporate the desired gene," says Jessica Sandler, director of the regulatory testing division at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Creating transgenic animals does indeed have a high failure rate. With the technique known as pronuclear injection, only about one to 10 of every 100 attempts results in transgenic offspring, producing a high number of animals typically earmarked for euthanasia. The more sophisticated nuclear-transfer method that GTC uses ensures that virtually 100 percent of viable offspring are transgenic. Still, the transgene does not always land in the targeted section of the genome, and some offspring end up with severe birth defects for reasons that are still not well understood.

Tom Regan, a philosophy professor emeritus at North Carolina State University and author of "Empty Cages," sees the death and suffering of defective animals as a grave ethical misstep. "The animals used for these purposes are in fundamental ways like us -- their behavior tells us they're like us, evolutionary theory tells us they're like us," he says. "What we have with transgenic research is another incentive for reducing animals to something whose purpose for being in the world is to serve human interests. And that's fundamentally flawed."

Accountant chooses goats over taxes
Susan Troller  —  6/11/2008 7:46 am

By trade, Molly Helwig is a tax accountant. By passion, she is a small farmer who hopes she will soon be selling milk from a herd of dairy goats to the new Woolwich Dairy plant in Lancaster.

Helwig's love affair with the land began as a child. About two years ago she moved from Chicago to a rural community in the Town of Spring Valley in Rock County, not far from where she grew up. Her goal was to run a small, sustainable farm that included raising heirloom vegetables, grass-fed beef, and free-range chickens.

Now she wants to add dairy goats to that mix.

Encouraged by the prospect of a contract from Woolwich to take the milk she produces, Helwig is planning to expand what's currently a small hobby operation where she milks seven goats by hand into a commercial dairy this summer.

Her plans include buying a herd of Nubian milking goats, and housing them in a new hoop-style barn on her property.

"You don't want to buy your goats before you have a contract, or you may find yourself having no place to send the milk, and then you face dumping it," she said.

Woolwich manager Rob Gruber confirmed that giving farmers a contract before they begin milking is a common practice. He said Woolwich tries to give farmers three-year contracts so they know how much income they can expect, and make their plans accordingly.

Helwig has gotten advice and support from nearby family members who are farmers, and has been methodical in researching area goat dairies.

"You need to find the kind of operation that feels right to you, and then model your own operation on that. I'm not interested in something that will require a lot of mechanical skills, or that's very high tech. I'd like to keep it pretty simple," she said.

She discovered that learning to milk her goats by hand was strenuous exercise for her hands, leaving her with aching fingers and sore knuckles.

"I'm just in awe of these Amish farms where they milk 100 goats by hand," she said.

Can (Goat's Milk) Ice Cream Save The World?
stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust buzz up Posted June 15, 2008 | 07:16 AM (EST)


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Read More: Goat's Milk Ice Cream, Ice Crea, Laloo's Ice Cream, The Giving Life, Living News


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Laura Howard thinks so. She's created the world's first premium goat's milk ice cream, Laloo's. It's delicious, of course, and much better for us -- lower in fat and lactose, and loaded with Vitamins A and D. (Health-conscious celebrities like Kate Hudson and Jim Carrey are big fans.) Plus, the company sources the goat's milk and other ingredients from organic farms close by.

What was Laura's motivation? A desire to eat local, healthy foods, combined with a longing for a slower way of life -- a real change from the advertising and film world where she'd made her living for more than 15 years. "What moves me?" (if this were a story about cow's milk, you just know I'd go for the pun) is one of the most important questions New Radicals ask themselves. Everyone is looking for more meaning, and answering this question will help clarify what you value most.



If you haven't read earlier columns about the New Radicals, a little background is in order (if you have, please jump to the next paragraph!). New Radicals are people who have discovered that how we earn our living can become the way we give back. They are men and women like you and me who've found ways to put the skills they've developed in their careers to work on the world's greatest challenges. A boomer-led movement, it now includes people of all ages, in each field, and around the world.

Midlife New Radicals in particular have invested decades in carving themselves into a particular shape -- such as lawyer, parent, spouse -- and this identity has served us well. But if we are to find a new role that provides more meaning, we need to get to know our authentic selves. To understand what's important to us now, and what we want to do with the rest of our lives.



As you might expect, this involves a certain amount of spelunking, which is not something everyone wants to do. After all, ours is a world that doesn't value or reward the inner life. The thought of nosing around in the dark of our inner selves can make some people uncomfortable. Which is why some of my clients find reasons to bail at this point in the process. I remind them that all we're really doing is taking a break from the incessant chatter of our conscious minds, and creating an environment for fresh insights.

So how do New Radicals-in-the-making "turn on, tune in, and drop out" in Timothy Leary's famous phrase?

1. Take a break from our busy lives.
New Radicals go away. Not on holiday, but on a kind of retreat. For instance, Rocco Rossi's two walks along Spain's Camino Frances helped him connect with a deeper part of himself, and find the inspiration he needed to move from the corporate world to the not-for-profit sector.

2. Get lost in the moment.
New Radicals find ways to be introspective without leaving home. Meditation, the arts, journaling, even long walks. And they start to pay attention to the insights that bubble up in moments when they are less than fully conscious -- like in that delicious time just before falling asleep, or on waking.

As you find ways to answer the question "What moves you?", keep British scientists in mind. Tapping into the subconscious mind works so well for them that they've dubbed it the 3Bs, recognizing that all great discoveries are made on the bus, in the bath, or in bed.

 
It’s only natural: The high butterfat content of Nubians’ milk produces a more complex chevre. (photograph by michael persico)
Think Local

oats produce better milk for cheese-making.

by Dan Packel





Until the middle of the 20th century, much of eastern Chester and western Delaware County was still covered in forest. While subdivision after subdivision has steadily encroached upon the region, traces of a more sylvan past still exist.

On a 1923 Radnor Hunt Club hunting map of the area, a bend in Ridley Creek in East Goshen Township is labeled Shellbark Hollow after the native Shellbark Hickory trees. Plenty of hickory trees remain in the hollow, including one prominent specimen in the midst of an animal pen.

Here, early on a warm summer evening, a brown Nubian goat rears up on his hind legs, sniffing at the leaves from the hickory tree. The goat, part of the small herd of dairy goats at the Shellbark Hollow Farm, ultimately declines to munch on the leaves.

“They’re browsers,” says Pete Demchur, owner and cheese-maker at Shellbark Hollow. “They just eat certain things, like the tops of the grasses in the pasture.” Since Shellbark’s goats receive plenty of “really nice Western alfalfa,” they’re apparently very picky about their pasturage.

Demchur has been raising goats on his 3.5-acre plot of land for more than 13 years but didn’t start producing cheese commercially until 2002. While he’s got deep restaurant experience in almost every position there is (he started as a busboy at 10), Demchur started experimenting with cheese-making only after he became comfortable raising the goats.

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“The first thing in the business is the animals,” says Demchur. Accordingly, all his part-time employees start by working in the barn like he did, then move on to specialize in different parts of the operation.

He started out with only two kids. Demchur needed to build up his herd before he could start making cheese, so he let nature take its course. Almost all the goats in the herd can trace their genetics back to those first two goats.

Depending on the animal, each milking goat will produce eight to 10 years of milk.

Demchur chose Nubians even though they’re harder to maintain than other dairy breeds because they produce better quality milk. One tangible way the milk differs is butterfat content: While on average goat’s milk is lower in butterfat than cow’s milk, Nubians produce milk that on average contains more than 5 percent butterfat, higher than the 4.2 percent average for cows.

Richer milk means more flavorful milk, which ultimately leads to more exciting cheese.

In the years between establishing his herd and initiating commercial production, Demchur started experimenting with making cheese. A self-taught cheese-maker, he developed all his own recipes, learning everything by eye. Initially he listened to outside advice, which is why he has hundreds of dollars’ worth of acid meters collecting dust in a back room.

Shellbark Hollow’s chevre biscuits, available in 12-ounce rounds, flaunt a tart freshness that’s absent in chevres sealed in nitrogen-flushed plastic bags and shipped from France or California. Shellbark Hollow’s sharp goat cheese, a recipe developed by Demchur, is unique. Half-Italian, he was raised on provolone and so finds conventional chevre a little boring. His version ages two weeks before hitting the market; it works well in a salad in need of a little kick. Shellbark also makes several chevre spreads.

Shellbark Hollow Cheeses are available at Salumeria, the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market and Di Bruno Bros., among other retailers. They’re also on menus at the White Dog Cafe and Maia in Villanova, among other restaurants.

Demchur scoffs at the idea that there’s only one way to make cheese. “Everybody tries to be mainstream,” he says. “My cheese is far left.”
 
 

 

 

A Goat's Milk Cheesemaking Business
How one farm family earns a comfortable living from its small-scale dairy operation, including diagram of the cheese plant, rules and regulations, how it works, a five-year plan.

Belle Terre's existing cinder-block building was transformed into the Aiello's cheese plant... The goats enjoy the spacious lounging area in their new barn.

  This farm family earns a comfortable living from its small-scale dairy operation with...

Probably every back-to-the-lander has dreamed about making his or her homestead pay its way. And these monetary ruminations tend to crop up at two times: while the would-be entrepreneur is [1] pouring out pounds of expensive feed to contentedly munching, "freeloading" livestock, or [2] climbing into the car, probably before daybreak, to commute to a necessary but unrewarding job in the nearest metropolis.

Well, the fact is that some folks actually have broken that "live on the farm, work in the city" cycle and earn respectable incomes from their small homesteads. For example, Gerald and Suzanne Aiello-owners of Belle Terre Farms in the rolling countryside near Orange, Virginia—have figured out a way to make their herd of 40 Nubian dairy goats pay for the farm's upkeep, provide capital for additional building and development, and furnish an income for the couple and their two daughters. The keystone of this successful homestead business is a cheesemaking program-modeled on similar farm-based operations in Europe—through which the Aiellos turn out a tangy feta cheese from raw goat's milk ... and the undertaking has the potential of bringing in a net income of $30,000 or more a year.

Of course, Suzanne and Jerry didn't just drift into this profitable farm business . . . rather, their success is the result of what they half-seriously refer to as their "five-year plan": a carefully plotted homestead management program in which the Aiellos' long-range goals for Belle Terre were meshed—after a good bit of planning and research—with the resources at hand (consisting of a small herd of sleek Nubians and the entire family's willingness to work).

THE GENESIS OF A BRAINSTORM
Like most owners of small-scale dairy herds, the Aiellos were quick to recognize that the market for milk is diminishing . . . a trend that started in 1964 and doesn't seem likely to reverse. (In fact, one dairy journal has estimated that the goat's milk requirements for the entire state of Virginia could be fulfilled by one 120-doe herd!) So several years ago, instead of trying to sell their surplus milk, Jerry and Suzanne decided to put it to work on their farm . . . by using the liquid as feed to raise veal and pork for sale.

Unfortunately, both of these ventures proved to be so labor-intensive that the family decided the revenue gained was not worth the time required to bring it in. In the veal-raising enterprise, for example, each milking doe could feed two calves a year. A day-old calf cost $120 and was milk-fed for 60 to 80 days. About 80% of the calves were sold privately for about $400 apiece, or $3.50 per dressed pound. The remaining animals were peddled at the livestock market, where a calf would all too often sell for not much more than the price Jerry and Suzanne had paid for it in the first place.

Raising goats: More than just a meaty business
23 Jun, 2008, 0314 hrs IST,Gouri Agtey Athale, ET Bureau
 
 
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The smell hits you first and you know you are close to some animal breeding activity. This is the Mani Agriculture and Research Company Pvt Ltd, set up by Nitin Menon, who is better known as the joint managing director of Menon Bearings Ltd.

As a significant player in the automotive industry, the over Rs 350-crore Kolhapur based Menon Group has companies which manufacture bearings, pistons, piston rings and castings. So where does a goatery fit into this engineering business?

“It is not a hobby,” says Nitin Menon, 41, defending his nine-year-old passion. For starters, mutton could go off the menu of the average Indian if more such farms do not come up. “The world’s mutton eating population stretches from East Africa to India and a little beyond. China is a pork-eating nation. Neither the Europeans nor the Japanese are interested in improving the breed or doing any research in goats since mutton is not on their menu. And these are the two regions pouring in money into research. So if we want to ensure that mutton remains on the menu of Indians, we need to do the research ourselves,” says Menon.

But the family had problems—the Menon name, associated with engineering and manufacturing for global OEMs, should also extend to goats, was unthinkable. So the youngest Menon used the latter part of his mother’s name, Radhamani, for the new business. Then, the family had another issue—no slaughter on the premises. So, what Mani Agriculture and Research does is to raise the stock and then sell it.

Menon also started a firm called Menon Alkop (short for Aluminium Kolhapur) that manufactures aluminium castings. And it’s a coincidence that Menon’s goat farm is located in Kolhapur, synonymous with its sizzling mutton curry (‘tamda’, red, or ‘pandhara’ rassa, curry) and mutton pickle. “I have a social cause, more important than earning money from goat farming. Mutton could soon become like king prawns: affordable to only the really well off. It is already Rs 180-200 per kg and its demand will only rise. With no grazing allowed in forest areas and urbanisation reducing grazing land, stall feeding is the only way out,” Menon explained.

Eventually, Menon fancies tying up with fast food chains, offering quality meat since this is an area where no organised players exist, unlike, say poultry or marine. Meanwhile, from manufacturing engine bearings to rearing goats, Menon uses his management skills—whether it’s sourcing raw material or getting his supply chain organised—to the hilt. “We bring new breeds from all over the country. So about a month ago, I brought four bucks from the UP-Nepal border. We also have an Uzbek buck,” he said. We have been working on reducing mortality, which used to be 20-25 a day, to 5-10 a day now, and raising the birth weight of the animals, which used to be 1.25 kg. It is now up to 2.8-3kg because of our feed management,” he says.

Pointing to the need for an efficient supply chain, Menon says he requires close to 3,500 tons of fodder a day, while the goats churn out nearly 2 tons a day of droppings. With fodder prices on the rise, he’s trying to work out a barter arrangement, where fertiliser is exchanged for fodder procured from farmers. 
 
 
 

 

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Kerala monkey doubles up as a shepherd

Kundur Sathya Narayanan / CNN-IBN



Published on Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 11:59 in Wild Wacky World section

Tags: Wild Wacky World, Palakkad , Pallakad
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NO MONKEY BUSINESS: Mani the monkey shepherds nearly 100 goats in Nelliyampathy, Palakkad
 
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Pallakad (Kerala): Compare him to the goats and he may look small, but Mani the monkey, shepherds nearly 100 goats in Nelliyampathy, Palakkad. The goat's ear is how he controls them. He makes the goats turn right or left by tugging gently at their ear. And he attacks anyone who ventures near the goats.


Manager Greenland Farmhouse, P J Martin says, "I got this monkey three years ago, bleeding all over. I applied medicine and left it with the goats. Afterwards he was always with the goats. He does all works as a man does it."


Three-year-old Mani effortlessly shepherds the goats through the coffee plantations. He even eats his food sitting on top of a goat. The tourists who visit the farmhouse watch Mani with awe.


A tourist, S Snehalatha says, "We came here on a holiday and heard about this monkey that is a shepherd. We have been watching him for the past few minutes and he seems to do his job better than a man would."


And you're in trouble if Mani catches you watching the goats. But then again, he's got a job to do.

Goose prefers to hang out with herd of goats
4 hours ago

HEREFORD, Texas (AP) — A goose making its home at the Hereford wastewater treatment plant isn't quite getting the "birds of a feather flock together" idea. It's hanging out with a herd of goats.

The goose, abandoned two years ago, doesn't seem to want to leave the herd.

"Just as soon as he came here he started running around with them," Gilde Flores, the plant supervisor, said in a story for The Hereford Brand.

Workers have tried to put the goose out on the ponds with other waterfowl, but it hasn't worked and the goose just keeps going back to the goats.

The goose eats what the goats eat and won't even try to swim or fly.
Hosted by  Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Monkey taking care of estate goats
27 Jun 2008, 1659 hrs IST,PTI
 
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PALAKKAD (Kerala): Tending a herd of goats is no monkey business even if it is done by a simian himself, like at an estate-cum-resort on the slopes of the Western Ghats in a far flung corner of this district.

Three-year-old 'Mani', a monkey that strayed into the estate with bruises on its palm when younger, will never lower his guard as he shadows the herd sauntering in the sprawling estate from dawn-to-dusk.

Workers at the Greenland Estate at Palakapandy vouch that Mani's sharp eyes and ears can detect wolves or jackals that could spring from bushes or rocky clefts to feast on the kids.

If he senses some danger, the monkey will make a whistle-like sound to put the herd on high alert and to avoid the risk of walking into a trap.

When goats fail to reach tender leaves on trees Mani would jump on the branches and lower them by his weight so that the goats can eat to their heart's content.

When the herd takes a breather under the cool shadow of trees, he comforts them by picking lice or fleas hiding in the their furry coats.

According to Martin, an estate employee, Mani was found by estate workers when the monkey was a toddler. His palm was injured and bleeding and they had looked after him for a few days, applying medicines on the bruised palm.

They christened him 'Mani' and he was let into the forest when the wound healed. But he was back within hours to make the estate his home. A few months later, on his own, Mani made it his job to keep a watch on the goats without being instructed or trained, Martin said.

The only thing he "asks" in return is an occasional ride on the back of a grown-up goat, he added.

 

A way with curds
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The women behind the wheels: Carla Meurs, Julie Cameron, Mary Mooney, Ann-Marie Monda, Ferial Zekiman and Victoria McClurg.
Photo: Simon Schluter
Women are making their wheels of fortune and dominating the cheese making industry, writes Richard Cornish.

RAY MILLS is the only bloke working at the Maffra Cheese Company. He's out the back packing cheese into boxes bound nationwide and around the globe. Other jobs, such as cutting the curd and wrapping the washed-rind cheeses are handled by his 11 female co-workers. They refer to him as "the rose between the thorns".

Mills is not the only lone male in our cheese industry. In bigger factories, female workers outnumber men three to two. In the smaller artisan and farmhouse cheeseries, the ratio is more likely to be four to one. In fact, some of the nation's best cheeses are either made by women, made in factories owned by women, or were started by women. Meredith Dairy, Holy Goat, Yarra Valley Dairy, Ashgrove Cheese, Kervella, Barossa Valley Cheese Company, Indigo Cheese Company, Woodside Cheese Wrights, Hunter Belle and Grandvewe are all cheese companies in which females have ruled the roost.

So why do the sheilas outnumber the blokes in one of the most exciting local food industries?

Cheesemaker Julie Cameron from Meredith Dairy has given cheese and gender much thought since she and her husband Sandy returned to his 1220-hectare family farm at Meredith, near Ballarat, almost 20 years ago. There she makes the cheese and he looks after the 800 sheep and 1200 goats they milk each day.

"Farmhouse cheeses are made on the farm where the animals are milked," explains Cameron. "And traditionally, the best cheeses were always made by women. For health and safety reasons, you wanted the person who worked the fields and milked the animals to be as far away from the cheese making as possible, due to the bacterial spores in the dirt and grass," she says. "So the men looked after the cows and the women made the cheese. Simple."

Cameron employs 24 staff, 19 of whom are women. They make yoghurt, fetta, chevre, white-mould brie-style ewe's milk cheese, ashed pyramids of goat cheese, blue ewe's milk cheese and a highly successful marinated goat's cheese in olive oil. The amount of handwork can be measured in tens of thousands of (wo)man-hours - with little room for error.

"Women are pedantic. They are really fussy about making sure the right amount of curd goes in the hoops, making sure the jars of cheese are properly filled, that the cheeses are perfectly wrapped," Cameron says.

Owner and cheesemaker at Maffra Cheese Company, Ferial Zekiman, concurs. A graceful grandmother of four, she gave up a successful career as a retail pharmacist to take on the long hours and hard work of a cheesemaker.

"When my children were young, my grandmother came over from the Turkish north of Cyprus and lived with us," she says. "I would buy 20 litres of milk at a time for her to make haloumi in the stove top. I learned from her."

Slightly closer to Melbourne is Yarra Valley Dairy, now an iconic brand and one of the region's strongest non-cellar door drawcards. Back in the early '90s, Mary Mooney didn't see much of a future just milking the family's herd of cows and receiving whatever price the big companies dictated.

"We were struggling so we needed to add value to what we were producing on the farm," she says. At that time, wine tourism was just starting to really kick in with big companies including Mildara Blass (now Foster's) and Domaine Chandon was setting up shop just down the road.

"I saw a parallel. We have milk just as wineries have grape juice," says Mooney. With the help of Australia's industry renaissance cheesemaker Richard Thomas, who worked with them for 12 months, the Mooneys started making cheese in their renovated 100-year-old dairy. Mooney, an accomplished sculptor, saw the opportunity for the family farming business to be more than just a price taker.

Yarra Valley Dairy now has 22 employees who produce 100 tonnes of cheese annually. It is sold across Australia and it has begun exporting.

In another wine tourism region, South Australia's Barossa Valley, Victoria McClurg processes 4000 litres of cows' and goats' milk each week at her Angaston factory. She started the Barossa Valley Cheese Company several years ago with her mother and specialises in soft and delicate brie and camembert-style cheeses and washed-rind cheeses such as Le Petit Prince. "Females are more delicate," says McClurg. "You can't be rough with our cheeses.

''Imagine running a washing-up brush over a custard skin - the skin on our cheeses is that easy to tear."

She compares the process of cutting the curd to ballet - when two people run frames strung with wire through great tubs of junket-like curd, each person in unison with the other. "Women take their time and discuss each stage of the production and talk about what is going on - it's co-operative and no one is trying to be a hero."

Out in the bush near Castlemaine, Ann-Marie Monda and partner Carla Meurs milk 55 goats on their 80-hectare organic property at Sutton Grange. Here they make nine tonnes of French-style goats' cheese annually. They trained under cheese industry pioneer Gabrielle Kervella in Western Australia, considered by many to be Australia's first great lady of cheese. They embarked on a European tour of cheese discovery and education before returning to Australia to spend years searching for a property to start their own goat farm. They bought their dry-land farm with surrounding bushland in 1999 and sold their first cheeses in 2003.

"Women can understand the personality of animals better than men do," she says. They have a strong bond with their animals that goes beyond concepts of ownership.

"You never want to distance yourself from the animals. You take their milk, you turn it into cheese and you sell it. Ours is not an exploitative relationship. We look after the goats and they look after us. We just know by looking at the behaviour of the goats how their milk is going to be."

One of the leading males in the cheesemaking game is David Brown from Milawa Cheese, also president of the Australian Specialty Cheesemakers' Association. He is known as a man who doesn't mince his words: "Women are bloody good cheesemakers," he says. "I'll put this very simply. Making cheese requires patience. Women are patient." He also says that behind many great male cheesemakers is a woman, either doing the books or marketing.

Back at Maffra Cheese, by the banks of Boggy Creek, Zekiman walks us through her cool room, where 80 tonnes of Maffra Cloth Bound Cheddar matures on the shelves. Here it slowly develops its nutty flavour and firm texture. These are the cheeses that are earning Maffra the reputation as one of the best consistent manufacturers in the nation. Some of the cheeses bear batch numbers dating back to 2006. More than $1.2 million worth of expenses are tied up in these cheeses: labour, electricity, feed for the cattle, fencing and other costs. "This is the stuff that sends you broke," she says with a dismissive laugh.

A change in Zekiman's personal circumstances saw her left with 300 hectares of fertile flat floodplain in the Macalister Irrigation District and a herd of cows. Overnight the chemist had to become a dairy farmer. She now believes it was her destiny.

"I knew I had to make more money out of the farm. I committed myself to becoming a cheesemaker. In my culture we call it kismet."

The 12th annual Melbourne Specialist Cheese Show will be held on Sunday, August 17 at Crown.

Goats Can Be Too Much of a Good Thing for Pastures
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FARMING AGRICULTURE GOATS SOIL PASTURES URINE LIME 
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Recent research confirmed that--up to a point--liming the soil ameliorates the nitrogen "burn" from the urine, as well as the plant scorching effects of the urine's concentrated salts and organic acids. The researchers found that one or two urinations supplied enough nitrogen to actually help fescue grass growth. But the third application of urine was deadly. 

 
 
 
 
 

Newswise — Dale Ritchey, a retired soil scientist, and Doug Boyer, a hydrologist at the Agricultural Research Service's Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center in Beaver, W. Va., and colleagues showed this in an experiment that also confirmed that--up to a point--liming the soil ameliorates the nitrogen "burn" from the urine, as well as the plant scorching effects of the urine's concentrated salts and organic acids.

They found that one or two urinations supplied enough nitrogen to actually help fescue grass growth: yields were up three to four-and-a-half times those from the soil cores with no urine added. Liming increased the yields even more. But the third application of urine was deadly. And the lime only made it worse.

The scientists collected 32 sample soil cores, complete with vegetation left in place, from an abandoned pasture typical of those farmers use goats to clear. Soils in these pastures in the Appalachian Region are usually acidic, infertile soils.

In a greenhouse, the scientists treated 16 soil cores with lime. Then 18 weeks later, they added one urine sample to most cores. Two weeks after that, they added a second urine treatment to 16 cores. Two weeks after that, they added a third urine sample to 8 of those cores. They left some cores without urine for comparison.

"Drainage water from the cores that had three urine applications had nitrate-nitrogen concentrations much higher than the safe limit for drinking water," Boyer says.

"In soils not pretreated with lime, urine lowered soil calcium and magnesium levels and further raised the soil's acidity. And it raised levels of aluminum, which is toxic to plant roots. Soils pretreated with lime prevented these damaging changes, in a matter of months." Boyer says. "This was especially true for the highest urine level. It seems that liming works more quickly as urine levels rise in soils. This adds useful information to the little we've known about the combined effects of liming and heavy urine levels in marginal soils. We had found earlier that liming can take several years to lower toxic levels of aluminum, for example. But in this study we found that urine-soaked soil can shrink that time span to 27 weeks."

The full article is available for no charge for 30 days following the date of this summary. View the abstract at http://soil.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/72/3/626.

Soil Science Society of America Journal, http://soil.scijournals.org, is a peer-reviewed international journal published six times a year by the Soil Science Society of America. Its contents focus on research relating to physics; chemistry; biology and biochemistry; fertility and plant nutrition; genesis, morphology, and classification

Uganda: 500,000 Goats, Sheep to Be Vaccinated Against Plague


 
 
   
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New Vision (Kampala)

1 July 2008
Posted to the web 2 July 2008

Ronald Kalyango
Kampala

A TOTAL of 500,000 goats and sheep in Moroto, Nakapiripirit, Kotido, Kaabong and Abim districts will be vaccinated against Peste des Petisis Ruminants (goat plague) and other contagious diseases.

The plague is a highly contagious disease of both domestic and wild small ruminants (animals that have four stomachs and chew cud). The virus which causes it is closely related to the rinderpest virus of cattle and buffaloes.

 
It is characterised by sudden onset of depression, fever and discharges from the eyes and nose. Other symptoms include sores in the mouth, laboured breathing and cough. Others are foul-smelling diarrhoea, dehydration and pneumonia.

It is estimated that between 80 to 90% of flocks can get infected while 50 to 80% of those may die. Goats are usually more severely affected than sheep.

Animals rarely survive the plague because their owners detect the disease when it is in advanced stages.

More so, the cost of treating one sick animal is more than the cost of vaccines for 100 goats.

The vaccination exercise will be carried out in Uganda and Kenya. It is expected to cost $393,000 (about sh635m) and is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

In 2007, the plague was reported in Karamoja and the surrounding areas where it led to the death of 200,000 small ruminants.

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Districts which were initially affected were Kotido, Moroto, Kaabong and Nakapiripirit with a small ruminant population of about two million. Deaths due to the disease were estimated at over 200,000 by July, 2007.

The districts which were suspected to be affected included Lira, Kitgum, Amuria, Katakwi, Kumi and Kapchorwa.

The region is also at the risk of contagious caprine pleuro pneumonia, another disease that affects sheep and goats.

Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat 
 
A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.
The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, of Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up."

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.



 
 
 

Malaysia Goat Breeding News


The state of Terengganu has publicised plans to become an established goat-breeding state. The switch in emphasis from growing melons to breeding goats is a move that augurs well for the socio-economic uplift of those with low incomes in Terengganu. It was reported that 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes of mutton and 50,000 to 60,000 goats were imported from Australia. Due to our level of consumption, it will take a very long time to reach self-sufficiency in goat production. Due to their high cellulose-digesting efficiency, goats have a better ability than cows to thrive on coarse fibrous vegetation, commonly found on sandy soil in the coastal areas of Terengganu. They are ideally suited for grazing on land with marginal agricultural potential, where they could improve the soil texture and fertility with their droppings.


Britains Defense Department will Let the Goats Live

The Ministry of Defence is considering abandoning deep-diving experiments which induce agonising decompression sickness in live goats after complaints from animal rights groups. Quite right too! Live testing was suspended in March and a review committee of six experts is now examining alternatives such as computer-modelling techniques to duplicate the effects of "the bends" - the often lethal effect of nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream. The tests, previously carried out by defence research company QinetiQ at a facility in Gosport, involve subjecting goats to various pressures in a hyperbaric chamber.


Malaysia Goat robbery

A Boer goat farmer, who lost 35 goats in a robbery, is offering a reward of RM5,000 for their return. Boer Stud Farm owner Lai Kee Kin imports Boer goats from Australia and breeds them in his farm in Tanjung Keling here to be sold as stock goats. "Most of the goats they took were pregnant and four of them were Kalahari Boers." Lai said Kalahari Boers are rare in the country.



News from LekkerBokkie Farm


We have just had nearly 200 kids drop from our commercial herd and no less than two sets of quads all who have survived, which says something about fertility. Our kalahari Red bucks have done well with several Boer X Kalahari Red kids, and we can already see excellent meat comformation. Our prize winning stud does have also just dropped two sets of doe kids, with good birth weights and they are thriving

Goat Rustlers Caught


Police became suspicious when they observed a minibus with 23 goats as passengers and this lead to the arrest of 3 suspected goat thieves in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The goats are believed to have been stolen in the previous 2 weeks and all carried the same ear marks.


Goats in Latest Movie

Some goats make a cameo appearance in the new movie Stardust alongside Michelle Phiefer, lucky goats!


Goat Tragedy in California


More than 200 goats have suffocated to death in an overturned livestock trailer and all because the police would not let their goat herder free them. The herder is reported as saying "They were screaming, screaming, screaming to get out,' says the owner of Goats R Us, an Orinda, California, company that rents out goats for grazing brush in fire hazard reduction. The 243 goats died on Friday when the four-tier truck trailer flipped making a sharp turn in Marin County north of San Francisco. The local police were more concerned with traffic control than humane animal issues, the owner had herding dogs etc however the police never listened and some 150 goats survived. Sue their sorry butts off I say and make them accountable for the suffering in court, truly disgraceful episode. The police claim truck was going too fast.



Australia - National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) trial for Goats


A goat National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) trial to assess the suitability of a range of tag designs for use on goats is underway with all goats involved in the trial now tagged. The primary focus of the trial is tag retention. Depending upon the results of the trial, modifications to the provisions on the current Standard governing the tagging of goats may be made. The four enterprises involved in the trail cover the agricultural and rangeland production areas and include dairy, fibre and meat production systems. Monitoring is being conducted on an ongoing basis with final results to be available in early 2008. The results of the trial and subsequent recommendations will be communicated via the MLA website.


Goat Frequent Flyers?


In an Australian goat industry first, 3,490 head of goats were air exported to Jakarta in Indonesia by a Qantas freight 747 aircraft, The export company Halleen Australia Pty Ltd, were said to be very happy with the shipment outcome and all the animals arriving in good condition. The goats were contained in special designed crates that were sprinkled with ’Stable Plus’ a non toxic compound that absorbs ammonia molecules. As a factoid in 2006, Australia exported some 57,000 goats worth more than $7.1 million and the major destination being Malaysia


Sarawak Gears up for Commercial Goat Production


Sarawak has big plans to commercialize its goat breeding so as to reduce mutton The State Minister for Modernisation of Agriculture (what a sensible position to have), has stated that goat breeding now was on small scale, with around 10,000 animals. He also stated that they imported around RM7.5mil of mutton a year, and that equates to around 30,000. A spin-off to0 this plan is the possibility of exporting halal meat to other countries


Unique Albino Goat Sighted in Italy


A rare albino, never before known, mountain goat has been sighted in the northern Italian, and aptly now named "Snowflake." The rangers photographed the albino capra ibex climbing the mountain slopes with its mother about 10,000 feet above the Les Laures valley in the northwestern Val d'Aosta region. Evidently this is the only one ever documented and albinism is rare in any species. The capra ibex is a species of wild mountain goat with large curved horns that lives in mountainous areas. (I have been fortunate to see these myself while up in the alps some time a go)



Meat Goat Prices Easing in Australia


This article was sourced from an MLA report. Goat meat prices still remain at historically high levels however they have eased after strong demand in the second half of 2006. Weather plays a part in demand. Goat meat consumption in Australia’s two largest markets, the USA and Taiwan are directly affected by weather. If the winter is both cold and long then goat meat consumption also rises, and in warm winters it falls. The severe drought has played its part and supply has been reasonably good even though demand is subdued. The rangeland goats contribute some 90% of Australian goat meat production. These rangeland goats tend to come to water points when there is drought so capture is easy and this will alter with significant rainfall as they are harder to harvest and can find both water and good feed. This causes prices to increase. The significant rise in the Australian dollar against the US dollar will impact exports. Some 95% of goat meat production in Australia is exported and demand is still there but as a producer one wonders when the price threshold is reached where exports are affected. Current prices are forecast to be relatively subdued until the spring seasonal demand kicks in.


Q Fever Cause by a Goat Abbattoir in Australia?

A report in Australia has found that a relatively small small cluster of Q fever cases has been identified in a South Australian town. This has lead to vaccination warning for livestock handlers and abattoir workers. A more concerning finding was 4 confirmed cases detected within a 1-kilometre radius of the goat abattoir, that was not related to the meat or livestock workers. It is being said that the infections are may be the result of inhalation of contaminated dust emanating from the abattoir. Tighter dust control and containment of livestock will be required. This is an interesting HSE issue for those of us with larger herds as when working in large yards with our stock kicking up dust this may be an issue to look at.


Poachers in West NSW Australia Hurting Goat Farmers

Goat poachers are significantly hurting goat farmers the Far West State of NSW, and its reported that some may be losing up to A$20,000 a year in potential income. The poachers also add to the costs by vandalising fences and other property infrastructure. One grazier runs some 3,500 rangeland nannies joined to Boer bucks. He reports that is goats are all raised behind wire in an electrified rotational grazing system and all goats have a registered earmark. This year he has had to demolish 3 sets of yards erected by poachers



The Philippines is an Emerging Export Market


The Philippines is emerging as a good market for Australian Boer goats. There is a proactive expansion to increase the quality and size of the country’s goat meat industry. The demand for the next 12 months quantified at 30,000 head! Within the last 12 months, Australia has supplied about 4000 breeding goats and it is predicted Philippine demand will exceed supply for another 3 years. Malaysia is the largest importer of goats, with an predicted 2007 requirement of some 40,000 head. The main demand will be in the next 3-5 years of quality animals for herd improvement with also genetics potential in frozen semen and embryos. Prices per goat is in the range AUD$400 to $1500,


Namibia Goat Rustlers


Police investigating the theft of 149 goats from a farm have arrested a Namibian resident across in South Africa two weeks ago. They recovered 77 of the stolen goats. The theft occurred near the South African border and it was combined Namibian Police and the South African Police Service operation. The total value of the stolen goats was N$126 000.

Goat Killer Loose in Taiwan


A Taipei Magistrate is leading a group of 23 people in the Linkou mountainous area in northern Taiwan for an unidentified animal that has been killing domestic goats. The local police had reports from a local Linkou goat farmer that 8 of his 100 goats had been mauled to death by an animal resembling large feline, the beast was also likened to a tiger by one eye witness. Local officials hope to catch the animal alive.


NSW Australia Biennial Goat Conference

The NSW Farmers Association has invited goat producers to attend their Biennial Goat Conference in Dubbo in Central West NSW. The theme is "Goats from production to profit - the whole supply chain", and would look at the many issues the goat industry faces. Topics and speakers include feedlotting goats, goat meat meals, live export, goat fibres, dairy goats and also about product integrity by processors. The event will also have a variety of sponsor stands. The organisers state that the Biennial Goat Conference is a period when members can set the direction for the goat industry for the next 2 years.

Where and When? Wednesday, June 20, 8.30am - 4.00pm at the Savannah Room, Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo. (which is pretty poor short public notification to goat producers like myself who choose not to bememebers of the farmers association. If they wonder why attendance isnt up to scratch perhaps they need to improve communications. There will be an informal dinner at the Pastoral Hotel the same night. To register, call 1300 794 000 for a registration form or register by phone. Registrations close on June 13. (thats just 4 days notice!) I guess I will go in 2 years from now instead and get on with my goat farming.


Malaysia Goat Expansion


Kota Baharu based company Jihad Ternak aims to be the largest Jamnapari goat producers in the region by 2010. They commenced operations early this year with 2,000 Jamnapari goats in a 100-hectare area in Rong Chenok and already are having enquiries from Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Taiwan and China. They also aim to produce 200 litres of milk, one metric tonne of meat and increase herd by 100 goats a month next year to reach 8,000 goats. With facilities that include 2 large barns and 4 smaller ones, they will expand to breed more goats with target of 20,000 animals by 2010 to supply increasing demands. A new born Jamnapari kid costs RM1,000 and an adult goat of 150kg can be sold for can be sold for RM20,000.

Collarenebri goat abattoir to hit world market
28/03/2008 3:42:00 PM
The small North West NSW town of Collarenebri is poised to become a key player in the expanding goatmeat export industry.
State member for Barwon, Kevin Humphries, says the planned Colly Goat Abattoir whould help push Australia further to the front supplying more than 50pc of the world's export goatmeat into the US, Asia and Europe.

"I have been working with the proponent of the abattoir, Dellmain, and managing director, Alain Della, for more than 12 months to help the project through to fruition," he says.

"After last year's goat meeting in Cobar and follow up industry meetings, the prediction of an expanding goat industry is becoming a reality across my electorate.

"The cost of transport and accessing local processors has been a big issue driving projects such as this forward.

"The proponents are backed by experience in the industry and a very strong demand for the product world wide," Mr Humphries says.

"Collarenebri was chosen as we were able to take over an existing site previously used for emu processing. A ready supply of labour and access to product across the rangelands of western NSW were key factors in the decision making.

"Road access through to Brisbane is critical which is why the Colly to Mungindi road upgrade is important to us," Mr Della says.

The Colly Abattoir would employ 40 local people directly through handling, processing 4000 goats per week and logistic tasks putting $1.7 million into the town through wages.

A trickle-down effect would engage a further 100 local and regional people in supplying and moving product to the site, injecting a further $500,000 into the local economy.

Mr Humphries and Mr Della met recently to discuss final planning hurdles with the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation which is the regulatory authority for the Environmental Protection Authority.

"While there have been a number of recent ‘red’ and ‘green’ tape issues with the project, everything is on track to get this project rolling. This is a great news story for our region; even better for Colly and will compliment our growing industry," Mr Humphries says.

July 2, 2008 10:16 p.m. EST


 
Benjie Telleron - AHN News Writer
Manila, Philippines (AHN) - Villagers at a southern Philippine town on Thursday reported seeing two mysterious flying creatures roaming their community, barely days after the dismembered remains of three goats were discovered there.

Residents in Barangay (village) Manongol in Kidapawan City have been agitated since Sunday with the discovery of three dead goats with their hearts, lungs and other internal organs eaten.

Initially, some villagers suspected stray dogs may have been responsible for killing the goats, while some superstitious villagers think that an "aswang," or ghoul in Philippine mythology, was responsible.

On Tuesday night, a resident in the village roused the neighborhood after claiming she heard some flapping sounds above her roof. She described seeing two gigantic birdlike creatures flying overheard.

The crowd also noticed that the leaves of a nearby tree was shaking although it was a windless night. Then a liquid poured from the tree.

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Goats' milk sales jump by 16.5%



« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryGOATS' milk sales are soaring, as record numbers of Britons who are allergic to the cows' variety choose the healthy alternative, a new report showed yesterday.
Sales of fresh goats' milk have jumped by 16.5 per cent in the past year, with the retail market in the UK now worth £21.5 million, according to market research analyst Nielsen.

The full article contains 67 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.Page 1 of 1

Last Updated: 08 July 2008 9:41 PM
Source: The Scotsman
Location: Edinburgh

Goat farm brings family together
By Helen Anne Travis, Times Staff Writer
In print: Monday, July 14, 2008


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Reedy pets Lord Greystroke, a champion buck, at Twin Hills Ranch in Dade City. Reedy works at the goat ranch with his father and brother. 
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At first, the goats were just supposed to eat some brush and keep the Reedy family's property taxes down.

But the animals have become a family project that has strengthened bonds, healed wounds and may even put the Reedys in a comfortable financial state where they won't have to worry about property taxes.

The goats were David Reedy's idea. It was 2005, and Reedy wanted to make sure the family's 30 acres of farmland kept its "greenbelt" property tax exemption.

Some goats would keep the land trimmed, he thought at the time.

But after digging around on the Internet, he learned goats could do a whole lot more.

Demand for goat meat in the United States has increased in recent years, mostly because of the country's growing ethnic populations. According to a 2005 United States Department of Agriculture report on the goat industry, the United States could not import enough meat from its top suppliers — Australia and New Zealand — to keep up with the demand, driven mostly by Caribbean, Muslim, Hispanic and Chinese consumers.

The annual number of goats raised domestically for meat production almost doubled from 1-million to 1.9-million between 1997 and 2002, the report said.

Reedy wanted to jump on board. It was a good opportunity, he thought. And good timing.

A needed distraction

Early in 2005, David Reedy's 20-year-old son, Mark, perished from injuries endured in one of Pasco County's deadliest house fires. The younger Reedy's wife and stepson also died in the blaze, along with a menagerie of pets.

Reedy buried himself in researching goats and starting the operation on his father's lot. It helped with the pain of his son's death.

"It took my mind off of that quite a bit, working around there and studying," Reedy, 48, said. "It helped a lot."

After more than two years and countless hours of research, Reedy, his brother, Derrick, and father, Harold, now raise goats for show, auction and breeding.

They work mostly with Boer goats, a large breed from South Africa, and other breeds crossed with Boers.

The brothers have full-time jobs — Derrick is a firefighter and EMT with Pasco County Fire Rescue, David works at a South Tampa printing company — so children and spouses often help out with the operation.

"I delivered 37 babies with Derrick's wife one afternoon while everyone was at work," said Harold Reedy, 70.

Harold Reedy raised horses and cattle on his property years ago. But every day is a lesson with the goats.

For example, they've learned to breed the goats in phases, so there's never another day of 37 births.

Backdraft was the first full-blood Boer billy goat born on the property. As a kid, he rode along on the golf cart while the Reedy brothers built fences and feeding systems on their father's land.

Plans for the future

Now, Backdraft rubs up against the Reedys' legs and begs for attention and treats. Like the other 99 goats the family owns, he's curious, friendly and smelly.

Full-blood Boer goats like Backdraft can sell for up to $750, Harold Reedy said. The semen from a prize-winning Boer goes for anywhere from $50 to several thousand dollars, depending on the bloodline.

But that doesn't come without a cost. The family has spent thousands on fencing and can't even tally what they've shelled out for tractors and equipment. Feed alone costs more than $100 a day.

"There's money in it," Derrick Reedy, 42, said. "But you have to put a lot of money into it, too."

The Reedys are not profiting yet on their operation, but they are on purpose. Their goal is to develop higher-quality bloodlines that will nab them higher returns. That takes time.

"It takes three years to start making decent money," said Harold Reedy.

This week at the farm, Derrick and David Reedy tried to still wriggling Backdraft so they could pour a worming medication into one of his four stomach compartments. Country music played from inside a Dodge truck parked nearby. Harold Reedy took notes as his sons called out measurements and medication doses.

Derrick Reedy has a home around the corner from the farm. David lives in Darby but hopes to eventually build a log cabin on his father's property and help run the goat operation full time.

Harold Reedy is happy to have his farm up and running again. It's fun working with the family, he said. He hopes the goat business becomes a sound venture he can leave behind for future generations.

"I thought, instead of me trying to leave a bunch of money, we should work together in life," he said. "It's a family thing."

  Grant Extended to Eradicate Scrapie in Colorado Sheep, Goats   
  T.J. Burnham tburnham@farmprogress.com   
  July 15, 2008   
 
 
  The Colorado Department of Agriculture stands ready with a new U.S. Department of Agriculture grant extension to help sheep producers test herds for scrapie susceptibility.

"We are happy to have this grant to help protect Colorado's sheep industry," says Colorado State Veterinarian Keith Roehr. "The department began this program in September, 2003, and it has been extremely successful."

Scrapie, an infectious and possibly fatal disease, costs the sheep industry up to $25 million a year.

The grant will pay for half the testing costs of a total of 500 rams and 200 ewe lambs.

The Rocky Mountain Regional Animal Health Lab performs the test for $14.75 for the first 10 samples, and $11 for each additional animal. Through the cost share program with the federal grant, growers pay half that amount.

Producers who want to participate in the program must have all sheep tagged with an official premises identification number. Premises identification tags are available by calling (866) USDA-TAG.

"Producers are required to tag goats due to Colorado's loss of commercial goat status," notes Roehr. "If Colorado is to receive that status again, we must remain vigilant in protecting our herds from this disease."

Educational outreach to sheep and goat producers is another important factor for the grant; meetings are being planned across the state to help educate livestock owners about scrapie and how to protect their herds. Additional meeting details are not yet available.


   

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Big move for Big Oak Farms
The Pomi Ranch goes from a 100-year-old dairy to a goat farm
Published: Thursday, Jul 17, 2008

By YOVANNA BIEBERICH
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF
 

Terry Hankins
Cindy Pomi feeds some of the herd at Big Oak Farms.
Zoom Photo
It’s the most consumed meat in the world — and it isn’t beef, pork or chicken.

Goat meat, known as chevon, may not be as popular a meat in America as it is in other countries, but immigrants from the Middle East, Mexico and Asia are causing demand for it in the United States to rise. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, goat meat is the most consumed meat in the world.

“It’s very flavorful and has a sweeter taste than beef,” said Cindy Pomi of Big Oak Farms of Petaluma. “It’s a red meat that is very low in fat and high in protein and iron. There’s just three grams of fat in a three-ounce cut of goat compared to 16 grams of fat in the same cut of beef and 24 grams in pork. Because of the makeup of goat meat, doctors have recommended it to people with intestinal problems and heart conditions who are supposed to limit their beef consumption.”

Big Oak Farms, a fourth-generation 508-acre family farm, started out as a dairy in 1903 known as the Pomi Ranch. Today, the farm is run by Jim and Kim Naugle and Mark and Cindy Pomi, with their young children just starting to help.

“My husband’s great-grandfather came here to start a dairy,” said Pomi. “And it was a dairy until 1998, when we began to custom raise cattle. We only had a few dairy heifers and beef cattle left, so parts of the ranch were not being utilized. Last August, we decided to purchase and raise 200 meat goats.”

Pomi said the thought behind raising goats instead of cattle was that goats are a smaller, more economical animal to raise. “They eat less and drink less, and that’s good with a low-water situation,” she said. “They’re more affordable animals to raise.”

Big Oak Farms raises a variety of does, including Boer, Kiko and Spanish goats, while bucks are 100 percent Boer goats. “Boer is a type of goat bred for meat,” said Pomi. “There are other breeds, but Boers offer a higher percentage of meat. It’s also a heartier breed, with a fabulous disposition.”

The goats are free range and raised on certified organic pastureland. The goats are raised as naturally as possible, with the use of antibiotics only when absolutely necessary. “We try to be as all natural with them as we can,” said Pomi. “But there’s always an instance when an animal is suffering and we need to step in. We are toying with the idea of making the animals organic here, as well as the farmland, though.”

Goat meat is popular among a variety of different ethnic groups and is described as having a flavor similar to lamb, but with a milder taste. It can be used in any dish in which beef or lamb is used, from tacos and hamburgers to sausage and stews.

“We’re seeing a growing market for goat meat,” said Pomi. “I cook it in the same way as beef. In fact, my favorite way to cook it is to season it with olive oil, pepper and garlic salt and put it on the barbecue. Our goat meat is a younger meat. We harvest goats at about 60 pounds, so they have a tender, sweeter flavor and you don’t have to cook them as long. With goat meat from an older animal, it’s a longer cooking time. You don’t want to overcook it, though.”

Currently, Big Oak Farms sells its chevon directly, but it’s also available in smaller cuts at Marina Meats on Chestnut Street in San Francisco. Pomi said they hope to find a local market to offer their meat, but in the meantime, are happy to sell directly to customers.

Big Oak Farms doesn’t plan to branch out into the goat cheese business, but Pomi added that they do plan to rent out goats for organic weed abatement. “That’s where we send a group of goats out to eat down a portion wherever weed abatement is needed,” she said. “We had a hill that was a fire hazard. We just brought the goats out and they ate the weeds, so we didn’t have to mow.”

While sheep have become popular in the realm of weed control, Pomi said that the use of goats has an advantage. “Goats will eat weeds that beef cattle and sheep might not touch,” she said. “What’s nice about goats is that they are browsers that nibble here and there. They absolutely love broad-leaf plants, which are weeds. We had this little patch of stickers one time, the stuff that most other animals won’t eat. One of the goats found it and it quickly became a party. No more stickers.”

Farm of the Week: Goats proving their worth in milk enterprise


Angus Wielkopolski with goats

« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryADVERTISEMENTPublished Date: 18 July 2008
By Sarah Todd
WITH demand up by 16.5 per cent over the year and the industry now worth £21m, the eccentric image that went with farming goats has been blown away.


In fact, Angus and Kathleen Wielkopolski have helped a number of traditional dairy farmers to switch from cows to goats.

Last year, they bought 850-acre Far Marsh Farm, at Ottringham, near Hull, where they will eventually have 3,000 goats, on top of the 4,000 they already keep on St Helen's Farm – which is 550 acres at Seaton Ross, near Pocklington.

Only a few months ago the couple got their latest innovation onto supermarket shelves, the first skimmed goats' milk.

"Goats' milk seems to have come of age," said Mr Wielkopolski, who employs 40 staff –10 in the office, 10 on the farm and 20 in the dairy. A further eight jobs will be created at Far Marsh Farm.

It all seems a million miles away from the five-acre smallholding they started out with in the mid-80s, fresh from agricultural college, at Barmby on the Marsh, in East Yorkshire, next to a church called St Helen's – commemorated in the name of their business.

"We just produced whole goats' milk for a long time, but we've always had an awful lot of feedback from our customers and they left us in no doubt that the demand was there for a larger range of products," Mr Wielkopolski said.

"Yoghurt, cheese, cream and butter came about and 11 years ago we were the first producer to launch a semi-skimmed milk. The skimmed seemed to be a natural progression. Our customers tend to be very health-aware."

The development did not need any new machinery as the cream has always been taken off, then added back at different percentages – 3.6 per cent for whole and 1.6 per cent for semi-skimmed. It was just a question of adding none back into the skimmed, which is only 0.1 per cent fat. Surplus cream is used to make butter and is also packed as double cream.

St Helen's Farm yoghurts are naturally thickened by taking out some of the water, eliminating the need for starches or other thickeners. The probiotic yoghurt is fermented overnight before being packed into plastic pots.

Some milk goes to a Somerset cheese-maker called Cricketer Farm, which makes a goat-milk version of Cheddar.

The 4,000 milking goats at Seaton Ross are a home-bred cross between British Saanen, British Toggenburg and British Alpine. They yield three to five litres a day of high-quality milk. Milking takes place twice a day, in a 72-point rotary milking parlour. After pasteurising, the milk is packed into litre cartons and delivered to the supermarkets and other retailers on a daily basis. It retails at around double the cost of cows' milk, which reflects the larger numbers of animals needed for the same volume of production.

What started out as a niche market, for people with intolerance to cow's milk, has been expanded by an increasing number who buy simply because they prefer the taste of the milk, said Mr Wielkopolski.

"We've been very deliberate in marketing the products as 'deliciously mild' and find that once we get people to try them, they're hooked. They find them not at all strong or goaty-smelling, as they might have been in years gone by," he said. The difference between goats' milk then and now comes from better milking hygiene.

The family houses the animals in large open barns, saying they are not natural grazers and easily pick up infections such as foot rot if they are not kept warm and dry. They are bedded on straw, with hay always available and climbing materials for distraction. Their manure provides the main fertiliser for the fields, where maize is grown for their feed – some fed to them fresh and some clamped under polythene to make silage. They have ad-lib organic hay from red clover leys and get a further feed ration upon arrival in the milking parlour.

The dairy is served by a tanker which does a daily tour of 11 similar farms in North Yorkshire and the Midlands – many of them started with breeding stock from St Helen's.

St Helen's Farm is the biggest supplier of fresh goats' milk in the UK, but Yorkshire is its smallest market. Most goes to the south east of England.

The business has won praise from business leaders for its contact with the 36,000 customers who regularly buy St Helen's Farm products. There is always debate on the website, and a dedicated customer phone line which is advertised on more than nine million milk cartons a year.

Customers' are encouraged to write in with their stories about switching to goats' milk and their photographs and words often feature on packaging. In addition, the Wielkopolskis organise Thank Goodness for Goats Week, which is now in its sixth year, beginning on July 21.

"We know that 70 per cent of people who try goats' milk find some sort of health benefit from it and it seemed sensible to let their true stories do the talking for us," said Mr Wielkopolski.

"Many people report that digestive problems such as catarrh, eczema and even asthma, have been eased or eliminated."

He added: "The fat particles are smaller in goats' milk, which people say they find easier to digest."

One customer question is whether St Helen's Farm is planning an organic range.

Mr Wielkopolski said: "We have converted some of our land to organic status and have further acreage in the process of conversion. So much of the feed we now give to the goats has been organically grown. Pursuing wholly organic status would not be in the best interests of our goats. However we do follow as many organic farming principles as possible."

For information, visit www.sthelensfarm.co.uk or call 01430 861400.


Allergies, smells and diet

Allergy to cows milk is the most common food allergy in babies and fewer of them are allergic to milk from goats and sheep .


Contrary to popular belief, goats do not all have a strong smell – but the billy goats do give off a
pungent odour to attract females.


It is a myth that goats will eat anything. In fact they are quite fussy eaters.

The full article contains 1071 words and appears in n/a newspaper.Page 1 of 1

Last Updated: 18 July 2008 3:04 PM
Source: n/a
Location: Yorkshire

Bovine TB outbreak in Welsh goats 
Carl Yapp
BBC News website at the Royal Welsh Show 


 
The disease is unusual in goats, says the assembly government
Cases of bovine TB have been found in goats in Carmarthenshire.

The Welsh Assembly Government confirmed the outbreak and said it knew of a similar case in England, but it is not clear if they are linked.

The disease in goats is "unusual", and animal health officials are checking to see if it has spread to other herds.

The latest TB cases came as some MPs and AMs urged the assembly government to halt plans to cull badgers, which are known to spread TB to cattle.

Farmers' groups believe a cull of badgers would stem a rise in cases.

Of the outbreak in goats, Brian Walters, vice-president of the Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW), said the news was a worrying development, while a goat milk producer in Carmarthenshire voiced her concerns.

  It's another reservoir of TB that could affect the whole industry

Brian Walters, Farmers' Union of Wales

An assembly government spokeswoman said: "We are aware of an outbreak of bovine TB in goats in England and Wales that includes a case in Carmarthenshire."

Defra's executive agency Animal Health are responsible for management of the outbreak, as well as possible tracings to other herds.

"Animal Health are keeping officials in the TB team at the Welsh Assembly Government fully informed of developments with this outbreak," said the spokeswoman.

"A letter will shortly be published in the veterinary record summarising the current situation and advising veterinary practitioners of the need to consider bovine TB when investigating goats with clinical signs suggestive of the disease.

"The Goat Veterinary Society (GVS) has also circulated information to its members."

'Worrying development'

The spokeswoman added that such outbreaks were "unusual" and, as with all infections, they were treated seriously.

It is not known where in Carmarthenshire the outbreak has occurred.

The GVS on its website said the disease was first found following a post mortem examination of a goat in Wales a few weeks ago.

"The herd in question was in the process of being sold up due to retirement at the time the discovery was made," writes the society's secretary Nick Clayton to members.

"And many of the goats from that herd went to two other herds, from both of which stock had been sold on quite widely."

The FUW's Mr Walters said it was a "worrying development".

"It's another reservoir of TB that could affect the whole industry," he said.

"The question is why and how did the goats pick it up?"

Loraine Makowski-Heaton, a goat farmer from near Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, said people in the industry were concerned about the outbreak.

But she said the majority of goat milk producers, including her, pasteurised their milk.

 

July 29, 2008 13:27 PM   

Plans Afoot For RM10 Mln Goat Research Centre In ECER


KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- There are plans in the pipeline for an RM10 million goat technology and research centre in Serating, Marang, under the East Coast Economic Regions livestock farming initiatives.

The research centre, Taman Teknologi Kaprima Bestari, will be located over 10 hectares within a Permanent Food Production Park, the ECER secretariat said in a statement here Tuesday.

The move is aimed at Malaysia achieving self-sufficiency in mutton as the country needs 10 million goats a year.

Currently, Malaysia mainly imports mutton from Australia.

The technology goat park, which will be built and managed by the Department of Veterinary Service Terengganu (JPHT), will collate all relevant information and research on goat breeding, as well as modernize the countrys goat breeding industry, with the ECER as a prominent hub, it said.

"This technology park is projected to be a research and information centre for goat breeders, especially those from Asian countries," JPHTs Director Dr Azizol Mohd Sharun was quoted as saying in the statement.

"We will bring in the latest goat breeding technology and techniques from abroad. This new technology will help breeders to minimize the production cost and give better returns."

Meanwhile, breeders and parties interested in the industry can avail themselves to goat farming courses, he said.

"We envisage the goat park to offer better economic prospects and employment opportunities for local entrepreneurs and graduates in related fields of study."

The goat technology park will be equipped with a farmhouse, mini slaughterhouse, fertilizer processing factory, restaurant, product exhibition hall, a mosque, and staff dormitories.

Aside from goat breeding and research activities, the park also offers an attractive and children-friendly tourist attraction where feeding and patting animals may be highlights.

Terengganu is targeting over 3.5 million visitors this year. Many of its tourism attractions are aimed at nature lovers and the goat park is expected to draw in its fair share of tourists.

The nations per capita consumption of mutton has risen from 0.67kg in 2006 to 0.74kg in 2007.

Malaysia has traditionally been Australias biggest live export market, importing about 15,000 tonnes of mutton and 50,000 goats.

Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), the ECER is targeted to increase the goat breeding activities by seven percent within five years to tap into increasing local and international demand.

It will focus on high meat yielding goats to replace the smaller local animals.

To achieve its goal of 35 percent self-sufficiency in goat production by year 2015, it will need another 18,000 breeding goats.

The target is for ECER to hit 2,020 metric tonnes in year 2020, it said.

Malaysias goat farming is made up of 75 percent traditional breeders, while 15 per cent is semi-commercial with 10 percent in commercial farming.

Within the ECER, projects to boost goat breeding includes setting up a nucleus goat breeding research centre in Tersat, the establishment of the Collection, Processing and Packaging Centre (CPPC) and Collection and Marketing Centre (CMC) for traditional farmers to assemble and market goats.

-- BERNAMA


 

     


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Qld well placed to cash in on goat demand: analyst
Posted 2 hours 46 minutes ago

Map: Charleville 4470
 A meat industry analyst says Queensland goat producers are in an ideal position to capitalise on growing global demand for goat meat.

Peter Schuster from Meat and Livestock Australia says prices have been depressed for the past 18 months due to uncertainty in global markets and a high Australian dollar.

He says Queensland processes more goats thank any other Australian state and plays an important role in the export of product.

"Well I just believe that Australia is positioned from a competitive angle as a preferred supplier of goat meat," he said.

"We are the biggest exporter of goat meat in the world ... particularly say China and America where in America now there are over 40 million people of Hispanic descent who actively seek and prefer goat meat."

Knowledge can equal success in goat business

By Shawn C. Henderson, For Midwest Producer
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 3:53 PM CDT


 
The bonding pens. (Shawn C. Henderson photos)     
Strong, time-tested business and farming practices are keys to success, and are exactly what a visitor to Silver Hill Farms in the Ozark Mountains will discover. The St. Joe, Ark., Boer goat ranch, owned and operated by Nancy Edgerly and David Marazzo is about high-quality meat production, and there are no ifs or ands about it. There are, however, butsŠ or more properly, butts!

"There are essentially two types of people in the goat business," Nancy says. "There are show goat people, and there are meat goat people. I am in the meat goat business. I put goat meat on the market, and I help other people do the same. That takes up all of the time that I have for the goat industry."

In the industry of meat goat farming, as Nancy explains, rump is royalty, and this redeeming quality is elitist, leading directly to greater carcass cash. To have the opportunity to become a part of this closed herd, there is one primary qualification, and that is having a broad back end.

"At the present time, we do have a closed herd," Nancy says. "We are more than happy to supply starter herds, but the only occasional newcomers to our herd are primarily bucks that are brought in to increase the size of the backside of our animals."

It may sound very 'matter-of-fact', but that is the way of doing business at Silver Hill Farms. They are about the quality of their herd, which directly correlates to the quality of the meat that is placed before consumers. Nancy is very serious about her goats, and if you don't believe it, show up at the ranch somewhere around 7 a.m. and watch her "commune" with her goats.

To bring scope to the task, perhaps it is best to start with the audience of nannies, billies and kids that Nancy goes out every morning to "visit" with.

 
   
 
"We have about 500-600 nannies here at any given time," Nancy says, "so that means that between March and May, which is when we primarily like for kids to be hitting the ground, we probably have about 750-850 baby goats on the farm during that time. With the wethers, billies and replacements we have, that means that the majority of the time, there are about 2,000 goats on the farm."

Veterinarians might shy away from everything but the fee of checking on 2,000 patients every morning, but to Nancy, it's just part of the daily routine. The way she sees it, one animal in the herd with a problem is a potential danger to all of the others and requires all of the attention necessary to make that one animal well. Again, quality is business, so the business is about maintaining the quality.

With hundreds of acres fenced, and nearly 2,000 goats to feed, shelter and care for at any given time, there's a lot of planning to be done at Silver Hill Farms. 
   


Thanks to a wealth of engineering experience, owner-operator David Marazzo has made many of the tasks on the farm infinitely easier, putting his knowledge to great use in the management of his herd.

"I'd like to say that I drew out extensive plans and adhered to a grand scheme," David says, "but a lot of it was just that I knew what I needed, went into the shop, and started to cut, weld and put things in place."

The cream of the farm, and what David says really separates Silver Hill Farms from many others, is the carefully planned and constructed bonding pens. A 50-foot x 100-foot building, centrally located on the farm, houses approximately 40 individually constructed pens where new mothers can rest comfortably after giving birth to new members of the herd.

"This is one of the things that really make us unique when compared to many other farms," David says. "There are very few farms that I have ever seen that have anything like this."

Each 4-foot x 8-foot stall has a pre-constructed gate and plywood side walls, and is bedded with hay for the comfort of mommy and babies. Each has its own holders for hay, water and grain buckets, and is its own unique nursery.

"There are several advantages to this design, and why we went to the extent to construct this," he says. "Even with the large number of goats we have here, it's a way to be able to screen each nanny as she gives birth. If there is any trouble with the birthing process, they are isolated, so it's easier to catch. It's also the easiest way to do any other veterinary work that needs to be done at that time, to ensure the health of the herd."

Because of the efficient and proven results of her health practices on the farm, Nancy admits that there are many farmers with whom she networks to share the wealth of her knowledge.

"Of course, everyone has their area of expertise," she says modestly, "but there have been many cases where other goat farmers that I am familiar with have called their vets for advice on a particular matter, and their vet's advice is to call that lady up at Silver Hill."

"They really are very sweet, lovable animals that are enjoyable to be around," she says. "Yes, it is work, but I enjoy getting up every morning and spending time out on the farm, checking to see how they are all doing. Yes, I do believe that diligence lends to quality control, but it's also personally gratifying."

On the day of the tour of the farm, nearly 2,000 goats roamed the pastures at Silver Hill. In the congregational feeding area of the building which houses the bonding pens, one lone kid lay on the hay, not far from a self-feeder.

"He's a little guy, and he's not feeling well today," Nancy said, kneeling next to the small goat. "I just thought he might feel better if he could lie around where it was cool, away from the others, and eat by himself whenever he feels like it."

A gate at the rear of the building was ajar, and another goat; a nanny, came wandering through at the sound of Nancy's voice. The gate led to an expansive fenced area, approximately an acre, where only three other goats were lazily grazing.

"Those and this girl here are some of our replacement nannies. He's an orphan, so I don't want him to feel like he's completely alone. That gate's open so that he and his friends can come and go as they please. He just doesn't feel like it right now."

Even with 2,000 goats, that kind of individualized animal care is one of the primary reasons that Silver Hill Farms maintains its level of quality and continues to be a prime example of the standard for the industry.

David and Nancy are working to expand their market, and are looking into the possibility of making members of this prime herd available to consumers at selected locations in Nebraska and Kansas.



 

Mixing Spiders & Goats Produces 'Silk Milk' Stronger Than Steel.
August 05, 2008 03:24 PM EDT (Updated: August 05, 2008 03:37 PM EDT)
views: 22 | rating: 10/10 (4 votes) | comments: 6



Naturally occurring "spider silk" is widely recognised as the strongest, toughest fibre known to man. The end result is a web-like material called Biosteel.

Biotechnology - Good or Evil?


According to reports scientists have successfully genetically altered a goats embryo with the DNA of a spider.  These genetically altered goats produced (mutated) in a laboratory are presently producing milk that is being used to make bullet-proof vests.  The claim is that the fibers contained in the spider goat's milk are twice as strong as Kevlar!

Genetically modified (GM) Goats that now produce spider's web protein are about to revolutionise the materials industry.  Stronger and more flexible than steel, spider 'silk milk' offers a lightweight alternative to traditional carbon fibre.

A Canadian company claims to be on the cutting-edge of producing unlimited quantities of spider silk which is ultimately extracted from goat's milk.   Remember Dolly the sheep?  Well, techniques similar to those but more specific to nuclear transfer are currently being used by scientists at Nexia Biotechnologies in Quebec.





BioSteel supposedly has advantages that make it compatible with the human body too, allowing for the development of tough artificial tendons, ligaments and limbs. Tissue repair and wound healing are also top of the list as well as ultra-thin, biodegradable sutures for eye or neurosurgery.

"The medical need for super-strong, flexible and biodegradable materials is large," said Costas Karatzas, Nexia's Vice President of Research and Development.

Okay, now for those Gather members who are lovers of goat cheese there's no need to worry.  This milk will not be for human consumption.  The goal of Nexia is to retrieve the spider-silk proteins from the milk and turn them into BioSteel, which could be used in everything from body armor to spacecraft construction.  It could even strengthen the structural steel used in buildings. (Although it would have to be carefully sealed from the environment so bacteria wouldn't eat it.)

These genetic advances have many people concerned. Every advance in cloning makes it more likely that someone will try to clone a human, which many opponents feel would threaten the integrity of being human.  And, yet doomsdayers see a nightmare world in which clones are created simply to provide body parts.  Since the clones would be genetically identical, organs from them would not be rejected by the original's body.

Additionally there are paramount concerns about the cross-species exchange of genes. Critics point out that living systems are so much more complicated than we appreciate that we can't know what consequences cross-species engineering will have.

Raising Goats for Their Hair
Into the world of cashmere and mohair. Transcript of radio broadcast:
04 August 2008
 
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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

 
Angora goats
Goats are valuable not just for their milk and meat. Or for their ability to help renew grasslands and control weeds. Or even for their ability to be friendly and gentle around children.

Goats can also be valuable for their hair.

Cashmere goats produce cashmere and Angora goats produce -- thought we were going to say angora? No, angora fiber in fact comes from rabbits. Angora goats produce mohair.

Mohair is used in sweaters, scarves, coats and other clothing. Mohair is also used in floor rugs and carpets and things like doll hair.

An adult Angora can produce as much as seven kilograms of hair each year. As the goats grow older, however, their hair becomes thicker and less valuable. Hair from white or solid-colored goats is the most popular, but the appeal of mixed-color mohair has grown in recent years.


The United States is one of the main producers of mohair, and exports most of its production.

Angora goats are also popular show animals. They require little special care. The animals need milk from their mothers for three or four months. They reach full maturity when they are a little more than two years old. But even then they are smaller than most sheep and milk goats.

Cashmere goats are usually larger than Angoras. They can grow big enough to be kept with sheep and cattle.

The outer hair of the animal is called guard hair. Behind it is the valuable material on a cashmere goat. Cashmere is valued for its softness and warmth without much weight.

Some farmers comb their cashmere goats to remove the hair. But if the animals do get a haircut, it often takes place at the time when they naturally lose their winter coat -- between December and March.

Angora goats generally get their hair cut two times a year, in the spring and fall. The job can be done with simple cutting tools or by hiring a professional shearer. Angoras may need special protection from the cold for about a month after shearing.

The value of an animal's coat depends on the age, size and condition. But whatever kind of goat you choose, be sure to have a good fence. Goats love to explore.

Passionate about goats
Home » News » Farming
By Sally Rae on Fri, 8 Aug 2008
News: Farming
Click photo to enlarge
 
Margaret Tomes and her champion goat Garberdine. Photo by Sally Rae. Dairy goats have been a passion for Margaret Tomes since she was first given a kid by a friend 20 years ago.
"I couldn't not do the goats. They get under your skin," Mrs Tomes explained.

She has enjoyed considerable success over the years with her Toggenburg and Saanen goats.

This season, she won the New Zealand Toggenburg Society's associate record doe of the year with Lagooncreek Garberdine, goatling of the year with Gar-berdine's daughter Georgette, and breeder of the year.

She also won most points in doe of the year, with Garberdine, for Premier Dairy Goats New Zealand.

Mrs Tomes and her partner, Craig Batchelor, farm at Island Stream, near Maheno, and used to milk the goats commercially.

They have since reduced numbers to about 100.

Goats were the only animal she knew which "love you to bits - forever".

The Toggenburgs were inclined to be mischievous while the Saanens were more placid.

Mrs Tomes, who has exported goats to Korea and Thailand, encouraged people to consider keeping dairy goats.

They were ideal for lifestyle properties, but she urged people to keep and breed "good" goats.

The standard in New Zealand was fairly good at the moment. .

Exhibiting her goats at A and P shows was a way for her animals to be seen and also to raise public awareness of dairy goats, she said.

Couple runs fiber mill
By DENISE GAMINO Austin American-Statesman © 2008 The Associated Press
Aug. 9, 2008, 8:33AM
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Share  Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzBLUE, Texas — Deborah and Jim Sharp are living a dream they didn't know they had.

Jim, whose face is being overtaken by a white beard he started in June after retiring from 38 years as a children's cancer doctor, sits under the vital shade of a blackjack oak. Deborah, in jeans and a teal blue medical scrubs top, stands nearby with a goat whose mohair fleece is so thick and long you can barely see its eyes.

The Sharps are hosting a barnyard barbershop.

They have 75 colored Angora goats, and most are in need of their twice-a-year shearing. Another 60 or so fluffy goats milling about belong to other Angora goat raisers from across Central Texas who came to get haircuts for their animals, too.

"Maaaaah, maaaah," cries an unhappy charcoal-colored goat. Third-generation shearer Stephen Franco of Rocksprings flips over the goat and runs an electric clipper over its legs and belly. Then, in an eye blink, he ties the goat's four legs with a thin leather thong so he can shear the long, spiraled locks on the animal's sides, back and head.

"Maaaaah, maaaaah," cries the upside-down goat, its pink tongue flitting in and out to reveal a row of bright white teeth. Franco, who's won medals for shearing in the Calgary, Alberta, rodeo, can shear a large goat in just three minutes.

Shearing day is a time-honored chore on fiber farms. But there's something unusual about this early summer ritual at Inglenook Farms, the Sharps' home about 45 miles northeast of Austin.

For the first time, the curly mohair fleeces, many weighing more than 10 pounds, won't be going far from this outdoor pen. Just 150 yards away is a fiber mill that can wash and process fleeces into yarn.

Deborah and Jim Sharp have raised goats here for just five years, but in January they launched a project unique in Texas.

They invested more than $200,000 of their own money to start the Texas Fiber Mill, the only place in the state open to anyone with fiber-producing animals, whether common or exotic. The mill uses large machines to wash the fleeces, separate and comb the fibers into long strands, and then spin them into yarn.

"We've processed quite a bit of mohair and alpaca," Deborah Sharp said. "We've also processed quite a bit of llama and some cashmere and some buffalo and various kinds of wool.

"We haven't yet processed camel or yak."

The fiber will be sold to knitters, crocheters, handspinners, weavers and others interested in the fiber arts, which are experiencing an explosion of international interest.

And the fiber industry is feeling the same "buy local" movement as the food industry. Consumers want to know who grew their food, and knitters want to know who raised the animals and spun the fiber they use. The Texas Fiber Mill allows farmers and ranchers to process their fleeces close to home and gives artists and hobbyists the opportunity to buy yarn and roving that comes from animals on the farm down the road. Roving is a long rope of loose fiber used to hand-spin yarn.

Until the fiber mill opened, some Central Texas fiber animal farmers shipped their fleeces to New England or the Rocky Mountains for processing. Some even used mills as far away as Peru, Mexico and Canada.

The Texas Fiber Mill is what is known in the industry as a mini-mill or a micro-spinnery. "

The mini-mills are "the only part of the (textile) industry that is growing," said Chris Lupton, a research scientist specializing in fiber at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center in San Angelo. "Everything else is moving to China."

The story of how Jim Sharp, a 71-year-old pediatric oncologist, and wife Deborah, a 51-year-old clinical social worker a dissertation short of a doctorate, came to open a fiber mill in the post oak savannah near the tiny town of Blue, about 15 miles northeast of Elgin, has as many twists and curls as a skein of lustrous mohair yarn.

It is a story of sadness and loss, love and soulmates, animals and nature, and hard work and uplifting renewal.

Until five years ago, the Sharps were a professional couple living near Oak Hill with a total of nine children from previous marriages. Jim was Austin's original pediatric oncologist with a practice that had expanded to include other doctors. Deborah was pursuing a doctorate in social work at the University of Texas while teaching at then-Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos and counseling private clients.

They had met in 1987 under heartbreaking circumstances. Deborah's daughter, 7-year-old Jonna Daughn, was diagnosed with leukemia and was being treated by Jim Sharp, who at that time was the only pediatric oncologist in Austin.

Jonna was a delightful and exuberant, wise-beyond-her-years child. She fought cancer for 2 1/2 years, but died on May 20, 1990.

Afterward, Deborah became executive director of the Austin-area Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, a support organization for children with cancer and their families. Her work brought her into regular contact with Jim, and a romance blossomed. Deborah and Jim married in 1995.

(Disclosure: I wrote about the life and death of Jonna in this newspaper and have remained friends with the Sharps. I also belong to a small group of knitters who meet periodically in the Sharps' home. However, I knew nothing about the fiber mill until it was operating because I had been out of contact.)

Both Jim and Deborah Sharp are drawn to animals and the natural world. Jim has a green thumb for roses, and Deborah raised milk goats when her four daughters were young. It was a dog that brought them to the community of Blue. In early 2003 they bought a Vizsla, a Hungarian breed that needs lots of room to run. They began looking for a weekend home in the country. They bought 40 acres outside Blue and named their place Inglenook Farms, not knowing exactly what they would do with the land.

After much research, the couple decided to raise colored Angora goats, whose fleeces can be black, silver, brown, honey or even mixed. Most Angora goats, like most sheep, are white.

"We talked about the fact that we sure didn't like the idea of raising animals for slaughter," Deborah Sharp said. "That was not going to add joy to our lives. And Jim's work has always been very emotionally taxing. We wanted something that was going to add joy to our lives. Something beautiful, having baby goats and the kids born every year. The idea of renewal. We wanted it to be a place of renewal for both of us."

Their inquiries led them to Lisa Shell, an experienced fiber artist who had raised colored Angora goats for two decades. By serendipity, Shell lives only five miles down the road and quickly became a good friend and mentor. One of her colored bucks had especially spiraled locks and spiral horns. That caught the Sharps' attention because of their affinity for labyrinths and circles.

"We shared a history of cancer and death and dying and loss, and part of the way of understanding that is that life and death are all part of the same cycles and that life is a journey, somewhat like a labyrinth," Deborah Sharp said, "that you follow your path not really knowing where you're going to end up, and to a certain extent you have to operate on faith and enjoy the moment rather than being completely about your destination."

The Sharps began with nine goats, including some purchased from Shell. They later bought two alpacas, which are housed in a barn away from the goat pens.

When their original goats were sheared, a task that occurs twice a year, Deborah Sharp learned to wash fleeces by hand. After ruining a lot of fiber, she realized the task of processing the first 70 pounds of mohair fleece by hand was unrealistic. She decided to work with a fiber mill in Biddeford, Maine.

When the Sharps bought their first goats, "we didn't realize we were talking about hundreds of pounds of fiber," Deborah Sharp said. "If you're holding a handful of kid mohair, that's glorious stuff. But if you have a hundred pounds of raw mohair, that's overwhelming."

The Sharps are conscientious goat raisers and put long hours into their care. Two winters ago, an ice storm froze one newborn kid and another kid was abandoned by its mother after it became chilled. Deborah Sharp brought the kids indoors and kept them warm in a bathtub filled with towels. She bottle-fed little Nippy and Charlotte for almost a week until the weather warmed enough for them to live outdoors.

In just a few years, the Sharps' goats gained national attention. In 2006, they won grand champion doe and best fleece on animal at the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association national show in Sedalia, Mo. In 2007, at the Wool Festival at Taos, N.M., they won best fiber goat fleece for the mohair shorn from Charlotte, one of the rescued kids.

Deborah Sharp also learned to knit and spin yarn on a spinning wheel. She helped form the Blue Earth Guild, a small group of knitters and spinners who meet once a month at Inglenook Farms. Over the past few years, the conversations at those gatherings often centered on fiber mills: What are you going to do with your fiber? What mill are you using? Where is the closest mill?

"It would always come back to 'I wish there were a mill around here,' " Deborah Sharp said. "And, 'We should just open a mill here.' "

Then, an unexpected letter arrived last August. The woman who owned the fiber mill in Maine needed to sell her equipment to move overseas to be closer to family.

Deborah stood in her kitchen as she read the letter. Jim sat at the nearby table. She handed him the letter and said, "We ought to do this."

He read it. "Yes, we should," he said.

They went to Maine in early November to visit the Fibre Company. The trip sealed the deal. Less than two weeks later, Deborah Sharp had a booth of her fiber for sale at Kid and Ewe, an annual fiber festival in Boerne. She passed out a small flier that said "Shhh ... Tell only your closest friends. There is a new Fiber Processing Mill opening in Texas in January! Quick turn-around times!"

Word spread faster than a half-finished sweater can unravel.

By the time the equipment arrived in late January, almost 100 pounds of fiber had arrived to be processed as well as 75 pounds of roving to be spun.

"We were overwhelmed by the response," Deborah Sharp said. "People were trying to come to the mill before the equipment was here. It was clear that Texas needed a mill."

For the Sharps, the journey from city folks to animal fiber experts has been much like earning undergraduate degrees, masters' and doctorates all in five years. And as their national show ribbons attest, they graduated with honors.

They often reflect on their unexpected journey and laugh about their "retroactive planning."

"We didn't really plan on doing what we're doing," says the soft-spoken Jim Sharp. "But it worked out and it's great."

Published: August 11, 2008 01:18 pm             

Grant will aid goat producers

Special to the Daily Times

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with Kentucky State University and Western Kentucky University, has been awarded a matching grant of $55,780 to identify new niche market opportunities for sheep and goat products.

Direct marketing to Kentucky’s ethnic consumers and retailers will be looked at, as well as alternative channels such as local butcher shops and meat processors.

“This grant will help open up new markets for Kentucky sheep and goat producers,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said, “and allow their numbers to continue to grow in the Commonwealth.”

Kentucky is one of the top five states in number of goats with 81,400 as of Jan. 1, according to the Kentucky office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Kentucky’s sheep inventory totaled 37,000. Sales of Kentucky sheep and goats totaled an estimated $20 million in 2007.

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced matching grants provided under the Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program. More than $1.3 million was awarded to Kentucky and 23 other states and territories to support agricultural market research.

“Farmers are the first important part in the chain of food production,” Shafer said, “and these USDA matching grants support new and practical links from farm to market.”

         

FARMER'S NOTEBOOK

If not cattle, goats also provide low-cost organic inputs


M.J. PRABU


The plant growth promotor called attottam can be used for different crops 





— Photo: special arrangement
 
Good alternative: Mr. V.S. Arunachalam of Erode district in Tamil Nadu at a training camp for farmers.

Getting a good yield is never an easy task for farmers, especially in the present circumstances, when they have to battle rising prices of chemical pesticides and fertilizer shortage.

Farmers are ready to try any alternative means that promise a reduction in input cost, and at the same time offer a bountiful harvest.

Organic practices seem to fit the slot very well. Several farmers across the country are turning to organic methods for cultivation as they are convinced that organic inputs can be prepared by them personally and are cost and pest effective.

Not a problem

According to Dr. G. Nammalvar, organic scientist, fertilizer shortage or high cost of chemical pesticides is not a problem for organic farmers, because most of them have cattle (cows).

They use the milk, dung and urine of the cow for making panchagavya, dasagavya, vermicompost and vermiwash.

It is fine for those who own cattle. But what about those who do not have them?

Cow wastes play an important role in organic farming. But for those who do not have cows, the goat is a good substitute.

Attotam

Goats are commonly found in all the villages. The milk, dung and urine of a goat have the same value as those of a cow, and the manure made from the goat’s milk and waste is called “attottam,” explains Dr. Nammalvar.

According to Mr. V.S. Arunachalam, who is responsible for developing attottam, this is among the best plant growth promoters for crops such as paddy, vegetables, cotton, chilli, groundnut, sesame, and flowering plants.

It stimulates plant growth, stops withering of leaves and fruit buds, and improves the smell, taste and weight of the produce.

Aattottam is made by taking about 5kg of fresh goat’s dung, 3 litres of goat’s urine, 1.5 kg of either soya or groundnut cake or green gram or black gram (after grinding), and soaking them in water overnight.

The next day about 2 litres of milk (goat’s milk), curd, coconut water, toddy and sugarcane juice each, and about a dozen ripe bananas (any banana variety) are added to it.

Toddy substitute

Toddy can also be substituted with about 50 gms of yeast dissolved in 2 litres of warm water and sugarcane juice can be substituted by adding 1 kg of jaggery dissolved in 2 litres of water.

All the ingredients should then be mixed together in a plastic drum and left under shade for about two weeks (14 days), after which the mix can be used.

Stir the solution

It is advisable to stir the solution about 50 times in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction each, once during the day and again in the evening.

The mouth of the plastic drum should be covered with a thin cotton cloth to prevent insects and worms from laying eggs on the surface of the solution.

The shelf life of the solution is about six months, (provided it is stirred twice everyday in the manner explained above.) If the solution becomes too thick to stir over time, water or tender coconut water can be added to dilute it.

For an acre

For an acre about two litres of attottam diluted in about 100 litres of water should be sprayed on the crops.

Before pouring the solution into the hand sprayer, it should be filtered properly so the spraying holes do not get blocked. For good results, spray before flowering and fruit setting.

For more information readers can contact Mr. V.S. Arunachalam, Elunkathir pannai, Kulavikaradu, P.Vellalapalayam PO, Gobichettaipalayam Taluk, Erode:.638476, email: elunkathir@gmail.com,

Ethnic tastes help fuel local goat industry
Posted By DONAL O'CONNOR, Staff Reporter
Posted 6 hours ago
 

Interest in goat farming is growing by leaps and bounds.

Organizers were expecting 220 participants at the International Goat Symposium and Caprine Classic that winds up today at the Stratford Agriplex but found themselves stretching the menu to feed up to 340 people.

And they had to turn down some late requests for exhibition space, said symposium chair Bob Reid.

"It meant some people didn't get too much to eat," he said.

The numbers were good news for organizers, confirming predictions that holding the symposium in Perth County would be more convenient to goat farmers.

"I'm really, really pleased to see so many people," said Mr. Reid, who also credited Tobin Schlegel of the Canadian Caprine Classic show in London for joining in the symposium.

About 125 of 200 or so goat farms in Ontario are concentrated in southwestern Ontario, said Mr. Reid, and the availability of the new Agriplex offered a good central location for the symposium.

In past years many regarded goat farming as something that was "kind of cute," he said, but now the burgeoning industry is being seen as a growth industry, and people are taking it seriously.

The growth is being fuelled by immigration from Asian, African and Central American countries where goat's milk and cheese and meat are staples, said Mr. Reid, himself a Perth County goat farmer.

Ethnic populations in Toronto and Vancouver are providing Canada's largest areas of demand.

Worldwide there is more goat's milk consumed by humans than cow's milk, he said.

Continued After Advertisement Below

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Use of goat's cheese in high-end restaurants and on cooking shows is also promoting growth of the industry -- as is its appeal to consumers with a lactose intolerance.

Meanwhile, the much lower capital costs in goat farming as compared to dairy or hogs or cash cropping is making goat farming accessible to younger farmers or farmers who are switching over from other areas.

"To milk one cow costs $33,000 for a licence. You can buy a lot of goats for $33,000," quipped Mr. Reid.

While doors are being closed to people who want to farm in other areas "here, we are welcoming them in," he added.

Along with the growth in demand for milk and cheese -- they account for about 80 per cent of product -- there has been accompanying growth in the equipment and feed supply end of the business.

Milking parlours with sophisticated equipment akin to dairy have been replacing the old fashioned bucket collection. Individual animal identifications are becoming part of farming practice. And herds that once were typically 20 or 30 animals are now often numbering in the hundreds.

Mr. Reid said he knows of a farmer who is planning a herd of 1,200 animals.

Along with the growth of the milk and cheese end of the market there has been an increase in demand for meat. Young bucks which in the past had been discarded by farmers are now being raised to about 40 pounds for sale.

Lambert Dekort and his wife Linda from Dutton were among the many goat farmers attending the symposium. Mr. Dekort said he started in goats about seven years ago and now maintains a herd of 250-300 animals.

They started small, he said, and it was mainly his wife who looked after the goats. When a fire destroyed his cow dairy operation he decided to expand the goat operation.

"There's a lot more interest now and people are taking it a lot more seriously," he said, echoing Mr. Reid. A lot of information has been coming from France and Holland.

Mr. Dekort runs a 20-unit milking parlour. "I thought it was modern when I put it in five years ago, but now it seems outdated ... There's better stuff out there."

One of the exhibitors at the Agriplex, Woolwich Dairy Inc. based in Orangeville, was offering samples of its various cheeses.

Demand has been growing by 12-15 per cent annually, said Michael Domingues, vice-president of marketing for the company, which he said is the largest goat cheese maker in Canada.

Mr. Domingues cited health-conscious consumers and the popularity of goat cheese at restaurants for the growth the company has been seeing.

"It's almost become mainstream now," he said.

Apart from the dairy at its Ontario headquarters, the company operates a dairy in Quebec and another in Wisconsin.

Article ID# 1157224

Texas biologist: Cuero chupacabra is a pit bull
David Biello   
                     

All good cryptid stories come to an end and so it goes with the chupacabra video. Although it is difficult to make a definitive identification from the tape, biologist Scott Henke of Texas A&M University-Kingsville says "It's a dog for sure."

Since coyotes run a little more gracefully, it's likely to be a bull mastiff or pit bull, or perhaps just a mutt. "Dogs just roaming and being stray is quite a problem in southern Texas," Henke says. "The probability of it being a mixed breed dog is higher than anything else."

He notes that the original chupacabra findings—headless goats with drained blood—turned out to be the work of a Mexican cult. And the chupacabra's other hallmark—not eating the livestock it kills—is also a feral dog favorite. "Feral dogs are much more of a problem than coyotes for losing livestock like goats," he says. "Especially if the animal is killed and the throat's bit. A coyote will eat the meat too, if they're going to go to the effort to kill it. If they're just torn up, it's most likely a feral dog."

In other words, the chupacabra's killing spree is just a fighting dog running loose and treating goats like a chew toy.

Credit: © Marshall Boprey/istockphoto.com

 

 

STARTING RIGHT WITH HOMESTEAD GOATS
This versatile livestock is an excellent source of milk and cheese, includes: buying, housing and fencing, feeding, birthing, milking, bucks, kids.
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Loyal personable hard working. . . and a source of wonderful milk and cheese.

The goat is undoubtedly the most versatile livestock a homesteader can own. The homestead hog will eat your garbage and can produce lots of piglets for meat or sale, but you're not going to milk one or make any money selling cheese from a pig. Sheep, chickens, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, and the traditional milk cow all have their respective uses, but none will provide all of the following — milk, cheese, meat, brush control — within a handy one to two-hundred pound package that will also pack your gear on a hiking trip. The goat is the only animal named that you could honestly describe as personable. A homestead goat that's raised right is as loyal, charming, and companionable as the family dog, and in most cases a lot more useful.

Goats come in a great variety of breeds and strains. They are perhaps best defined by their three main commercial uses. Thus we have hair goats (that produce mohair and cashmere), meat goats (the Spanish goat and the Boer goat dominate the current market), and milk or dairy goats (common breeds include the Toggenberg, Nubian, Saanen, La Mancha, Oberhasli, and Alpine). The hair goat and meat goat industries are most prevalent in the American Southwest. Although hair goats and meat goats can be milked, butchered, or used for packing (my own homegrown goats have a lot of Spanish blood), most small-farm or homestead goats are dairy goats.

GETTIN YOUR GOAT
Since we're assuming that you are just starting out with the joys of homestead goats, the best goat to start with is a female (called a doe) that is pregnant. A pregnant doe will soon give you the priceless experience of birthing and raising baby goats (called kids), and shortly after that will provide the family with better milk and cheese than money can buy, often with some left over for sale. The breed, in my opinion, is not important. Goat fanciers, like dog and horse fanciers, like to brag about their breed, and they will argue the merits of their breed over those of any other breed. But the fact is that all the dairy goat breeds mentioned above produce good, hardy, milk-goats that will yield about a gallon of milk per day and be a pleasure to have around. Various hybrids and crosses of those breeds can be just as good. Note, however, that all the breeds mentioned can produce some real lemons, too, that may be unhealthy, poor milkers, and hard to handle. Jesse — bless her heart — is a case in point.

Tiny farm's owner a big cheese in contest
by Jaye Beeler | Press Food Editor
Wednesday August 20, 2008, 3:31 PM

Press Photo/Emily Zoladz
Farm-fresh: Roast chicken breasts are stuffed with basil goat cheese filling and accompanied by squash gratin with goat cheese feta and heirloom tomatoes.RECIPES
• Summer squash gratin
• Basil-goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts
• Jason Moniz' goat cheese mousse in Parmesan crisps

When Barbara Jenness, of Dancing Goat Creamery near Byron Center, entered her farmstead goat cheese in the prestigious American Cheese Society competition in Chicago, she did not tell a soul.

She wasn't even present for the announcement of the winners.

"I just entered to get some feedback from the experts," said Jenness, known as the "goat lady." "I'm not afraid of constructive criticism, so I wondered what they would think of my chevre."

Afterward, Jenness picked up the judges' scoring sheet and discovered her Dancing Goat chevre had taken second place in the fresh-farmstead-cheese category.

"Wow, I was so excited," Jenness said. "My feet didn't touch the ground."

Back on her 3 1/2-acre DogWood Farm at 10385 Wilson Ave. SW, Jenness works with 20 alpine goats out of a 100-year-old barn, a tiny cheese room and the smallest cheese plant in Michigan.


Barbara Jenness makes nearly 100 pounds of goat cheese a week at her Byron Center farm. She crafts "farmstead" goat cheese -- meaning cheese from the milk of her herd is processed on her farm.

Besides the chevre, Dancing Goat's lineup includes cracked black pepper, red pepper, sun-dried tomato, honey-orange zest, Michigan cherry pecan chevre log and feta marinated in sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil.

The new favorite is pesto chevre, made with basil and garlic from Jenness' garden.

As the warm weather dwindles, so will Jenness' supply, likely ending by Halloween.

"Goats don't produce in the winter," Jenness said. "You can finagle things to have the goats lactate over the winter, but lactation is seasonal. The goats need time off -- to take a breather, to get their girlish figure back. In the spring, we'll bring in a boy, and it starts all over again."

Jenness' silver-medal status with the American Cheese Society has put an exclamation point on a wonderful summer.

Her Dancing Goat chevre will be spotlighted in the Slow Food Nation, the four-day exhibition in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend. Her son, Jason Moniz, executive chef at Flora Restaurant in Oakland, Calif., will feature his mom's goat cheese on the menu during that time.

In the fall, Jenness will conduct cheese-making classes, limited to five participants, Sept. 27 and Oct. 13, on the farm.

Goats replace cows on Lancashire dairy farm
26/08/2008 10:30:00
FWi
Milk production is still the main source of income on the Gorst family's farm at Dolphinholme, Lancaster - but none of it comes from cows.

Their long established pedigree Holstein herd has now been replaced by 1000 dairy goats in the first phase of a major change in farm policy that will steadily see the unit expand to 2000 milking nannies.

 It's just over 18-months since John and Barbara Gorst and their son Mark decided to set up a large-scale goat milking enterprise at their Dolphinholme House Farm. For three months the family milked its dairy herd as well as the foundation herd of nearly 600 dairy goats, but by mid-summer last year the cows had gone and goat numbers were heading towards 1000.

The first 600 goats were bought as an entire herd - along with the herd's 30-aside headlock milking parlour - comprising a range of breeds including pure and cross-bred Saanen, Toggenburg, Anglo Nubian, Old English, Golden Guernsey and British Alpine nannies.



Further additions last year took numbers to almost 1000 head which have now produced about 500 female kids to continue the expansion.

The Gorsts admit that running a dairy goat herd brings a new set of challenges compared to milking cows. "You've got to have a disciplined system to be able to manage so many individual animals every day - and foot care is the big management issue with goats," says John Gorst.

The farm ran a 200-cow herd averaging 9500kg, but increasing cow numbers wasn't an option. The challenge was to find a way of expanding the farm business - and large scale commercial goat milking gave the family the ideal opportunity.

"Based on a cow giving 30 litres a day and a goat giving three litres meant we needed 10 goats for every cow. Because goats' milk is twice the price of cows' milk we needed 1000 goats to generate the same income as 200 cows. So if we could milk 1500-2000 goats we could double the size of the business," says Mr Gorst.

"A female kid is in-milk by the time it's a year old, so provided we make good use of superior genetics we should make relatively rapid progress and improve the herd's quality and output - certainly much faster than we could do with a new dairy herd," says Mark Gorst.



This year should see the herd average 900-1000 litres. Average daily yield is three litres although the best nannies can give up to 10 litres. Herd improvement is based on selecting females on yield, freedom from foot problems and conformation as well as using superior sires. Although "improver" genetics may be imported as semen from France, billies from leading commercial milking herds in the UK are also being used.

"This isn't like breeding dairy cows. Goat dairying in terms of recording and genetics is way behind the dairy cattle industry. We're using the best Saanen and Toggenburg billies - based on stature, udder and yield - on nannies of mixed breeding because in a purely commercial enterprise cross-breeding is accepted as the norm," says Mark.

The breeding cycle runs from August to March, but with the higher winter milk price paid from September to February the Gorsts have goats going dry from the end of February and to start kidding in May after a five-month gestation.

"The aim is to get the benefit of the high winter milk price, so nannies are mated in December and January. We run around one billy to 70 nannies," says Mark.

The herd is housed in straw yards and fed big-bale hay and a specially formulated dairy goat concentrate offered ad-lib. Concentrate intakes are about 3kg a day with a small amount fed in the parlour purely as an incentive to get the goats into the stalls.

Goats, which can be productive for about six years, are run through a foot-bath every day, but there's a strict three-week foot treatment programme in place to control the spread of foot rot.

Nannies prefer to kid unattended most produce twins although three or even four kids is not uncommon. Kids are weaned after six weeks on a milk machine, but the Gorsts say they're far more delicate than calves.

by Jeremy Hunt (About this Author)

Goats were 'starved' during 65-hour road trip
August 27, 2008 12:36am
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A QUEENSLAND truckie has faced court over starving 1500 goats of food and water during a 65-hour trip to the Northern Territory.

Keith Simpson, and his company Keith Simpson Transport, have pleaded not guilty to 96 animal cruelty charges involving more than 1400 goats the company trucked 3000km from near Bourke, NSW, to Acacia, on Darwin's outskirts.

Twelve goats were dead on the truck when it arrived in Darwin on July 27 last year after a 65-hour trip, the Darwin Magistrates Court heard. And - despite veterinary treatment - a further 318 died or were euthanased as they continued to suffer from the stressful trip through to November.

The Northern Territory News was told that if the case against Mr Simpson was proved, it would be the biggest animal welfare conviction in the Territory's history.

Mr Simpson's lawyer David Francis said the truckie was only a middle operator in an export chain "where a number of linkages" had "fallen down in their duty".

But Brisbane-based exporter, Adam Armstrong, who hired Mr Simpson and was going to on-sell the goats for export to Malaysia, said the truckie had agreed to a transport plan that included two drivers - or one driver and a 12-hour water, food and rest stop en route to the Territory.

Mr Armstrong said Mr Simpson went against this and "the goats went straight through" with one driver, who took rest stops, suffered a flat tyre, and had a minor accident on a bridge along the way.

Darwin mango farmer, David Joyce, who agisted the goats, said he was "not happy" to see dead goats on the truck when it arrived.

He said the sick goats - which were "staggering" - reminded him of the "bad old days" when animal welfare standards were not enforced.

He said the accepted time limit for transporting goats without food or water was 38 hours.

The hearing continues.

Regional demand for high breed goats increasing     
Written by Watoro Kamau     

Milk at a Nakumatt supermarket outlet in Nairobi. A dairy goat registered with the Kenya Stud Book fetches about Sh20,000September 16, 2008: Rising demand for high grade dairy goats in the East African region has seen increased interest by farmers to have their herds registered with a breed certification body.

A dairy goat registered with the Kenya Stud Book (KSB) fetches about Sh20,000 in the region where some governments keen to promote the activity are purchasing goats for distribution to organised groups of farmers.

Rwanda and Uganda are among countries in the process of buying 1,000 dairy goats from Kenya for introduction to farmers.

Last year, local farmers exported several heads of pedigree cows to Rwanda. The Kenya Livestock Breeders Organisation (KLBO) says the opportunity should motivate keepers to improve husbandry and rear quality herds.

“You can only determine the quality of the animal by having it registered with the stud book where records regarding its breed, production capacity and other traits are kept,” KLBO chairman Christopher Chirchir said.

“A registered Dorper ram sells locally at Sh15,000 while a registered ewe sells at Sh5,000. A dairy goat fetches Sh8,000 locally. The export prices are three times higher than local prices,” Mr Chirchir said. The organisation runs the Kenya Stud Book. The ready market has spawned an upsurge in the number of farmers seeking to register the livestock with KSB over the past few months.

Close to 4,500 new applications for registration of stock are pending at the Kenya Stub Book whose processes are yet to be automated.

Despite the opportunities locally and in the region KLBO says only a few farmers have quality dairy goats. Foreign buyers are usually interested in animals with documented history.

Apart from live animals Mr Chirchir said there was overwhelming demand for animal products like milk and meat in the region, including from DR Congo which has enquired about purchasing beef from the country.

“Butchers there want an estimated 40 tonnes of beef per month,” Mr Chirchir said.

Mr Chirchir advised livestock breeders to enhance the breeding of dairy goats and pedigree cows to cash in on the demand for the animals.
Prices for registered pedigree dairy cows stand at between sh170,000 and 250,000, Mr Chirchir said.

The country is currently experiencing an acute shortage of quality dairy animals following the loss of an estimated 170,000 cows during post election violence.

The animals were either killed or stolen from the farms at the peak of the violence. Some of the cows died of diseases as farmers were displaced from their farms.

Unlike cows which take longer to reproduce dairy goat farmers can multiply their stock within a very short period. A litre of dairy milk   fetches  Sh150 in Nairobi, mostly as an alternative for consumers allergic to cow milk.


Ranching sector
Mr Chirchir said it was also economical to keep a dairy goat as compared to a cow. Estimates show that a litre of cow milk costs Sh18 to produce, about four times that of a litre of goat milk, at between Sh4 and Sh5. The farm gate price for a litre of cow milk is Sh20.

A number of organisations including German Technical Co-operation, International Livestock Research Institute and Heifer International are supporting KLBO to improve animal registration with an outreach programme set for the country’s ranching sector.

The Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), Mr Chirchir said, has also started registering its livestock after the state owned corporation was revamped. 
 

Goats take bite out of pesticide bills

Published Thursday, September 25, 2008
PALMER, Neb. (AP) - When Ladd Reeves invited Michelle Wendell and more than 600 of her friends to his ranch for dinner, he put one item on the menu: weeds.

Instead of turning up their noses, Wendell’s hairy friends stuck their muzzles in the weed salad and have kept them there for two weeks.

"They love it," Wendell said earlier this month while surrounded by the herd of goats munching on weeds on a small plot at Reeves’ hilly 1,440-acre ranch.

Like an increasing number of cattle ranchers - who for decades have used chemicals and other means to fight stubborn weeds - Reeves is giving the walking weed eaters a shot. He invited the goats to his spread as part of a project with the Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition.

In the biological buffet line of a pasture, cattle shun weeds in favor of grass.

But goats go straight to invasive, tough-to-control weeds such as leafy spurge musk thistle that can choke out grasses and ruin a pasture for cattle grazing.

Even cedar trees, which ranchers despise for their ability to overtake pastures, are a favorite entree for goats.

"You can raise them on what everyone else classifies as junk - they eat it willingly," Wendell said.

He said goats choose the junk over grasses, process them, destroy the seeds - and their waste is good for the soil.

Among farmers and ranchers, goat grazing still isn’t close to replacing chemicals as the preferred method of keeping weeds in check, which is required by state laws.

But sightings of the sturdy creatures, whose unusual eating habits and four-chambered stomachs make some consider them the garbage disposal of the animal kingdom, are becoming more common, as are sheep.

"In the last three to five years, the number of goats has increased," said Dana Larsen, range specialist for the Nebraska Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Last year, the agency started a program to help ranchers pay for such services.

"People are looking for a nonchemical, nonmechanical means of controlling weeds," Larsen said.

Chemicals and other traditional means of weed control are "a direct cost with no return," Larsen said. "With goats ... they may at least get a product."

The American Meat Goat Association said goats were one of the first animals to be domesticated, about 10,000 years ago. Goats are extremely adaptable, able to live in the high altitudes of the Himalayas, the humid tropics and bone-dry desert climates.

A hundred years ago, goats were more prevalent, raised for their milk and meat. But as the demand for beef increased, cattle replaced goats on many pastures across the country.

Now a movement is afoot to bring goats back to help the habitat of the cattle.

The number of goats used for meat and milk still dwarfs those mainly used for weed control, said Bob Sims, director of the American Meat Goat Association.

But that’s changing, as Amy Jeanroy and her husband, Cal, can attest. They raise about 25 goats near Ravenna, Neb., using the goats’ milk to make cheese.

Lately, neighbors have been asking for more than cheese to put on their crackers.

"We’ve had a lot of people interested in using our goats for weed management," Amy Jeanroy.

Wendell, who also raises organic hay with her husband at their ranch, sees more than a paycheck when she watches her goats work. "There’s nothing more satisfying than putting them on a patch of what people perceive as weeds and getting rid of them while the goats get fat and shiny," she said.

Man and Goat Hikers Get the Boot
By Jon Greenberg on Friday, September 26, 2008.
listen: 
About a month ago we told you the story of a young man who was hiking the Appalachian Trail in the company of a goat. The goat, Ali Baba, seemed to engender good will wherever he went. But man and goat drew a very different response from the people who manage the trail.

Earlier this week, the National Park Service said they’d have to hike someplace else. Goats are considered pack animals and pack animals are not allowed on the Appalachian Trail.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg has this update.

Web resources:

Video with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Staffer
A through-hiker's protest against the goat ban
To bring you up to speed, in early March, Joseph Mangum started hiking the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee. As it happens, he has a cousin who breeds goats and Mangum decided to use one to help carry his gear. Man and goat spent five months hiking north and were on their way home through Pennsylvania when they were stopped by a local trail representative.

CUT: apparently he has some big position with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and since it says no pack animals, he decided to rain on my parade.

Mangum’s arguments that his goat, Ali Baba, does less damage to the trail than dogs, which are permitted, and is actually just like a small deer, which are everywhere on the trail, got him nowhere. So did his point that the official trail web site specifically bans horses and mules but not goats.

He spoke directly with the top law enforcement officer for the Appalachian Trail, Chief Ranger Todd Remaley of the National Park Service. Remaley says the web site might not list goats but the compendium to the federal law does.

CUT: 36 CFR A, for the purposes of regulations, horses, mules, burros, goats and llamas are designated as pack animals.

Remaley says there are many good reasons to keep goats off the Appalachian Trail. It crosses land owned by many different people and organizations and they might object to goats. Goats might disrupt the ecology by eating endangered native plants or by introducing foreign plants to the trail in their droppings. Remaley also said the park service must protect other hikers. One should not overlook the destructive capabilities of goats.

CUT: A classic example would be to have food or gear damaged whenever a hiker has limited supplies for the duration of their trip.

But Mangum counters, this goat has only enhanced the trail’s reputation. He says Ali Baba is the talk of the 2008 season.

CUT: Some people think it’s a legend, a myth. The Goat man. And others finally meet Ali Baba and they’re just so overjoyed and it’s been nothing but positive for the AT and the conservancy,. And these guys have just decided to end this journey and I think that’s a really bad thing to do.

Mangum has an email list of people he’s met along the way and some of them have told him they plan to press the park service to change its rules. One has posted a couple of videos on You Tube. For now, Mangum is staying off the trail.

Chief Ranger Remaley says he’s sympathetic and has offered to help Mangum and Ali Baba find rural roads they can use to finish their hike. He also says the official web site will be updated to send a clear message. If you want to travel the Appalachian Trail, leave your goat at home.

For NHPR News, I’m Jon Greenberg

Riyadh: First it was camels. Now Saudi Arabia has held its first "beautiful goat" pageant.


Owners of pedigree "Najdi" goats from around the Gulf region converged on Riyadh this week, hoping to win the prize for top male and female goat, following in the footsteps of lucrative camel competitions which have taken off in recent years.


"The Najdi goat is a pure national product like nothing else in the world," said Sheikh Faisal al-Saadoun, a leading Saudi breeder who organised the show.


"They are different in terms of beauty, shape and how eye-catching they are."


The goats are named after the central Najd region of Saudi Arabia, where the goats have a distinctive high nose bridge and shaggy hair with a fine, silky quality.


They were given a thorough shampoo for the show, according to the official website (wwwl.al-nawader.com) which displayed the winners.


Most of the goats in the competition were bred from one star goat, Burgan (Volcano), from Saadoun's stable and have been exported around the Gulf in trade worth millions of riyals.


Burgan was not on display at the show as the owners fear he could be afflicted by the "evil eye".


But that did not stop offers from the Qatari royal family to buy him, the compere told the gathering.


Saadoun sold dozens of goats from his stable for at least 100,000 riyals ($26,000) each at the show, adding to some 8 million riyals he has made over the years breeding from Burgan.


"This male goat is different. He is historic and he has contributed to developing the Najdi goat," he told Reuters, as poets recited odes in praise of the goats over loud speakers.


The winner in the male category was a son of Burgan with a value of 450,000 riyals.


The gathering at a ranch outside Riyadh gave breeders a chance to trade but Abu Ahmed, a breeder from the United Arab Emirates, was disappointed that Saadoun did not take his offer of 350,000 riyals for a one son of Burgan.


"I wanted to develop the breed from the point it has got to," he said. However, camels remain the pride of the Bedouins. Delicate females or strapping males can sell for more than a million riyals and camel-racing is a popular throughout the Gulf.


Last November a leading authority of Saudi Arabia's hardline school of Islam condemned camel beauty contests as evil, saying those involved should seek repentance in God.

Associated Press of Pakistan
 
MUZAFFARGARH: A land owner and his sons allegedly slaughtered six goats of a fisherman in revenge after the animals entered his agriculture field in Basti Jhabail area.

According to details, six goats owned by a fisherman Ghulam Shabbir Jhabail entered the agriculture field of Qazi Muhammad Siddiq.

The entry of animals angered Siddiq who along with his sons Muhammad Suhail, Muhammad Waqas, and Ahmad Saeed allegedly slaughtered the animals.

Villagers gathered at the site soon after and handed over the accused to Muzaffargarh Sadar police.

Police have registered a case and took the slaughtered goats in possession.

Meanwhile, MNA Jamshed Dasti also reached the site, provided financial assistance to the poor fisherman and promised to get him justice.




 

Forget herbicides, weed-whackers: get some goats, study says
Last Updated: Thursday, November 6, 2008 | 11:59 AM ET
CBC News
A study found goats effectively cleared properties of hearty weeds including thistle, hawk weed, dandelion and horsetails. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC) Municipalities across Canada should consider swapping herbicides for goat herds to control weeds on environmentally sensitive lands, a British Columbia study has concluded.

The study, led by University of Northern British Columbia professor Annie Booth, tracked the eating habits of goats for two summers in Prince George. The study found the goats effectively cleared properties of hearty weeds including thistle, hawk weed, dandelion and horsetails.

"As soon as we unloaded them, they turned around and started eating dandelions," Booth said. "They do their job — which is clear up and clean out the weeds here."

"We were very pleased to discover that goats do provide a very effective form of weed control, particularly for some tricky weeds that are difficult to eradicate even with the use of herbicides."

While different communities around the globe have used goats to control weeds, Booth's study is believed to be the first study of its kind quantifying the efficacy of the method. The research was conducted by a partnership between UNBC and the City of Prince George.

Booth also noted that using goats in place of herbicides is kinder to the environment and suggests municipalities might consider leasing herds of goats for the summer months.

"[They can] work with goat owners in the area to lease out a herd every summer," she proposed. "I think [it] would be a very effective way for a city to go. We'll see if Prince George decides to move in that direction."

Booth will present her findings to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Goats’ milk offers chance to be a big fish in a small pond
News | 13 November, 2008

COMMERCIAL dairy goats offer an opportunity for some conventional dairy farmers, says the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.

But caution is urged in this comparatively diminutive sector that accounts for 22 million litres, or 0.1 per cent, of UK milk volume.

Looking at returns, establishing a dairy goat enterprise stacks up, says RABDF’s Laura Dickinson.

“Return on investment is significantly greater when compared to a conventional dairy cow enterprise. These require a considerably higher investment to meet various compliance requirements, including the challenges of the NVZ Action Programme.

“However, swapping dairy cows for dairy goats is far less attractive than it was say five years ago when farmgate dairy goats’ milk averaged 40ppl compared with dairy cow milk at 17ppl.

“But the investment costs remain lower, for example a milking goat from a high health status herd costs approximately £250 and parlour modification can cost in the region of £40,000.

“Dairy cow farmers have the basic requirements of some accommodation and a parlour, which can be readily modified.”

The UK’s 45 herds vary in size from 250 to 4,000 milking goats, averaging about 900 litres per lactation, with an average working life of six lactations.

“The dairy goat product sector has expanded by around 20 per cent year on year in the decade to 2006/07 and 16 per cent last year.”

However, she says domestic production sits against imports, mainly from the Netherlands, accounting for some 65 per cent of the 50 million litres used annually.

Goats’ milk is traded and processed by five main companies, who each set farmgate prices.

There is no collection mechanism for a farmer levy and in the last year, money spent on advertising and PR has been relatively small.

Also, few if any dairy goats worldwide have been progeny tested and AI use is minimal.

“Dairy goat farming has yet to be accepted as a real commercial enterprise. It may be possible to be a big fish in a very small pond, and help drive forward a sector on the cusp of further development.”

How dairy goat conversion adds up

* Nick Brandon has gradually swapped a 170 cow pedigree Holstein herd for 1,600 goats at Upper Enson Farm, Sandon, Stafford.

* Expansion to 2,000 head by next year is planned.

* The herd averages 800 litres per 48 week lactation.

* A gross margin of £136 per head and £680 per acre is achieved.

* All milk is sold on contract at 42.24ppl to Delamere Dairy.

Officials head to Brussels to plead for Cyprus goats
By Elias Hazou

OFFICIALS of the Ministry of Agriculture are hastening to Brussels to make their case that goats and sheep infected with scrapie pose no health hazard to humans and should not be put to the slaughter.

Scrapie, found in sheep, is similar to BSE, or mad cow disease. But while scrapie is believed to pose no threat to human health, the human equivalent of mad cow disease, variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease has claimed at least 100 lives.

The matter has resurfaced after France’s Food Safety Agency (AFSSA) cited fresh scientific evidence suggesting it was possible for scrapie to jump species. The French authority is calling for a destruction of all infected herds and/or a total ban on exports.

If adopted, the French proposal would deal a hammer blow to livestock farming in Cyprus, as an estimated 130,000 (or 35 per cent) of goats and sheep here are tainted with the disease.

In March 2007, the European Food Safety Authority’s BIOHAZ panel concluded that there is no evidence for an epidemiological or molecular link between classical and/or atypical scrapie and TSEs (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy) in humans. The BSE agent is the only TSE agent that can be transmitted from infected animals to humans.

However, the Panel recommended that more research should be carried out to assess the exposure risk from milk, in particular in the case of atypical scrapie and BSE, and to evaluate what would happen to these TSE agents if and when milk from affected sheep flocks or goat herds is processed for consumption as milk or other dairy products.

Calling France’s position “extreme”, Agriculture Minister Michalis Polynikis has pledged to fight the cause of Cyprus’ dairy farming to the bitter end.

Nicosia is countering with a proposal that products from tainted animals should still be allowed to be sold only in the country of origin. A delegation from the Agriculture Ministry is heading out to Brussels to plead its case before the European Commission, although reports yesterday said the omens were not good.

The farmers themselves are convinced their livelihood is on the line.

Panayiotis Constandinou, head of the Goat Farmers’ Association, said yesterday that even if the European Commission were to accept the Cypriot proposal, the dairy sector would be devastated regardless.

“Which Cypriot consumer will feel comfortable buying goat milk, if it’s not good enough for other Europeans?” asked Constandinou.

In addition to the immediate impact of culling 130,000 animals, he said, sales of halloumi would plummet due to insufficient milk supplies.

Moreover, Constandinou blamed authorities for lax controls, claiming that health inspectors did less than a thorough job of examining tainted farms. As a result, scrapie was allowed to spread.

“We are fed up. Why is it that goat farming is always singled out?” he said.



Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

Young Putnam farmer successful with goats
Posted by Leanne Smith, The Livingston Community News November 14, 2008 00:00AM
Categories: Features

JAMIE CHARBENEAU-PISELLA, THE LIVINGSTON COMMUNITY NEWS
Tom Chambers with one of his Alpine dairy goats. Chambers, 18, is building a business among people who prefer fresh goat milk.BY LEANNE SMITH
The Livingston Community News

A sixth-generation Putnam Township farmer has found an innovative way to use goats to help pay for college and contribute to the preservation of the family farm.

Since March, Tom Chambers, 18, has been selling shares in his goat herd to those who like the health and digestive benefits of goat milk.

"You can't sell raw milk in Michigan, but there are a lot of people who really want it because it's natural and healthy," he said. "They sign a contract with me that gives them part ownership of my herd, and that entitles them to the milk."

To date, Chambers is milking eight Alpine goats in his Heavenly Dairy and has sold about a dozen shares in his herd to local families and others from Ann Arbor and beyond. He hopes to build up to 30 shares.



JAMIE CHARBENEAU-PISELLA, THE LIVINGSTON COMMUNITY NEWS
Chambers milks one of his eight Alpine goats at his Heavenly Dairy. To date, he has sold about a dozen shares in his herd to local families and others from Ann Arbor and beyond.
"Most of the people have children with milk allergies or digestive problems and the goat milk is easier to digest," he said. "Some of them just want to be more healthy."

Shareholders pay $60 a year to lease part of the herd and $50 per month for care and management of the animals. That gives them a gallon and a half of goat milk per week. Hamburg Township's Irene Robinson has two shares, which she purchased after the birth of her granddaughter.

"My daughter went all organic when she was pregnant, and we wanted the milk for the baby after she stopped nursing," Robinson said. "My granddaughter is 19 months old now and she's thriving. She's never had a cold or illness."

Her desire to support local farmers also played into Robinson's purchase of the goat milk shares, she said.

"Any food we can get that's produced locally is better for us and for the local farmers," she said. "You know it hasn't traveled miles on trucks."

Chambers hopes to get a degree in agriculture from Michigan State University and continue the farm that was started by his great- great-great-grandfather, William Chambers, in 1875. He's taking classes at Lansing Community College to get started.

His parents, Keith and Jennifer Chambers, say they are thrilled that the eldest of their four children wants to carry on the farm, which grows hay and field corn and has a pumpkin patch, petting zoo and a robust sweet corn business.

"Tom has worked very hard to develop and improve his herd," Jennifer Chambers said. "We're really proud of his dedication."

Chambers has been assisted in his venture by Tim and Robin Leonard, owners of Garden Patch Farm, a certified organic farm east of Pinckney.

"Tom is so mature, and he knows goats and farming, and he's not afraid of hard work," Robin Leonard said. "We probably get two to five calls a week from people wanting goat milk, and we refer them all to Tom."

Goats might be firefighters of the future By Joanna Dodder Nellans, The Daily Courier

Settler Valley Ranch goats chomp away at thick chaparral at the United Christian Youth Camp in Prescott. 
 
 
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As more and more homes pop up in the Prescott region, public land managers and fire agencies always are on the lookout for new ways to keep down vegetation to control wildfires in developed areas.

Rod and Tanya Baker think they've found a great option with their goats, and they're already starting to convince local fire officials.

"I hope this will be a way to diversify how WUI (wildland-urban interface) areas deal with creating defensible space against fire," Tanya Baker said. "This is another tool for the toolbox."

   


 

Wildfire is the most common natural threat in the Prescott Basin.

"This is a natural form of fire abatement, so hopefully this will be something that all types of people - environmentalists, traditionalists - can like," Baker said.

Because of the proximity to homes, prescribed burning often is not an option for reducing overgrown vegetation in the WUI.

The goats don't create smoke like prescribed burns and don't make noise like chainsaws, Baker added.

She is working with the Prescott Area Wildland/Urban Interface Commission (PAWUIC) on a three-month pilot project to see whether the goats can be a cost-effective tool in the Prescott Basin.

The commission is paying for the experiment in the heart of Prescott at the United Christian Youth Camp, east of Hassayampa Lane.

"I'm really impressed with what is going on out there, and the potential benefits to the Prescott area," PAWUIC Chair Everett Warnock said.

About 70 South African female Boer meat goats, an all-around farm breed, are chomping away at thick brush surrounding the camp cabins.

"They've done a lot to get rid of ground fuels," observed Kris Mengarelli, who is in charge of facilities at the camp. Hundreds of campers have come through, and camp officials say they have heard no complaints about smell or anything.

Hassayampa Lane drivers might get a glimpse of the horned browsers standing on their hind legs and chowing on the chaparral.

After some pre-clearing by an Arizona Department of Corrections fuels management crew, the Bakers are erecting a series of electric fences to keep the goats off the road and the predators off the goats, despite the strong presence of coyotes.

The goats' next stop Thursday will be the City of Prescott's Community Nature Center Open Space Preserve off Williamson Valley Road.

"That's a real critical area because it's just south of the Yakashba Estates," Prescott Fire Chief Darrell Willis said.

The Bakers and their daughter Mikayla hope to make their Settler Valley Ranch in Dewey a full-time operation with the help of similar goat jobs in the future.

They all are natives to this area. Tanya grew up raising 4-H goats, cattle and sheep in Dewey. She also volunteers for PAWUIC, 4-H and the Farm Bureau.

So far, Tanya estimates the 70 goats eat through one acre of thick chaparral in about four days. The test plots will help determine how many goats to use and how long to keep them in an enclosure, said Bruce Olson, a PAWUIC technical advisor who works for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Mikayla Baker is helping monitor what the goats eat as part of a home schooling science project while the family lives at the camp.

The goats don't compete with cattle for forage, said Dwayne Warrick, a local range management consultant who is helping set up the test plots. It is common to see goats and cattle side-by-side on Texas ranches, he said.

The goats can help convert invasive chaparral landscapes back to grass, added Rich Van Demark, a forester and PAWUIC member.

It can cost $500-$1,000/acre to use machinery and hand tools to cut back vegetation in the WUI, and officials will calculate the cost of the goats in this experiment.

PAWUIC members also want to see how the goats affect archaeological sites.

While the Prescott National Forest and other national forests in this area have found goats useful, the Forest Service would have to amend its agreement with the State Historic Preservation Office to use the goats in any widespread fashion because the agreement doesn't cover goats right now, said Ed Paul, fuels management official on the Prescott Forest. Otherwise, extensive archaeological survey costs could make the projects cost prohibitive.

PAWUIC sponsored a tour of the pilot project last week, and officials from government agencies throughout the region attended, as well as some homeowner association members looking for options.

They heard Kathy Voth talk about a previously successful experiment that she and others conducted on a National Guard camp in Utah.

That project worked so well that the National Guard bought her goats and still uses them, Voth said.

"You guys have given me a lot of hope," Voth told the Prescott crowd.

(To learn more about using goats for defensible space, see the Internet at www.SettlerValleyRanch.com and livestockforlandscapes.com. The Bakers also are offering public tours; call 710-3700.)

Contact the reporter at jdodder@prescottaz.com




 


Posted: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Article comment by: No name provided

For many years I rode in the mountians of Southern California and it was not unusual to see goat hearders, the state hired them to clear the vegetation every year.

Posted: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Article comment by: Rancher up north

Makes perfect sense! My goats are asking where to apply! A guy in LA was recently in the news with 100 of his South African Boers. Goat herder and his wife, a vet, rented their 4-legged work crew for $3,000 and all the brush the goats could eat clearing a 2 1/2 acre hillside (45-degree slope) downtown lot. Electric fence used to protect the goats. Not bad pay for a guy for 10 days. Human workers and machinery would have cost around $7,500, taken longer, faced more challenges, wouldn't have been as environmentally friendly, and would have lacked the entertainment value for the downtown workers who got to watch the critters in action from their skyscraper windows and at lunch! Hard to believe there are folks in the world who've never seen a goat up close and personal, but some of those folks were so excited, they went home to get their human kids to take them to see Nature at work!

Posted: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Article comment by: American Citizen

Enough burning...goats, goats, and more goats !!!

Posted: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Article comment by: Rich

The PNF used goats to clear vegetation around Ponderosa Park a few years back and declared it a success. They have yet to use them again. They would rather spend more money on burns.

 

Tuesday November 18, 2008
Showcase of agri and aqua produce at Sarawak Farmers Day
By SHARON LING


A RECENT agricultural exhibition held in conjunction with the state-level Farmers Day attracted the masses, drawing both young and old to the show.

The exhibition at the State Indoor Stadium featured a wide range of agricultural and aquaculture produce as well as agriculture-related technologies and products.

The livestock display outside the stadium proved to be one of the popular attractions.

The Agriculture Department’s veterinary division exhibited goats, cows and chickens while one or two farms exhibited their animals.

Veterinary officer Dr Andrea Lim said the department bred Boer goats imported from Australia at its Temudok station in Sri Aman.

”We introduced Boer goats as they are bigger than local goats.

“Sometimes, we cross them with local breeds to get bigger animals,” she said, adding that Boer goats were bred for meat.

Other imported goats bred by the department are the Kalahari and Jamnapuri, also meat-producing breeds.

Several breeds of chicken were also exhibited, including the Sasso for its meat and the Isa Brown for its eggs.

In addition to the displays, visitors could check out the sale of fruits, vegetables and food products or attend cooking demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said the state’s efforts to modernise agriculture was showing positive results.

He said there was evidence pointing to a change in the mindset of farmers.

“There are a number of commercial farms established by private entrepreneurs.

“There are also farms that have been accredited under the Malaysian good agricultural practices scheme,” he said at the Farmers Day opening.

Cape Coast, Nov. 17, GNA - Kojo Forson, a 25-year-old driver who allegedly conspired with Mahamadi Mumuni, a butcher, and stole a car and loaded it with goats to Accra were on Friday granted GH¢5,000 and GH¢6,000 bail respectively by a circuit court in Cape Coast. Forson pleaded guilty with explanation but Mumuni pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy and stealing. Chief Inspector Hope Azasoo told the court that on October 26 a teacher who owns the vehicle parked it outside the house overnight but found out in the morning that it had been stolen. The prosecution said the complainant reported the case at the Cape Coast central police station and investigations revealed that Forson had been seen driving the car.

Forson confessed that he stole the vehicle with Mumuni and one Baba Issaka who is at large and drove it to Accra with goats but when it developed a mechanical fault they left it and came to Cape Coast. The prosecutor said Mumuni led the police to where the vehicle was left in Accra. 17 Nov 08

Couple raises Angora goats and process the hair at their Texas Fiber Mill
Denise Gamino, Grand Forks Agweek
Published: 11/17/2008
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 BLUE, Texas — Deborah and Jim Sharp are living a dream they didn’t know they had.

Jim, whose face is being overtaken by a white beard he started in June after retiring from 38 years as a children’s cancer doctor, sits under the vital shade of a blackjack oak. Deborah, in jeans and a teal blue medical scrubs top, stands nearby with a goat whose mohair fleece is so thick and long you can barely see its eyes.

The Sharps are hosting a barnyard barbershop.

They have 75 colored Angora goats, and most are in need of their twice-a-year shearing. Another 60 or so fluffy goats milling about belong to other Angora goat raisers from across Central Texas who came to get haircuts for their animals, too.

“Maaaaah, maaaah,” cries an unhappy charcoal-colored goat. Third-generation shearer Stephen Franco of Rocksprings, Texas, flips over the goat and runs an electric clipper over its legs and belly. Then, in an eye blink, he ties the goat’s four legs with a thin leather thong so he can shear the long, spiraled locks on the animal’s sides, back and head.

“Maaaaah, maaaaah,” cries the upside-down goat, its pink tongue flitting in and out to reveal a row of bright white teeth. Franco, who’s won medals for shearing in the Calgary, Alberta, rodeo, can shear a large goat in just three minutes.

Shearing day

Shearing day is a time-honored chore on fiber farms. But there’s something unusual about this early summer ritual at Inglenook Farms, the Sharps’ home about 45 miles northeast of Austin, Texas.

For the first time, the curly mohair fleeces, many weighing more than 10 pounds, won’t be going far from this outdoor pen. Just 150 yards away is a fiber mill that can wash and process fleeces into yarn.

Deborah and Jim Sharp have raised goats here for just five years, but in January, they launched a project unique in Texas.

They invested more than $200,000 to start the Texas Fiber Mill, the only place in the state open to anyone with fiber-producing animals, whether common or exotic. The mill uses large machines to wash the fleeces, separate and comb the fibers into long strands and then spin them into yarn.

“We’ve processed quite a bit of mohair and alpaca,” Deborah Sharp says. “We’ve also processed quite a bit of llama and some cashmere and some buffalo and various kinds of wool.

“We haven’t yet processed camel or yak.”

The fiber will be sold to knitters, crocheters, handspinners, weavers and others interested in the fiber arts, which are experiencing an explosion of international interest.

And the fiber industry is feeling the same “buy local” movement as the food industry. Consumers want to know who grew their food, and knitters want to know who raised the animals and spun the fiber they use. The Texas Fiber Mill allows farmers and ranchers to process their fleeces close to home and gives artists and hobbyists the opportunity to buy yarn and roving that comes from animals on the farm down the road. Roving is a long rope of loose fiber used to hand-spin yarn.

Fiber mill

Until the fiber mill opened, some central Texas fiber animal farmers shipped their fleeces to New England or the Rocky Mountains for processing. Some even used mills as far away as Peru, Mexico and Canada.

The Texas Fiber Mill is what is known in the industry as a mini-mill or a micro-spinnery.

The mini-mills are “the only part of the (textile) industry that is growing,” says Chris Lupton, a research scientist specializing in fiber at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center in San Angelo. “Everything else is moving to China.”

The story of how Jim Sharp, a 71-year-old pediatric oncologist, and wife Deborah, a 51-year-old clinical social worker a dissertation short of a doctorate, came to open a fiber mill in the post oak savannah near the tiny town of Blue, about 15 miles northeast of Elgin, Texas, has as many twists and curls as a skein of lustrous mohair yarn.

They had met in 1987 under heartbreaking circumstances. Deborah’s daughter, 7-year-old Jonna Daughn, was diagnosed with leukemia and was being treated by Jim Sharp, who at that time was the only pediatric oncologist in Austin. Jonna fought cancer for 2½ years, but died May 20, 1990.

Afterward, Deborah became executive director of the Austin-area Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, a support organization for children with cancer and their families. Her work brought her into regular contact with Jim, and a romance blossomed. Deborah and Jim married in 1995.

Starting up

Both Jim and Deborah Sharp are drawn to animals and the natural world. Jim has a green thumb for roses, and Deborah raised milk goats when her four daughters were young. It was a dog that brought them to the community of Blue. In early 2003, they bought a Vizsla, a Hungarian breed that needs lots of room to run. They began looking for a weekend home in the country. They bought 40 acres outside Blue and named their place Inglenook Farms, not knowing exactly what they would do with the land.

After much research, the couple decided to raise colored Angora goats, whose fleeces can be black, silver, brown, honey or even mixed. Most Angora goats, like most sheep, are white.

“We talked about the fact that we sure didn’t like the idea of raising animals for slaughter,” Deborah says. “That was not going to add joy to our lives. And Jim’s work has always been very emotionally taxing. We wanted something that was going to add joy to our lives. Something beautiful, having baby goats and the kids born every year. The idea of renewal. We wanted it to be a place of renewal for both of us.”

Their inquiries led them to Lisa Shell, an experienced fiber artist who had raised colored Angora goats for two decades. By serendipity, Shell lives only five miles down the road and quickly became a good friend and mentor. One of her colored bucks had especially spiraled locks and spiral horns. That caught the Sharps’ attention because of their affinity for labyrinths and circles.

“We shared a history of cancer and death and dying and loss, and part of the way of understanding that is that life and death are all part of the same cycles and that life is a journey, somewhat like a labyrinth, that you follow your path not really knowing where you’re going to end up, and to a certain extent you have to operate on faith and enjoy the moment rather than being completely about your destination,” Deborah says.

Intensive care

The Sharps began with nine goats, including some purchased from Shell. They later bought two alpacas, which are housed in a barn away from the goat pens.

When their original goats were sheared, Deborah learned to wash fleeces by hand. After ruining a lot of fiber, she realized the task of processing the first 70 pounds of mohair fleece by hand was unrealistic. She decided to work with a fiber mill in Biddeford, Maine.

When the Sharps bought their first goats, “we didn’t realize we were talking about hundreds of pounds of fiber,” Deborah says. “If you’re holding a handful of kid mohair, that’s glorious stuff. But if you have a hundred pounds of raw mohair, that’s overwhelming.”

The Sharps are conscientious goat raisers and put long hours into their care. Two winters ago, an ice storm froze one newborn kid and another kid was abandoned by its mother after it became chilled. Deborah brought the kids indoors and kept them warm in a bathtub filled with towels. She bottle-fed little Nippy and Charlotte for almost a week until the weather warmed enough for them to live outdoors.

In just a few years, the Sharps’ goats gained national attention. In 2006, they won grand champion doe and best fleece on animal at the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association national show in Sedalia, Mo. In 2007, at the Wool Festival in Taos, N.M., they won best fiber goat fleece for the mohair shorn from Charlotte, one of the rescued kids.

Deborah also learned to knit and spin yarn on a spinning wheel. She helped form the Blue Earth Guild, a small group of knitters and spinners who meet once a month at Inglenook Farms. During the past few years, the conversations at those gatherings often centered on fiber mills: What are you going to do with your fiber? What mill are you using? Where is the closest mill?

“It would always come back to ‘I wish there were a mill around here,’” Deborah says. “And, ‘We should just open a mill here.’”

Then, an unexpected letter arrived last August. The woman who owned the fiber mill in Maine needed to sell her equipment to move overseas to be closer to family.

Deborah stood in her kitchen as she read the letter. Jim sat at the nearby table. She handed him the letter and said, “We ought to do this.”

He read it. “Yes, we should,” he said.

They went to Maine in early November to visit the Fibre Co. The trip sealed the deal. Less than two weeks later, Deborah had a booth of her fiber for sale at Kid and Ewe, an annual fiber festival in Boerne, Texas. She passed out a small flier that said “Shhh . . . Tell only your closest friends. There is a new fiber processing mill opening in Texas in January! Quick turn-around times!”

Word spread faster than a half-finished sweater can unravel.

By the time the equipment arrived in late January, almost 100 pounds of fiber had arrived to be processed as well as 75 pounds of roving to be spun.

“We were overwhelmed by the response,” Deborah says. “People were trying to come to the mill before the equipment was here. It was clear that Texas needed a mill.”

“We didn’t really plan on doing what we’re doing,” says the soft-spoken Jim Sharp. “But it worked out and it’s great.”

Goats Part of Growing Farming Trend
Posted Tuesday, November 18, 2008 ; 06:14 PM
Updated Tuesday, November 18, 2008 ; 07:01 PM

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The US Department of Agriculture says more people are raising meat goats, both here in West Virginia and across the country.
Story by Hilary Magacs
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WESTON -- Larry Burns is a farmer in Weston. He raises meat goats and sells them to other people interested in becoming meat goat farmers. He says the number of people getting into the meat goat industry is rising.

"We've sold a good many locally, but we've also sold them in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. We've sold some in Tennessee," says Burns.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says demand for goat meat is rising. USDA officials say that is because a variety of ethnic groups who prefer goat meat has increased in the United States, including those of Middle Eastern, Latin American and Caribbean heritage. The USDA says the number of meat goats in West Virginia has increased by 14 percent since last year. Aside from increased demand, farmers say meat goats are easier to raise.

"The Boers can survive on ground that cows can't. Because they eat the weeds, what we call trash, brush and stuff, they would rather have that than the grass," says Burns.

Burns says goats can also be raised on smaller plots of land. That's the reason Cheryl Boner says she switched to goat farming.

"We have 60 acres, but it still wasn't enough for the cattle we needed to keep, so we - well, we had sheep so we got rid of the cows and got the goats," says Boner.

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture says the demand for goat meat is so high right now that $1.5 million of goat meat is imported to the U.S. every week.

Burns says female goats sell for about $400 dollars locally. He says male goats are about $150 dollars.


Copyright 2008 West Virginia Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

Use oil palm plantations as grazing land for goats


I REFER to the news report “Twin challenges to one million goats target” (The Star, Dec 3) in which the Veterinary Services Department director-general Datuk Dr Aziz Jamaluddin was reported to have said that the industry would not be able meet the one million goats target in the National Goats Industry Development Plan without investments from private companies.

The plan is to meet 35% self-sufficiency in goat meat production and he identified the biggest challenge as land and money.

There is a little over four million hectares of land under oil palm cultivation in Malaysia. The fronds of oil palm trees (unlike mature rubber trees) do not completely block out sunlight from reaching the ground and this allows grass to grow between the rows of trees throughout the year.

The grass available for grazing in the four million hectares under oil palm would provide more than sufficient grazing area for the one million goats.

The plantation saves on weeding costs by using the free non-unionised labour of the grazing goats.

Palm fronds that are pruned can also be processed and fed to goats confined to stalls under the feed-lot system of management.

The management also saves on fertiliser costs from the goat droppings and urine which help improve soil texture.

The investment in goat rearing by the plantation management will provide a second income from the same land - which can mitigate low palm oil prices.

It would be a colossal waste of national resources not to use the untapped potential of the vast areas under oil palm cultivation for goat rearing, which could earn additional income for the estate and at the same time achieve our aim of meeting 35% of our demand for goat meat.

M. GANESHADEVA,

Kuala Lumpur.

 Friday, December 12, 2008   
 
 

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City faces shortage of sacrificial animals

 * Animal prices increase by 300 percent two days before Eid
* Residents face great difficulty in purchasing animals at reasonable prices, most made purchases on third day of Eid at high prices
* Animal traders say bad experiences have forced them to transport animals to Karachi market for higher profit margins

By Rana Kashif

LAHORE: There was a severe shortage of sacrificial animals in the city’s cattle markets during the three days of Eidul Azha, forcing many people to celebrate the festival without offering qurbani.

According to sources, a large number of people had gone out on Monday, the night before Eid, to purchase sacrificial animals at cheap rates, but were disappointed to see that almost every bakar mandi was out of animals. The unprecedented shortage caused a drastic increase in the prices of animals that were left, and a large number of people were found to be moving desperately from one sale point to another.

This resulted in many people failing to perform the act of qurbani on Eidul Azha, and they demanded the district government ensure arrangements to prevent such situations in future. According to residents, the prices of sacrificial animals had increased by 300 percent throughout the city during the two days before Eid.

Residents: A resident of Walton Road, Muhammad Akhtar, said that he had visited Walton Road, Pico Road, Chungi Amersidhu, Township, and Bank Stop in search of an animal. He said that he failed to find an animal that did not have an outrageously high price attached to it. He said that this was the first time in his life that he had failed to perform the act of qurbani, adding that this happened due to high prices and lack of government intervention.

A resident of Ferozepur Road said that he failed to purchase an animal despite visiting at least seven sale points. He demanded the district government ensure the availability of sacrificial animals in the city during the three days of Eid. He said that the situation called for the need of a mechanism to fix the prices of sacrificial animals.

Similarly, various other people complained that they faced great difficulty in finding an animal, adding that they had finally made a purchase on the third day of Eid at a very high price. They said that most of the animals available for qurbani on the third day of Eid were those that were sold for sadqa in normal circumstances.

Animal traders: Those involved in the business of selling animals identified two reasons for the shortage of animals. An animal trader from Bahawalnagar, Mukhtar Ali, said that he brought 300 to 500 animals to the city from various villages on Eidul Azha. He said that during the past two years, he had experienced a decline in business, which had provoked him to bring only 100 goats this year. He said that he sold the 100 goats with a low margin until the noon before the Eid, as unfriendly weather had been expected. He said that he had sold all his animals well before Eid, adding that those traders who had retained animals were then charging exceptionally high prices for their animals, which were in high demand.

A seller from Sahiwal, Abdul Haq, said that he brought only 110 goats and sheep to the city’s market. He said that he had previously been bringing up to 300 animals to the city markets every year, adding that due to bad experiences in the past, he decided to bring only 110 animals this year. He said that, similarly, many other animal traders had brought fewer animals to the city’s market. He disclosed that animal traders preferred to transport their animals to the Karachi market, where they could earn higher profit margins. However, it was learnt that the availability of animals in other cities, including Sargodha and Faisalabad, was quite economical because of the rain, which helped decrease the prices of cattle.

 
 

Inland Muslims slaughter goats, other animals to mark Eid al-Adha


 
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10:00 PM PST on Monday, December 8, 2008

By DAVID OLSON
The Press-Enterprise

Each year since he was a child in Pakistan, Shahid Hussain has participated in the ritual slaughtering of a goat to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God.

Monday morning, the Corona man was at a Chino farm with more than 100 other Muslims on the first day of Eid al-Adha, a three-day holiday also called the Festival of Sacrifice. Hussain, 44, said prayers before sacrificing the goat and, after taking the fresh meat home, held a big feast with family and friends.

Eid al-Adha is one of the most important days on the Islamic calendar. It marks the end of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are to make once in their lifetimes, if they are able. Traditionally, Muslims attend prayers at a mosque on Eid and eat the meat of a newly slaughtered animal with family and friends.

The slaughter of the animal commemorates Abraham's obedience to God's command to sacrifice his son. God viewed that willingness as proof of Abraham's love and submission, so he allowed Abraham to sacrifice a lamb instead of his son, according to Muslim teaching.

Traditional Jewish and Christian teaching is similar.

The slaughter is done quickly. If it's a goat -- as is traditional in Pakistan -- it's done with a slit to the throat with a knife, so the animal dies quickly and does not feel pain, Hussain said.

"In respect to the animal, we do not show the knife before," he said.

Prayers are said and the name of Allah is repeated.

The ritual was repeated at farms and slaughterhouses throughout Southern California on Monday.

The first day of Eid al-Adha is traditionally when the slaughter is done, but some people do so on the second or third days, said Shahid Rangoonwala, owner of Spice It Up Halal Market and Grill in Corona.

Rangoonwala and 10 family members, employees and contract workers arrived at the Chino farm at dawn Monday to begin the slaughtering of about 100 animals.

Most were goats. A few were lambs or cows, he said.

Many people prefer to hire Rangoonwala or other Muslim-meat merchants to sacrifice their animals. They then pick up their meat from the shop later in the day.

The meat is divided into three portions and put into plastic bags. Traditionally, a third of the meat is for family members, a third for friends and a third for the poor.

Many people do not slaughter or buy their own meat, but instead donate money to Islamic charities that then sacrifice animals on behalf of the poor, said Munira Syeda, spokeswoman for the greater Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In most of the Muslim world, Eid al-Adha is a holiday, so people have more time to go to a farm or slaughterhouse to make the sacrifice, she said.

Hussain took Monday and today off from his job as an MRI technician for the festivities.

On Saturday, he and about a dozen others from the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco will travel to south Los Angeles to donate meat to low-income members of a mosque there.

The donation is a key part of Eid al-Adha, he said.

"Not everyone can afford to buy a lamb or goat," Hussain said. "This way, they will get the joy of the festival, too."

Reach David Olson

Adding value to dairy goats
Fiona Allan

December 24, 2008
PRODUCING half the nation's goat milk is all in a day's work for John Gommans and Penny Gandar.

The couple milk 3000 goats out of a total herd of 5000 on their Trafalgar farm in central Gippsland in Victoria.

This is more than triple the number of milkers they had when the operation kicked off three years ago, yet demand for their product continues to outstrip supply.

The couple ran the biggest dairy goat operation in New Zealand and still oversee their 2000-goat dairy at Hamilton on the north island.

However they saw more opportunity to expand in Australia.

John and Penny now have the largest dairy goat operation in Australia and their business is going from strength to strength with growing demand for dairy goat products worldwide.

The pair also own and operate a milk factory at Dandenong where their milk is value added into powdered, long-life product that is exported all over the world.

Formerly cow dairy farmers, it was Penny who first realised the potential of dairy goats. They began seriously farming goats in 2000.

Originally they came to Australia looking for a manufacturing plant to take back to NZ, but when they arrived here in 2005, they were offered a complete small-scale factory and opted to stay.

They now employ eight full-time staff to help run the Victorian operation, which revolves around their 270ha farm at Trafalgar.

It runs along similar lines to a cow dairy in that goats are milked twice a day on a rotary platform, however farm management is quite different.

The dairy and sheds are custom designed for goats, including a 100-stand rotary and four open-sided hangars where the goats are housed on sawdust beds.

The rotary can milk 1000 goats an hour with three people.

Dedicated milkers are employed and work split shifts starting at 5am with each milking taking four hours.

There are 12 staff, including milkers, a stock feeder, yardman, kid manager, maintenance person and a factory manager and factory staff.

Permanent staff work four days on, four days off.

The goats are run in eight different mobs of about 600 head according to different kidding times.

They are housed in sheds to prevent disease but always have access to fresh, clean feed.

John said shedding the goats eliminated worm burdens and they were fatter and healthier than paddock-run goats.

"Our goats do close to double the production of those on grass," he said.

Unlike a cow dairy, the goats are not fed in the bale at milking time. They are fed cut pasture, silage and a mix of barley and lupins all provided ad lib throughout the day. Pasture is harvested in a single pass and immediately fed to goats in the shed.

John said because the pastures were not being selectively grazed by stock, maintaining the quality of preferred species was tricky.

"Quality is a real issue because when we cut it we take it all and there is no selection," he said.

Feed for the goats includes chicory, plantain and red and white clovers and also maize.

"Fertility transfer is a problem because all the feed gets harvested and removed from the paddocks," John said.

All effluent and manure is returned to the paddocks to offset fertility transfer and counter the high price of fertiliser.

"But we still have to balance the nutrients out so we have no choice but to buy some fertiliser."

Goats are mostly Saanen, British Alpine and Toggenburg breeds, chosen for their high milk production.

They are mated over a six month period and have a 155-day gestation.

Penny said once goats became ill they were difficult to cure so it was important to manage the farm to prevent disease.

The sheds mean goats don't get wet, cold or sick and they stay clean.

Cleanliness is one of the main benefits of goats compared to cows.

"We like milking them because they are nice and clean, they are easy to handle and they've got character," Penny said.

Each goat can produce 800 to 900 litres per lactation and has a milking life of four to five years.

When John and Penny first started they were told there was a market for 250,000 litres of fresh goat's milk per year but this year they have produced 10 times that.

He said historically goat's milk has been seasonal so there were peaks and troughs in supply.

Year-round milking has helped to even out supply but there were still peaks.

The factory enables the couple to supply fresh milk when demand is highest and value add into powdered, long-shelf life products in periods of over-supply.

Producing large quantities of high quality milk all year round gives processors a certainty of supply.

The milk is picked up every one to two days and delivered to the factory or direct to processors and fresh food companies.

At their factory, John and Penny produce fresh milk, yoghurt and milk powders that are marketed under the GoLife brand.

The product is sold locally and exported to countries including Japan, Vietnam and China and is also sold in New Zealand. Other South East Asian markets are also being targeted.

Two companies, Alpine and Organic by Nature, conduct the retail arm of the business.

John said they would export 50 tonnes of product this year, while the other 200 tonnes will stay in Australia.

"There is a lot of interest in goat products so there is a lot of room to grow," he said.

Penny said that many people believed they were "better off" with goat's milk than cow's milk.

"It is easier to digest and popular with those who have sensitivities to dairy (cow's milk)," she said.

The farm at Trafalgar is now running at capacity and John and Penny are considering expansion with another property.

"We are not about to sit still," Penny said. "We will go as far as it will take us."

Boer goats an investment in learning, winning

By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com

JOSHUA — The Boer cross goats you’ll see in the Johnson County Junior Livestock Show beginning Feb. 25 are more than projects. They’re investments.

It’s still possible to pay a few hundred dollars for what’s known as a show goat. It’s also possible to spend more, much more.

“The most I’ve seen paid for a show goat is $6,200,” said Joshua goat producer Ronnie Galbreath. “Someone who pays that is shooting for the big shows ... Houston, San Antonio.

“But just because somebody paid a lot doesn’t mean that animal is guaranteed to do well. I’ve seen a lot of high-dollar goats that didn’t even make it to the show. They can get sick and die. They have to turn out.”

Theoretically, youths exhibit animals to learn from the experience. And they learn plenty, such as responsibility and punctuality.

But everyone likes to win, too, which has contributed to driving up the price of the Boer crosses and other animal projects.

“The show goat industry took off about 10 years ago,” Galbreath said. “It was an easier project than some others. You could keep a goat in a lot of places you couldn’t keep something like a pig. It didn’t cost as much to feed the goats.

“Goats passed lambs in popularity four or five years ago. Buying a show goat back then wasn’t as expensive as buying a show lamb. Now, that’s gone the other direction. The goats are more expensive, so the lambs are coming back. All three smaller species — goats, lambs, pigs — are pretty expensive projects.

“Everyone who goes in the show ring wants to win. Some go to an extreme and spend a lot of money. My wife tells me we probably could have bought three or four castles for what we used to spend on show steers and pigs for our kids.”

Dropping thousands on a show goat won’t compensate for raising the goat improperly.

“A lot of work goes into showing,” Galbreath said. “You’ve got to exercise the goat to develop the muscle. Some exercise them with dogs. Some use ATVs to go out and chase the goats. Some use treadmills. They have to be exercised, and you have to spend time with them.”

Galbreath isn’t in the show goat business to make his fortune.

“I sell most of mine to kids around here,” he said. “I could probably get more if I took them somewhere else. But this is a hobby for me. I don’t want it to be a job. I enjoy seeing the kids compete. I try to sell the goats to kids who will take care of them and work with them.”

Can someone spend an excessive amount for a show animal?

“You’d think so,” Galbreath said, “but the economy is good in the show business. I thought validations might be down for the county show, but we have as many as we’ve had in the past and maybe more. On the pig side, I know it’s more.”

He sold about 20 show goats this year.

“I don’t have as many does as I used to,” Galbreath said. “The older I get, the less work I do.”

He keeps track of what he sells.

“The kids let me know how they do,” Galbreath said. “A lot of them will be at the county show. Last year, I’d say 80 percent of mine made sale at the county show. We’ve had some in the top 10 at Fort Worth and other bigger shows.”

The population of the county has something to do with the popularity of junior livestock shows and jackpots.

“The county is growing, and there’s more participation,” Galbreath said.

For those who care to judge with their own eyes, a show goat looks like, well, a show goat.

“Big-boned legs, wide underneath, level top, tail sitting high, good extension on the neck,” Galbreath said. “They carry themselves like they think they’re show goats.”

To get a Boer cross show goat, you first have to breed for it. That’s almost a science in itself.

“I breed a Spanish nanny or Nubian nanny to a Boer buck,” Galbreath said. “You keep breeding until you get the [Boer] percentage up. I like my show goats about 90 percent.”

Galbreath has been part of the junior livestock show for more than 30 years. He’s been swine superintendent for 25 years. He used to raise show pigs. Had some beauties, too.

“Then the freeze of ’83 got me, along with losing all my help (children) to graduation,” he said. “I got out of the pig business. I had brush goats before I had Boer crosses. I evolutionized to this.”

Guard dogs save Namibian cheetahs 
 
The dogs grow up with the animals they guard
A scheme using dogs to protect sheep and goats from attack by wild animals in Namibia is proving so successful that it has been exported to Kenya.

With their livestock safe from attack, farmers no longer feel the need to hunt cheetahs and leopards.

"We have had amazing results," Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund told the BBC.

"Since the dogs were imported, the cheetah population had increased by a third," she said.

Anatolian Kangal dogs are extremely loyal and are ready to fight to the death.

The puppies are given to farmers when they are just eight weeks old.

  If the farmers are losing livestock they will track every predator down. But if there are no livestock loss then harmony is developed

Laurie Marker
They grow up with the flocks of goats and sheep they are to guard and bond with them.

If a predator approaches, the dogs bark loudly and the flock gathers round them.

This is enough to scare most attackers off, Ms Marker says.

The cheetah may go without a meal, but the result is that the farmers don't suffer losses and so they learn to live with the big cats, she says.

Instead of shooting leopard and cheetah or putting poison down to kill jackals, farmers will tolerate these predators.

The Conservation Trust began importing the Kangal from Turkey in 1994 and since then has provided around 300 dogs to farmers.

The dogs have a long history, having been bred specially to protect domestic animals.

Puppy

"Livestock loss has been reduced by over 80%," Ms Marker says.

 
Namibia's cheetah population has increased by a third.
"We have a huge waiting list and we are constantly trying to breed more dogs for the farmers."

Namibia now has around a quarter of the world's cheetah.

"Today we estimate the population at 3,000 - it is the world's most endangered big cat," says Ms Marker.

So successful has the programme been that it is being exported to Kenya's famous reserve, the Masai Mara.

The first puppy, Iseiya, has arrived safely.

The hope is that it will grow up with Kenya's goats and play the same role in protecting its flocks as they now do in Namibia.



 

MALAYSIAN DEMAND FOR GOATS CANNOT BE MET
The Australian lamb plants have been grateful for the demand for goat meat during the recent economic downturn, as the numbers going through the plants have avoided laying off staff, due to the shortage of sheep.

The goats are being flown fresh to Malaysia and the 10 to 14 kg carcass weight, goats have been making 110c/kg to 120c/kg, however Australia can only satisfy 60 pc of the demand.
Breeding stock for live shipping to Malaysia and the Philppines have been making 25 to 60 euros per head, delivered to the port of exit.

Malaysia intends to become self sufficient in goat meat by the year 2017.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the demand for goat meat has increased 250pc in the last 5 years.







 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
       
       
       
       
       
       
     

Going for the goat
By Jenny Slafkosky


for the Mercury News

Posted: 12/30/2008 05:00:00 PM PST


Click photo to enlarge
The goats at Star Creek Farm near Watsonville were originally acquired to clear... ( Linda Adams )«12»Related Stories
Goat meat — that's a harder sell in the American mainstream. Despite its popularity in a wide range of global cuisines, from Latin American to Southeast Asian to Middle Eastern, in the United States goat rarely shows up outside small, ethnic markets and restaurants.

But the American perception of goats as lovably quirky, tin-can-chewing dairy animals is beginning to change. Goat is gaining popularity in high-end restaurants across the Bay Area, including Palo Alto's Evvia Estiatorio, San Francisco's Aziza and Oakland's Oliveto. As the Bay Area's diverse food culture continues to grow and residents seek out locally produced food, goat is being brought to the forefront of culinary consciousness by farmers, chefs and home cooks.

"Goat is delicious," said Jim Wimborough, chef at Evvia and enthusiastic advocate of goat meat. "We're known for our lamb dishes here at Evvia, and I tell people I like the goat better. It's got a sweeter and, I think, a less gamy flavor than lamb."

At Evvia, which specializes in high-end Greek cuisine, Wimborough serves goat braised with pearl onions and artichokes or, his favorite way, roasted very simply on a rotisserie with olive oil, oregano and lemon juice.

Wimborough said goat outsells pork at his restaurant and credited Silicon Valley's diverse and adventurous eaters for the meat's popularity. While Evvia may be one of the few upscale restaurants in the area that serves goat,

it certainly isn't the only place in the Silicon Valley where goat has gained an audience.

At Birrieria Jalisco restaurant on San Jose's 13th Street, goat is featured so prominently that the establishment's sign sports a cheerful cartoon goat to beckon customers inside. Enedina Reyes has been cooking birria, a popular chile-spiked goat stew, at the restaurant for five years and has gained an enthusiastic following. The dish's rich, dark broth and tender meat are delicious with just a spoon, but birria aficionados wrap the succulent pieces of meat in house-made tortillas, garnish them with chopped onion, cilantro and lime, then dunk each bite into the bowl of flavorful broth.

Reyes said she uses the whole animal to make her birria, first steaming the meat "like tamales" for four to five hours over a low flame until it's extremely tender. While very young goat, or kid, can be cooked quickly with good results, low, slow cooking is the best bet for tender meat and maximum flavor development.

Sanjeeta Mishra, a Newark resident and avid home cook experienced with using goat in the kitchen, prefers a pressure cooker for the job.

"Goat meat takes time to cook, so we always pressure-cook it," she said. "It's easy to do and it will take less time. Goat requires elaborate preparation, so I plan ahead. We have to be careful when cooking this kind of meat because if you don't cook it well the smell can be strong, or the meat can be tough."

Mishra prefers fresh goat meat to frozen and likes to get her goat at Newark's Faisal Market, which sells goat, chicken, beef and lamb that is halal, adhering to Islamic dietary standards. While a variety of South Bay carnicerias, halal meat markets and Asian grocery stores sell goat meat, much of it is frozen and imported from Australia or New Zealand.

Faisal Market's owner Abdul Ghaffar Durrani says he also prefers fresh, local goat meat to the less expensive imported meat, but he sells both at his store. Durrani said he gets his fresh goat meat from Stockton-based Islamic Meat and Poultry Co., which buys from farms in and near the Bay Area.

At Evvia, Jim Wimborough's biggest frustration is trying to find enough high-quality, locally raised goat meat to feed his hungry clientele. His supplier, Napa Valley Lamb Co., can only provide so many goats, primarily because, Wimborough said, it's difficult to find a processing facility approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that wants to deal with goats. For many of them, it's not worth it to deal with the small amounts of livestock they get from goat farmers.

"I can get a cheaper lower-quality frozen goat from Australia, but it's not what we're trying to do," he said.

Linda Adams of Watsonville's Star Creek Ranch feels Wimborough's pain. A small producer of grass-fed lambs and goats, Adams struggled to find a USDA processing plant she felt good about that was also close enough to be economically feasible. The closest place she could find was Islamic Meat and Poultry, the distributor that supplies Faisal Market as well as a variety of restaurants across the Bay Area.

"I really want to sell it as locally as possible," Adams said of her meat. "I just think that's so important."

Star Creek Ranch didn't start raising goats for meat, but originally acquired them for a land improvement project. Ravenous, but picky, eaters, goats prefer diversity in their diet and can quickly clear an area of overgrown brush and invasive plants. Since the goats have lived at Star Creek, Adams said, there has been an increase in the growth of native perennial grasses and in the overall biological diversity of the land.

"Our whole intent of having animals was to improve the health of the land," she said. "Then we started realizing that the meat was really, really good and that people really enjoyed it, and now we have enough to share on a larger scale."

Beyond being pleasantly palatable, another major benefit Adams sees with her grass-fed goats and lambs is their nutritional value. According to the USDA, goat meat has 50 to 65 percent less fat than beef when the meats are prepared in a similar manner, and both have comparable protein content. Goats are ruminants, a class of mammals that can naturally digest a broad range of plants and grasses, and Adams believes their grazing habits may help improve their nutritional value to us.

"They get to eat a lot of perennial plants that have deep roots, so they get a lot of minerals that they wouldn't get if they were eating an annual crop like alfalfa that's cut all the time," she said.

Adams said that grass-fed goats also have a higher percentage of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids in their meat than grain-fed goats do. "I think that's one of the biggest arguments for grass-fed, besides that it's sustainable," she said.

Growing Demand for Goat Meat  (Canada)
 
Saskatchewan's goat industry is getting stronger, as immigrants move into the province from traditional goat meat-eating countries. "Believe it or not there is more goat meat in the world than there is beef", says Ernie Penny, a goat farmer from Moose Jaw.

Penny tells us more people are getting involved in the industry, and there are already a few large goat producers. "There's a few producers that have 200 or 300 animal herds. There is one producer I talked to that  has 1000 head. They are easier animals to raise than cattle because you do not need the facilities that you need for cattle". Since goats are typically easier to raise than cattle, more producers are adding them to their operations.

Penny does have some advice for farmers looking at getting into goat production. "Do not start big. Get yourself a small, select herd and work with your animals, learn the ins and outs of how they operate". Penny stresses that farmers should also have good penning, to prevent goats from leaving the farm by opening gates.

Mikey  thank you for the posts and keeping the forum full of info...

New old-fashioned drug makers: goats
A herd has been genetically engineered to make a human protein in their milk that can prevent dangerous blood clots. If the drug is approved by the FDA, the barn door could swing open.
By Karen Kaplan
January 10, 2009
They have four legs, fuzzy faces and udders full of milk.

To the uninitiated, they look like dairy goats. To GTC Biotherapeutics Inc., they're cutting-edge drug-making machines.


 
 From milk to drugsThe goats being raised on a farm in central Massachusetts are genetically engineered to make a human protein in their milk that prevents dangerous blood clots from forming. The company extracts the protein and turns it into a medicine that fights strokes, pulmonary embolisms and other life-threatening conditions.

GTC has asked the Food and Drug Administration to OK the drug, called ATryn. An expert panel voted overwhelmingly Friday that it is safe and effective, putting it on the verge of becoming the first drug from a genetically engineered animal to be approved in the U.S. The agency is expected to make a final decision in early February.

If approved, the drug would be followed by perhaps hundreds of others made from milk produced by genetically engineered goats, cows, rabbits and other animals. Other products in the pipeline are designed to treat people with hemophilia, severe respiratory disease and debilitating swollen tissues.


"As soon as we were able to make genetically engineered animals, this was an obvious thing to do," said James Murray, a geneticist and professor of animal science at UC Davis. "It's totally cut-and-paste. This is kindergarten stuff with molecular scissors."

The biotechnology industry is rooting for ATryn. The FDA's endorsement would signal to Americans that they have nothing to fear from the futuristic technology -- and suggest that the millions of dollars they've invested in the technology could soon begin to pay off.

If the drug is approved, "it takes a big question mark off the table in terms of products that are developed from this technology," said Samir Singh, president of U.S. operations for Pharming Group, which is developing medicines using milk from genetically engineered cows and rabbits.

The public has had misgivings about eating food from genetically modified animals, and some vocal critics of such technology say the wariness could extend to medicines.

"I think many people are going to have the same revulsion," said Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, a Washington advocacy group that opposes genetic manipulation of food and animals.

For scientists, the appeal is obvious. Many drugs are now synthesized in bioreactors by bacteria or Chinese hamster ovary cells, and they require extensive processing to be suitable for human use. Genetically engineering animals is a more straightforward alternative for producing proteins, which form the basis of all biological drugs.

"We're taking advantage of the fact that the mammary gland was designed by nature to make proteins," said Tom Newberry, GTC's vice president for government relations.

The process of designing animal milk with human proteins starts by identifying the human gene containing instructions for making a medically useful protein. That human DNA sequence is combined with pieces of animal DNA that regulate when and where the protein is produced. Those regulatory controls ensure that the human gene is only switched on in the mammary gland during lactation and doesn't interfere with any other part of the animal's body.

The DNA package can be injected into a single-cell animal embryo with a microscopic needle, though it's a hit-or-miss proposition. When the embryo divides, it may or may not incorporate the foreign DNA into its own genome. The embryo is then transferred to the uterus of a surrogate mother, with a 1% to 3% chance that it will result in a healthy animal containing the human gene.

A more advanced alternative is to start with a normal animal cell and splice the DNA package directly into the cell nucleus. The modified cell can be cloned to create a new animal that expresses a human gene. With three to five founder animals, a company could use traditional breeding methods to create an entire herd of genetically engineered cows, sheep or goats.

"Something like five or six cows can produce the world's requirement for some drugs," said Murray of UC Davis. Demand for most drugs could be met with herds no bigger than 50 cows or 100 goats, he said.

Companies separate the components of engineered animals' milk based on their size, shape, electrical charge and other chemical characteristics. The process ultimately leads to vials of pure protein that carry out specific functions in the human body.

The species of animal depends in part on the volume of protein needed or how quickly it needs to be produced.

The companies say it's cheaper to create the animals than to build and maintain expensive bioreactors. The technique could make it cost-effective for companies to develop drugs to treat diseases that affect relatively few patients.

To make ATryn, GTC used the microinjection technique to insert the human gene for antithrombin alfa into goat embryos. The protein is essential for preventing blood clots, but about 1 in 3,000 to 5,000 people are born with a genetic defect that prevents them from making enough of it.

Lamb drives New Zealand farm exports
[14 January 2009] New Zealand lamb exports to Asia have grown by 28% reported the Meat Industry Association (MIA) and Meat and Wool New Zealand. Lamb exports are well placed to capitalise on global demand for quality food. MIA Chairman Bill Falconer says current sales returns from lamb are well up on those 12 months ago. Exports to Asia were mainly racks and forequarters.
 
 
 

Innovation for Nigerian Cassava and Goat Industries - PART 3 of 5 
By Darren Taylor
Washington
13 January 2009
 

A Nigerian academic has gained international recognition for a project that’s set to create a new market in his home country. Dr. Kolawole Adebayo’s initiative transforms cassava waste into fodder for goats, with benefits for both farmers and goat keepers. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava, which is indispensable to West African diets. Up until now, farmers simply burned the chaff from the crop, resulting in little benefit to anyone, and damaging people’s health and the environment with harmful smoke. The World Bank says Adebayo’s innovation could alleviate poverty in one of the world’s most underdeveloped areas.

 
Dr. Kolawole Adebayo, the man behind the unique project
 
“West Africans would be lost without cassava!” exclaims Kolawole Adebayo, who’s a senior lecturer in agriculture and rural development at the University of Agriculture at Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State in southwestern Nigeria.

The crop is grown in 21 of the country’s 36 states and throughout West Africa’s tropical belt and is the region’s staple food. Nigeria alone produces more than 40 million metric tons of cassava annually, ensuring that it’s the world’s leading provider of cassava.

Adebayo says over 90 percent of Nigeria’s cassava output is processed and eaten locally.

 
Cassava tubers awaiting processing in Nigeria
 
“The consumed part of cassava is the root, which is a starchy root; it looks like potato,” he explains. “The root is very high in carbohydrates – in fact it’s more than 95 percent carbohydrate.”

Because of this starchiness, cassava – after a long period of boiling to soften it – is used to make a variety of extremely filling meals. These include a mash known as garri, and a thick porridge called fufu. The concoctions are mostly eaten as accompaniments to meat or soup dishes.

Adebayo explains, “In the poor areas of West Africa, there’s often very little meat available, because it’s expensive. The cassava porridge is used to make the meal last longer and to make sure that bellies are filled.”

Cassava is sometimes also fried up into chips, and ground into flour.

“This crop keeps West Africa alive,” says Adebayo.

“Out of the blue”

There are, however, significant drawbacks to Nigeria’s massive cassava output.

“Because Nigeria is the largest producer and consumer of cassava in the world, there’s a lot of waste in the form of cassava peels that [are] generated,” Adebayo says. “For instance, if you uproot one ton of cassava root, the amount of cassava peel and chaff that’s going to be thrown away as waste will be about 30 percent of that. That’s about 300 kilograms for each ton of cassava root at the stage for processing. It leads to a big, big mess.”

 
Converting dried cassava waste into goat food benefits processors, goat keepers and the environment 
In West Africa, he adds, cassava waste has always been considered an “inconvenience,” rather than a potential resource.

“In many centers where cassava processing is done, this waste is essentially thrown into a dump. Most of the time, if the dump gets large enough, they set fire (to) it and that emits carbon dioxide and other forms of pollution in the atmosphere.”

The agriculturalist recalls the day when, “out of the blue,” he was struck with a “wonderful idea” for a solution to the various disadvantages associated with cassava production.

“I was watching goats at a dump. They were eating the cassava peels that had dried in the sun. They were eating in a way that showed they loved the cassava waste,” Adebayo tells VOA. “And then suddenly I thought, wait a minute: suppose we use the cassava formally as animal feed! The idea (behind) this project is, supposing we now consciously take the cassava peel and chaff, dry it, and package it in such a way that we can then sell to the owners of the goats for feeding their goats.”

He then began thinking about ways in which the cassava waste could be dried.

“I came up with the simplest and cheapest method: Being in the tropics, what comes to mind readily is the sun, to use the light and warmth of the sun to dry the cassava.”

Sun-dried cassava = fatter goats and happier farmers

Adebayo’s now encouraging the farmers to build “drying platforms made of concrete” on their lands.

“These can be built (cheaply) by local masons. The cassava peels can then be spread on these to dry out in the sun,” he adds.

Adebayo explains that once it’s dry, the cassava chaff can be stored for a “long period of time, up to six months. It can then be sold in the local markets to goat keepers” who he plans to educate about the benefits of feeding the cassava peels to their goats “as a supplement.”

He’s convinced that both the goat keepers and the cassava farmers of Ogun State will embrace his idea “wholeheartedly,” and the World Bank agrees.

 
Juergen Voegele, World Bank Director of Agriculture has praised Dr. Adebayo's initiative
 
“This is an excellent project, with wonderful potential; it is simple and appears feasible,” says Juergen Voegele, head of agriculture at the organization. “We really think it has growth potential, with a chance of spreading throughout the region.”

Adebayo adds, “If within the life of this project, which is two years, cassava processors and goat keepers start getting used to drying the cassava and its value as a tradable commodity and using it to feed their animals, there will be spontaneous diffusion of these concepts among neighboring communities. The success will spread by word of mouth.”

He says his colleagues at the Abeokuta University have completed a study that “shows that if the goats are fed with this supplementary cassava diet, high in starch, they are likely to gain weight much faster than if they are left to roam about freely. Fatter, healthier goats equates to more money for the goat keepers.”

New market

If applied successfully in Ogun State, where cassava production leads the economy, 200,000 farming families who cultivate land, engage in primary food processing and keep livestock in mixed farming systems will benefit from Adebayo’s project, says the World Bank.

“Ogun State is the largest producer of cassava in Nigeria…. Thousands of people grow cassava here, so this project could potentially benefit millions of people who depend on the cassava growers for food and income,” Adebayo says.

He explains that Ogun State is divided into four agricultural zones, and he plans to identify three suitable locations within a “local government area” in each of the zones where the project will be implemented.

“We’ll create a whole new market, with 12 processing centers,” Adebayo enthuses. He says his project will link 3,600 cassava growers and 600 goat-keepers, and increase farming incomes by about $300 per year – a substantial amount for people in such an impoverished region.

“We have a lot of very small cassava processors in Nigeria, who earn between $190 and $300 a month. Then we also have some very large cassava processors, who earn up to $3,000 a month - but there are only a few of them. Generally, the cassava growers are women, and they’re very poor,” Adebayo says. “(They) use small-scale technology for everything, whether harvesting or grating or preparing the cassava for consumption. They cater to very specific, very small markets.”

Project will “eliminate fights”

Adebayo says the goat keepers in Ogun State are generally also very small-scale, keeping only between five and 35 goats each.

 
Goats roam freely to feed throughout West Africa, often resulting in conflict in communities
 
“Mainly the practice is that they leave these goats to wander around free-range, and to feed on locally available grasses as their main forage.”

This, he says, often results in tension and “open conflict” between goat keepers, farmers and members of local communities.

“…. Goats are very naughty animals,” Adebayo comments, “they go into people’s farms; they go into people’s houses and mess up a lot of things.”

He says his project will hopefully “eliminate fights” in local communities as a result of the “bad behavior” of goats.

“By having the supplementary feeding, it’s our hope that there’ll be fewer goats wandering around causing trouble, because they’ll be fed in enclosures with the dried cassava.”

Adebayo’s initiative will also benefit goat-keepers who are threatened by dwindling access to forage for their animals.

“There’s also the problem of growing urbanization. Many of the areas where goat forage used to be available, are disappearing. Homes and villages are being built on this land where the goats used to feed. This means that to keep the level of goat keeping at the current level or to have more, there is a need for supplementary feeding in an area where so much cassava waste is available….”

Voegele says it’s initiatives such as Adebayo’s that give him hope that Africa is successfully confronting the many challenges facing the continent’s agricultural sectors.

Science 
Written by Karen Kaplan / Los Angeles Times     
Sunday, 18 January 2009 17:56 


They have four legs, fuzzy faces and udders full of milk.

            To the uninitiated, they look like dairy goats. To GTC Biotherapeutics Inc., they’re cutting-edge drug-making machines.

            The goats being raised on a farm in central Massachusetts are genetically engineered to make a human protein in their milk that prevents dangerous blood clots from forming. The company extracts the protein and turns it into a medicine that fights strokes, pulmonary embolisms and other life-threatening conditions.

            GTC has asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to OK the drug, called ATryn. An expert panel voted overwhelmingly on Friday that it is safe and effective, putting it on the verge of becoming the first drug from a genetically engineered animal to be approved in the United States. The agency is expected to make a final decision in early February.

            If approved, the drug would be followed by perhaps hundreds of others made from milk produced by genetically engineered goats, cows, rabbits and other animals. Other products in the pipeline are designed to treat people with hemophilia, severe respiratory disease and debilitating swollen tissues.

            “As soon as we were able to make genetically engineered animals, this was an obvious thing to do,” said James Murray, a geneticist and professor of animal science at the University of California, Davis. “It’s totally cut and paste. This is kindergarten stuff with molecular scissors.”

            The biotechnology industry is rooting for ATryn. The FDA’s endorsement would signal to Americans that they have nothing to fear from the futuristic technology—and suggest that the millions of dollars they’ve invested in the technology could soon begin to pay off.

            If the drug is approved, “it takes a big question mark off the table in terms of products that are developed from this technology,” said Samir Singh, president of US operations for Pharming Group, which is developing medicines using milk from genetically engineered cows and rabbits.

            The public has had misgivings about eating food from genetically modified animals, and some vocal critics of such technology say the wariness could extend to medicines.

            “I think many people are going to have the same revulsion,” said Jaydee Hanson, a policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., that opposed genetic manipulation of food and animals.

            For scientists, the appeal is obvious. Many drugs are now synthesized in bioreactors by bacteria or Chinese hamster ovary cells, and they require extensive processing to be suitable for human use. Genetically engineering animals is a more straightforward alternative for producing proteins, which form the basis of all biological drugs.

            “We’re taking advantage of the fact that the mammary gland was designed by nature to make proteins,” said Tom Newberry, GTC’s vice president for government relations.

            The process of designing animal milk with human proteins starts by identifying the human gene containing instructions for making a medically useful protein. That human DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid, sequence is combined with pieces of animal DNA that regulate when and where the protein is produced. Those regulatory controls ensure that the human gene is only switched on in the mammary gland during lactation and doesn’t interfere with any other part of the animal’s body.

            The DNA package can be injected into a single-cell animal embryo with a microscopic needle, though it’s a hit-or-miss proposition. When the embryo divides, it may or may not incorporate the foreign DNA into its own genome. The embryo is then transferred to the womb of a surrogate mother, with a 1 percent to 3 percent chance that it will result in a healthy animal containing the human gene.

            A more advanced alternative is to start with a normal animal cell and splice the DNA package directly into the cell nucleus. The modified cell can be cloned to create a new animal that expresses a human gene.

            With three to five founder animals, a company could use traditional breeding methods to create an entire herd of genetically engineered cows, sheep or goats.

            “Something like five or six cows can produce the world’s requirement for some drugs,” Murray said. Demand for most drugs could be met with herds no bigger than 50 cows or 100 goats, he said.

            Companies separate the components of engineered animals’ milk based on their size, shape, electrical charge and other chemical characteristics. The process ultimately leads to vials of pure protein that carry out specific functions in the human body.

            The species of animal used depends in part on the volume of protein needed or how quickly it needs to be produced.

            The companies say it’s cheaper to create the animals than to build and maintain expensive bioreactors. The technique could make it cost-effective for companies to develop drugs to treat diseases that affect relatively few patients.

            To make ATryn, GTC used the microinjection technique to insert the human gene for antithrombin alfa into goat embryos. The protein is essential for preventing blood clots, but about one in every 3,000 to 5,000 people is born with a genetic defect that prevents them from making enough of it.

            Most of the time, patients are treated with standard blood thinners like warfarin, which can be dangerous if people are undergoing surgery or childbirth. In those situations, patients are treated with antithrombin protein extracted from human-blood plasma.

            But the supply is limited. If all the plasma donated in the US each year were used to make antithrombin, the most that could be produced is about 100 kilograms.

            “We can match that with 150 goats,“ Newberry said.

            GTC plans to expand the use of the protein beyond patients with the genetic defect to include people who have a short-term deficiency due to burns or other traumatic injuries, he said.

            The European Commission approved ATryn for use there in 2006.

            The company’s scientists have made more than 100 proteins in the milk of genetically engineered animals, Newberry said. The company is considering clinical trials for factor VIIa and factor IX proteins to treat hemophilia, along with alpha-1 antitrypsin to treat severe respiratory problems, he said.

            Pharming, based in the Netherlands, plans to seek US and European approval this year for Rhucin, made from a human protein purified from the milk of genetically engineered rabbits. The protein, C1 esterase inhibitor, helps control inflammation, and patients with hereditary angioedema have a genetic mutation that prevents their bodies from making enough of it. The result can be severe swelling, abdominal pain and airway obstruction.

            Pharming is focusing on cows to make other proteins in larger quantities. The company is working with the US Army on cow milk containing human fibrinogen, a protein that helps blood to clot, Singh said.

            Other companies are using genetic engineering to make milk with proteins for vaccines, a class of cancer drugs called monoclonal antibodies, and nutritional supplements.

            Regulators will have their work cut out for them as they try to anticipate all the potential risks posed by genetically engineered animals and the medicines they produce, said Greg Jaffe, biotechnology director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer-advocacy group in Washington, D.C. Hanson, of the Center for Food Safety, said he fears animals created through genetic engineering and cloning are inherently unhealthy due to the unnatural circumstances of their birth, despite FDA assessments that the animals are fine.

            “We don’t want a herd of sick animals being our source of a new biological drug,“ he said.

            At the meeting on Friday, FDA biotechnology adviser Larisa Rudenko said the agency’s Center for Veterinary Medicine found that GTC’s goats were treated very well and posed no environmental risks.

            Those assurances won’t satisfy everyone, said Todd  Winters, professor of animal physiology and biotechnology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. But he said people should not let fear stand in the way of potential cures.

            “You’ve got to weigh whether you’re going to save a life or not,” he said.

 

 

FERAL GOATS.
There are more than 400,000’ wild goats roaming free in the state of South Australia, which have had a large impact on the drought of last year, competing for food with the sheep flock.

The closure of the goat abattoir in Wakerie last year, has made the problem worse.

The abattoir that had been in operation since 1910, was closed by the local council for pollution problems and the AU$20 million per year, it generated to the local economy is gone. The problem with the feral goats has increased since the closure.

This crisis gives an idea of what would happen. if the likes of fanatical vegetarians like Paul McCartney had their way turning all animals loose, especially when they lost their teeth at 6/7 years how would they eat, maybe the animal rights people have a plan for broken mouth sheep and cattle.

Goat slump puts further pressure on producers

Tuesday, 20/01/2009

Falling prices, and a lack of international orders has forced goat abattoirs in Western Australia to scale back their operations.

Processors says the price for premium goat has fallen by around forty per cent in the last six months, and major markets in Taiwan and the Caribbean can't find cash to underwrite future orders.

Many pastoralists rely on mustering and trapping feral goats to generate their income, but with processors unable to take further orders, the mustering teams will be stood down.

Callum Carruth from Murchison House Station, around five hundred kilometres north of Perth says the slump couldn't come at a worse time.

"We've had two years of severe drought where we haven't been able to sell many goats because they've been in too poor a condition," he says.

"We've finally had a decent season and the goats are fat and the market's dried up - we're not exactly sure where we're going to go at the moment."

Kenyans slaughter bulls, goats for Obama feasts
By KATHARINE HOURELD – 9 hours ago

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Bulls and goats were slaughtered for feasts, dancers put on traditional costumes and giant movie screens were erected so everyone could see events a continent away.

Across Kenya, neighbors divided by political violence only a year ago came together Tuesday to celebrate the U.S. presidential inauguration of Kenya's favorite son, Barack Obama.

Dr. Joseph Osoo, who runs a clinic in one of Kenya's biggest slums, recalled that at this time last year, he was stitching up machete wounds inflicted by rival party members in rioting that followed Kenya's disputed election.

"Our election in Kenya really had problems with ethnicity," he said as he shopped for meat for an Obama feast. "America has shown that this doesn't have to be that big problem ... democracy can work."

The election of a black American president stands as a powerful symbol of unity on this continent, where many countries are still riven between competing ethnic groups and the older generations vividly remember the injustices of colonialism.

This struggling country of 38 million is immensely proud to boast the birthplace of Obama's father, and the enthusiasm Kenyans feel for America's new president unites people from different ethnic groups.

Teachers hold up Obama as a role model to their students and advertisers plaster his face across everything from phones to beer.

For some, the inauguration was a chance to make a little extra cash. One in five Kenyans struggle to get by on less than a dollar a day.

Denis Mwangi, a 21-year-old business student, sold 50 Obama T-shirts on Monday, more than he usually sells in a weekend.

"Obama should inspire people to be better and stop judging people according to their ethnicity," he said.

Bulls and goats were slaughtered Tuesday in the village of Kogelo in western Kenya, where many of Obama's Kenyan relatives live. Around 5,000 people congregated at a local primary school to celebrate. Women dressed in colorful printed cloths performed traditional dances at dawn Tuesday to the rhythms of cowhide drums.

Since Obama was elected, the road to the village has been tarred and the government has extended electricity and water. Local youths hope Obama will bring factories for them to work in.

Samuel Omondi said if Obama could bring such changes, he was welcome to take over from his own country's scandal-wracked government.

"I hope Kenya to be one of the American states," the 33-year-old Kogelo resident said.

Associated Press Writers Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya and Abisalom Omolo in Kogelo, Kenya contributed to this report.

New tag scheme for sheep, goats
22/01/2009 12:23:00 PM
Changes to the National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) for sheep and goats came into effect on January 1.
Previously sheep or goats born before January 1 2006 or sold over the hook were exempt from the scheme.

Central West Livestock Health and Pest Authority district vet Katharine Marsh said this was no longer the case.

“All sheep and goats now need to be NLIS tagged, despite their age, before leaving their property of birth,” Ms Marsh said.

“However, there are two exemptions - feral goats going to slaughter, or via a depo, and dairy goats moving between properties or to show.”

Livestock Health and Pest Authorities State Management Council animal health manager, Stephen Ottaway, said sheep and goats must be tagged for any purpose.

“This includes sheep and goats being moved to a saleyard, abattoir, show, between properties, to Travelling Stock Reserves or roads and for live export,” Mr Ottaway said.

“The new regulations are designed to ensure easier and more reliable tracing of stock because it is starting to become mandatory in some countries we export to,” Ms Marsh said.

Ms Marsh said most producers were finding the changes easy after tagging their young sheep.

“The producers have known about the changes for three years, so they are generally accepting it.”

Livestock Health and Pest Authorities are also pushing to improve the recording of stock movements on National Vendor Declarations (NVDs).

“In particular producers must accurately record all the Property Identification Code (PIC) numbers of stock being sold,” Mr Ottaway said.

“If you did not breed the stock you are about to sell then it’s vital you include all the PIC numbers found on the tags of the sheep or lambs for sale in the NVD description box or apply pink post-breeder ear tags.”

“While there is ongoing debate about the need to introduce mandatory transaction tags for each new owner of stock, producers are urged to fill out their paperwork carefully to ensure both they and the industry are protected.”

HILO, Hawaii -- The state is boosting its efforts to hunt feral sheep and goats on Mauna Kea to protect the habitat of the endangered palila honeycreeper.

The state hires a shooter to fire at the sheep and goats from a helicopter.

The first of four planned aerial hunts this year is set for Thursday and Friday. 

The state had been hunting them twice annually, but decided to boost the frequency of the hunts out of concern the sheep and goat populations were growing.

The state expects to remove 200 to 300 animals this week.

The carcasses will be taken to three designated Big Island sites where people may claim them for food.

Palila live in Mauna Kea's dry upland forests. The state is under a federal court order to remove sheep and goats from their habitat.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material

Goat Held Over Robbery
6:12pm UK, Monday January 26, 2009

Nigerian police are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery - amid claims it used black magic to morf from a human to escape justice.

 
Nigerian Police are holding the goat while they complete inquiries



Vigilantes took the animal to police, claiming it had been a person trying to steal a Mazda 323.

"The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car," Kwara state police spokesman Tunde Mohammed said.

"They pursued them. However one of them escaped while the other turned into a goat.

"We cannot confirm the story, but the goat is in our custody."

He went on: "We cannot base our information on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat."

Belief in witchcraft is widespread in parts of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation.

People have been flocking to the police station to see the goat, photographed in one national newspaper on its knees next to a pile of straw.

Goat charged for robbery?

 
The Jamaican police has over the years, been criticized for being corrupt and ineffective.

They have been accused of murdering innocent civilians and jailing the wrong people who end up spending years in prison primarily on the back of weak and prejudiced investigations; and generally, many in this nation believe the Jamaican police could not catch a criminal even if he was living in front of a police station.


Arrested a goat

Well, I say thank God for small mercies because it could have been worse. Compared to the police in some parts of the world, our cops look like geniuses. Take the police in Kiwara State in Nigeria, for example, who this week arrested a goat on a charge of attempting to steal a Mazda 323.

I kid you not.

The goat, they believe, is actually a man who transformed; morphed into a goat in a bid to escape the long arm of the law. Google it if you doubt my words.

Reports coming out of Kiwara state said some vigilantes saw some men attempting to steal a car. As the vigilantes pursued the suspects, one of the men fled while the other turned into a goat. At least, that is what the police are reporting.


In custody

The police spokesman's statement is what cracks me up. "We cannot confirm the story, but we have the goat in custody," he said. "We cannot base our information on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat."

If I was reporting on that story I would have asked him then and there just how he and the police planned to prove that a human can turn into a goat. It's mind-numbing that in this day and age these things can actually happen.


Straight face

Can you imagine Renato Adams or better yet, Rear Admiral Hardly Lewin trying to sell this story to local media? Colonel MacMillan would have just fallen dead right then and there.

And even if they were successful, can you imagine Dorraine Samuels or Kerlyn Brown reading this on the nightly news with a straight face? I don't even think any reporter here would file such a story, even if it was true. Well... some would.

The thing is, I don't think it would even have come to that. If such a thing was even possible - a man turning into a goat - can you imagine how many police stations would have curried goat on their menu every day?


Idiocy

What is scarier still is if our local police could get away with this kind of idiocy, can you imagine how many goats would currently be incarcerated inside the Tower Street and Spanish Town facilities?

Come to think of it, with the state of crime right now if the Government could get away with it, they wouldn't mind too much if the police were arresting goats believed to be criminals with extraordinary powers. It would certainly be cheaper to feed them. Grass grows everywhere.


Ridiculous

And while I am on the subject of idiocy, what is all the hullabaloo over Prime Minister Golding getting a new car? It's just bloody ridiculous. The man is the prime minister for God's sake. Is he supposed to drive around in a broke-down 12-year-old Volvo, just because some people think with their butts and believe that he shouldn't be acquiring a new vehicle or choose instead to drive around in a Toyota Corolla?

Who I blame for this is the previous administration. They were the ones who got more than 30 brand new BMWs at the end of the ICC World Cup of Cricket two years ago and for some inexplicable reason did not retain one for the Prime Minister. That is how short-sighted they were, or blinded by greed; or both.


Send comments to shearer39@gmail.com

Better deal for goatsGILL VOWLES

February 01, 2009 02:00am

ANNA Shepheard believes goats, not dogs, are man's best friend.

And the 20-year-old North-West goat breeder is so tired of seeing how her best friends are treated she has started a campaign, You Wouldn't Do It To A Dog, in a bid to gain more respect for her favourite animals.

"Too many people think goats are smelly or stupid," said Ms Shepheard, of Moriarty.

"In fact they are just as smart, loyal and caring as a dog.

"They all have individual personalities and like a dog they pick up on your feelings and react accordingly.

"Yet still people think they are just four-legged lawnmowers who can be tethered on the side of the road and live on grass."

Ms Shepheard has designed and produced a poster to spread her message.

She said she wanted people to understand that, just like dogs, goats needed food, shelter, water and - most important of all - a life.

"Goats are herd animals and need at least one companion," she said.

"They also need exercise and stimulation, just like a dog.

"Keeping a single goat is the height of cruelty as they suffer incredible loneliness but you see it happening everywhere."

Ms Shepheard said one of the most common, yet little known, uses for goats was as companions for racehorses.

"The horse and the goat form such a deep relationship that generally the horse won't race unless their goat is near," she said.

There is not much Ms Shepheard would not do for her own goats - including sleeping with them.

"Although that only happened once," she said.

"We have to take the kids to raise at birth because the mothers aren't good at looking after them.

"Usually I put the babies in a cardboard box in my bedroom but one triplet wouldn't stop crying so I took her into bed with me, then she was fine.

"When it's cold my little babies wear pyjamas at night and I have made them little gingham dresses - but only to wear at shows as a way of making them more appealing to children and teaching them to love them."

Ms Shepheard cannot remember ever being without goats.

"My father, Lionel, started our anglo-nubian stud the year I was born so I've grown up with them," she said.

Ms Shepheard, who recently became the junior state co-ordinator of the Dairy Goat Society of Australia, now hopes her campaign will go national.

Zambian Scientists Help Small Farmers with Improved Livestock 
By Sanday Kabange Chongo
Lusaka, Zambia
02 February 2009
 


In southern Zambia, the threat of a deepening international recession has inspired a team of researchers, scientists and farmers to come up with improved livestock to help uplift the livelihoods of small holder farmers. From the town of Choma, VOA Reporter Sanday Chongo Kabange highlights the improvements being made to indigenous Zambian chickens and goats.

The Choma-based Batoka Livestock Development Center is breeding high-producing imported cows and goats to breed with local varieties that are resistant to disease and high temperatures. The foreign goats and cows will come from South Africa and other countries within the Southern Africa Development Community – SADC. Results from the research will be shared with other countries in the region.

 
David Mubita
David Mubita is Farm Manager for the Batoka Livestock Development Center, an extension unit of Golden Valley Agriculture Research Trust. The center is supported by the Zambian government and donor agencies like the Swedish Development Agency.

"The types of goats we keep around are dwarfs," explains Mutiba, "almost the size of cocks. So what we have done is to import some improved goats from down South (South Africa) where they share a similar environment with Zambia. These, called Boer Goats, are much heavier than the local goats. By bringing these in, the idea is that the males are produced and given to farmers for cross breeding with local goats."

Mutiba says the Batoka Livestock Development Centre plans to sell farmers 300 cross-bred and pregnant heifers. The effort includes mating improved milk producers with tough local cattle that do well in tropical climates.

 
South African Boer goats are high milk producers
 
Says Mutiba: "Let’s produce the right type of animal (cow) for these small scale farmers. By the right type of animal they [mean cross breeding domestic and foreign cows]: [the foreign ones] are high producers (of milk) but only under very good conditions and improved management. The local (indigenous) animal is a low producer but survives under harsh conditions (non-tropical). So if you cross the two then you get the productivity of that exotic animal and the hardiness of that indigenous animal… an animal that can produce reasonably well under harsh conditions."


 
Zambian Farmers Shows Off His Hei

The Center is also working to produce tastier poultry.

"We are trying to develop a local chicken [that are more tender]," says Mutiba. "What makes them (local chickens) so tough is the search for food. So we (want to) give [our local chickens is] an environment where food is provided for them and let’s see what happens."

Assistant Farm Manager and lead researcher Bernard Muntanga elaborates on what the chickens will be fed.


"[Regarding] the texture of the meat," he says, "we want to make it so soft so that people can enjoy it [without] running to GMO (genetically modified organisms). What we are doing is feeding these (local) chickens on high protein legumes which they are eating to improve their build up."


He says chickens fed on protein-rich legumes grow as fat, and as quickly, as those fed on (GMO) grains.

Other than conducting research on poultry and livestock, the Batoka Livestock Development Centre has partnered with a local anti-AIDS group known as Kara Counseling.Together, they are helping 20 people affected by HIV / AIDS by providing them with chickens produced at the centre that are improved, and easy to care for.

The centre has also availed improved heifers to some widows.The women must agree to pass on young calves to other widows after the cows have given birth.

So far, thousands of Zambian small holder farmers, people living with HIV, widows and orphans have benefited.Officials from the research center say they plan to spread this project to the rest of the country by the end of 2009.

Extinct Goat Cloned --
Briefly
Last Edited: Monday, 02 Feb 2009, 6:46 PM EST
Created On: Monday, 02 Feb 2009, 6:42 PM EST

By ANTHONY BARTKEWICZ, MyFox National
- Scientists in Spain performed the first successful cloning of an extinct mammal, but the newborn animal died shortly after it was born.

Plans to clone the ibex, a rare species of mountain goat native to Spain, began in 1999 when the animal was close to extinction . Scientists took a tissue sample from the last surviving ibex before it was killed by a falling tree in 2000 and the species was declared to be extinct.

The UK's Telegraph reports that the scientists replaced the genetic material in eggs from common goats with DNA taken from those tissue samples to create 439 ibex embryos. 57 of the embryos were implanted into surrogate female goats, 7 of the embryos resulted in pregnancies, and just one gave birth to a "genetically identical" ibex. The cloned ibex survived for 7 minutes before dying from lung complications.

Despite the cloned ibex's brief life, the experiment has given scientists hope for future cloning of extinct animals. "Clearly there is some way to go before it can be used effectively, but the advances in this field are such that we will see more and more solutions to the problems faced," said Professor Robert Miller, director the Medical Research Council's Reproductive Sciences Unit at Edinburgh University in a report on Red Orbit .

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Feral goat success at Murrami
Lindsay Hayes

February 4, 2009
BACKGROUNDING feral goats is more than just a way of making a quick buck for Maurice and Kim Walsh.

It is proving a successful addition to their southern NSW broadacre cropping and prime cattle enterprise.

The couple, who farm several properties as one at Murrami, near Griffith, NSW, switched to goats from sheep five years ago.

Maurice said the plentiful supply of stock on Western Division properties and the steady consumer demand for goat meat indicated a bright future for the industry.

"I'm mainly targeting the domestic market. There is a big demand for goat meat from the ethnic population of Australia," he said.

"I'd had enough of sheep. Goats are easy-care maintenance in comparison. You're not chasing flies and they don't need shearing."

"There is not the capital involved as there is with sheep and you're getting a similar return."

Maurice said he buys the goats for about $10 a head and sells them for $40 three months later.

"There are thousands running wild on the big stations and the owners want to get rid of them," he said.

"They yard the goats and I go and look at them, buy what I want and get a stock carrier to bring them here."

Maurice sells the goats for $1.20/kg and said as long as the buy-in price remained reasonable, goats were a viable proposition for him.

Another 600 kids and young goats arrived this month, taking his total numbers to 1500 head.

The goats are processed by abattoirs in NSW and Victoria.

"I only buy them marked, so there are no bucks," he said.

"We don't do any breeding here, were a backgrounding operation only."

Maurice said the only farm preparation required for the goats was modifying the sheep yards.

He gave wry grin when asked about fencing.

"Fences don't mean anything to goats - they'll find a way through." Maurice said.

"We are fortunate in having the irrigation channel on one boundary, which stops them."

Maurice sees no danger of an over-supply of goat meat, at least not from his district.

"I'm the only one around here silly enough to have goats," he said.

Besides benefiting from their returns, Maurice enjoys the animals.

"They're intelligent and I quite like them," he said.

The goats, which have just come off wheat stubble, are not receiving supplementary feed.

After the winter crops have been sown and harvested the goats will go back on the stubble.

Elsewhere on the farm, the main income-earners - 120 mixed-breed cattle - rest in the shade of part of a tea-tree woodland, which Maurice fenced 10 years ago to establish a feedlot alongside cattle yards.

The woodland extends up a hill which has been left to regenerate.

The property has its own feed mill, comprising a grain and hay mixer and a canola oilseed extractor.

"We mix up four tonnes of hay and grain at a time. Canola meal is added and micro-nutrients, bought from Melbourne," Maurice said.

"We sell the cattle direct to the killing floor at Rockdale, Cargill and other abattoirs depending on the best price."

The property turns off as many as 1000 prime cattle annually.

After the existing mob is sold, and before the replacement cattle arrive, Maurice will collect the manure from the feedlot and recycle it as natural fertiliser on the cropping land.

The action is prompted by the high price of fertiliser which, with other chemicals and fuel, heads the list of the farm's biggest costs.

Maurice looks after the livestock and the cropping program on his own, using contractors for livestock, grain and canola oilseed cartage only.

The couple, who have four children, expanded their holdings in 1980 when they bought the main farm block.

They redesigned and refenced the property, laser-levelled the land for rice and cereal crops and built 10km of internal channels.

Maurice and Kim are currently in a "holding pattern" with the prolonged drought leading to slashed water allocations and a greatly reduced cropping program.

The property's entitlement is 2000 megalitres of low-security water. Their current allocation is 21 per cent.

While most of the crops are grown to support the feedlot enterprise, rice, canola for oil seed and some grain are cash crops integral to the farm business.

Maurice normally plants 162ha of rice, but this year put in just 50ha using a 4 per cent water allocation, only to lose the lot to locusts.

A positive thinker, he viewed this as a temporary setback.

Apart from rice, the crops are dryland, but when water is available some are irrigated.

Besides rice, the normal cropping program comprises 162ha of canola for a dryland yield of 1.2 tonnes per hectare - double that if irrigated - 162ha of barley and 80ha of wheat, for respective yields of 1t/ha and 1.8t/ha.

This year everything, apart from the rice, made it through to harvest without water.

Most of the grain and much of the canola seed is retained for use in the feedlot.

This year, to offset lost rice income, Maurice sold 30 to 40 tonnes of canola.

This bettered last year, when with no canola for feedlot meal processing, he was forced to buy 10 tonnes of soya beans as a substitute.

An advocate of sustainable farming practices, Maurice direct drills and rotates crops to build up nitrogen levels.

He is looking forward to breaking the "holding pattern" and getting back to a normal cropping program.

Maurice has not ruled out future expansion.

"Well just wait and see. If any of the children want to enter farming it is easy enough to buy another farm," he said.

A third-generation farmer, Maurice is optimistic about the long-term future of the livestock and crops.

Wisconsin dairy goat industry continues to grow
Associated Press
3:52 PM CST, February 3, 2009
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin's dairy goat industry is growing.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that Wisconsin had 40,000 milk goats on Jan. 1. Its inventory was up more than 14 percent, or 5,000 goats, from the year before.

NASS says Wisconsin continues to lead the nation in the number of milk goats.

Nationally, the number of milk goats grew 4 percent in the past year to 335,000 as of Jan. 1.



However, the number of all goats dropped 2 percent to a little more than 3 million. NASS says that's the first drop since it started publishing goat numbers in 2005.

Wisconsin has 18,000 meat and other goats and 1,000 Angora goats.

Nationwide, there's 2.55 million meat and other goats and 185,000 Angora goats.

Holidays bring increased demand for goat meat
With the meat enjoyed by many immigrant cultures, butchers and farmers are racing to meet increasing want for goats
By Antonio Olivo


As the holiday season hits full swing, immigrants are flocking to butcher shops, meatpacking plants and farms for the food they crave: goat.

Muslims who marked the three-day Eid al-Adha festival that ended Wednesday divided goat carcasses into portions of three—honoring the idea of sacrifice by feeding the poor as well as cooking up the sweetly pungent meat for their families.

Mexicans gearing up for Christmas are pulling out family recipes for birria goat stew. Jamaicans plan meals of jerked goat. And West Africans prepare to use imported burned skin goat to roast on spits or boil in pepper soup.

“There is no comparison!” said Abu Sibou, 42, of the African nation of Mauritania, as he held two sacks of goat meat outside a West Loop packing house. “This is the food we love.”

Once a novelty in the Midwest, the demand for goat meat is skyrocketing in Illinois and nearby states, with immigrants from around the globe transforming a struggling livestock industry.

Between January 2005 and January 2008, federal figures show, the number of goats in Illinois raised for meat consumption jumped 63 percent to 19,600.

With 827,000 meat goats slaughtered in the country last year, “we only produce about 55 percent of all the goat meat eaten in the United States,” said Frank Pinkerton, a livestock industry consultant based in Texas. “So, we are short of goat meat.”

In Illinois, farmers are working to bridge that gap.

Harry Carr, owner of Mint Creek Farm in east central Illinois, realized he had stumbled on to something promising at a South Side farmers market a few years ago when African Muslim shoppers approached asking whether he had any halal-zabiha goat meat.

Under the Quran, slaughter requires 1-year-old goats killed facing Mecca with minimal stress and a precise knife, after a short prayer.

Carr, for 14 years a sheep farmer, had no such meat. But, today, he is raising about 75 South African Boer goats, most of them slaughtered by a halal-certified butcher before they are taken to Chicago.

“Remarkably, they’re a lot like raising sheep,” Carr said.

How the meat is used is as varied as those consuming it. For Muslims, sacrificing a goat, lamb or cow stems from the biblical story of Abraham, who was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. When he set out to do so, God instead placed a lamb in front of Abraham. Dividing the meat into three, with one portion going to the poor, follows through on the idea of sacrifice.

“When we sacrifice the goat, I am also sacrificing my crude desires,” said Dr. Danish Ahmed, an Indian immigrant physician waiting for his 30-pound order inside a Devon Avenue meat market in West Rogers Park.

With West Africans, Greeks, Chinese and others all choosing their own style of cooking, many share one desire that gives health officials pause: They prefer freshly slaughtered goat.

Such kills outside of government-approved facilities are outlawed unless done by farmers feeding their families or non-paying guests. But consumers and farmers sometimes flout those rules, said Rich Knipe, a University of Illinois Extension meat industry specialist.

“A lot of it is happening in backyards, unfortunately,” said Knipe. Dick Cobb, another goat expert at the University of Illinois Extension, said such unsafe practices could be avoided if U.S. agricultural laws governing the goat market bend more to accommodate immigrant consumers.

“We’ve gotta come up with a way that makes it OK for them to do that on a farm,” he said.

Health scare force new goat security
6/02/2009 10:19:00 AM
THOUSANDS of Australian registered goat farmers have won a reprieve from perilous domestic trade, which has been handicapped by biosecurity concerns.
As of this week the Goat Industry Council of Australia (GICA) has introduced a national goat health statement to assist producers provide information about the health status of their goats during sale transactions which previously have been difficult to ascertain.

GICA president Steven Roots conceded this week that the new declaration would bring a “new level” of assurance for producers involved with the trading of goats.

“There is always a risk involved when buying and selling goats and this statement will eliminate some of that risk for producers,” Mr Roots said.

Mr Roots said the declaration would become an “important part” of trading goats and assist in minimising the spread of disease Australia wide.

For mohair producer Ian Cathles, the declaration is welcomed news.

Mr Cathles said a goat health statement that included a risk rating system for Johnes’s disease was a “long awaited” management tool for his industry.

“This statement reassures our industry that what stock we buy and sell is of good animal health,” Mr Cathles said.

As of 2009 there are in excess of 8000 registered goat producers Australia wide

FDA approves medicine from engineered goats
By Andrew Pollack Published: February 9, 2009

  E-Mail Article

Potentially opening a new era in farming and pharmaceuticals, the U.S. government has approved the first drug produced by genetically engineered livestock.

The drug, meant to prevent fatal blood clots in people with a rare condition, is a protein extracted from the milk of goats that have been given a human gene.

The same drug, which was approved in Europe in 2006 but has not been widely adopted, is the first to have been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under guidelines the agency adopted only last month to regulate the use of transgenic animals in the nation's drug and food supply.

Made by GTC Biotherapeutics, the drug is produced by a herd of 200 goats that live under quarantine on a high-security farm in central Massachusetts. The animals have been bred to contain a human gene that causes their milk to produce a human blood protein that can be extracted and processed into the anti-clotting drug.

Proponents say such animals could become a way of producing biotechnology drugs at lower cost or in greater quantities than with the existing methods, which involve extracting the drugs from donated human blood or growing genetically engineered cells in steel tanks. The protein in the goat milk, antithrombin, is sometimes in short supply or unavailable for pharmaceutical use because of a shortage of human plasma donations.

GTC Biotherapeutics said one of its goats can produce as much antithrombin in a year as can be derived from 90,000 blood donations. And if more drug is needed, the herd can be expanded.

"If you need more, you breed more," said Thomas Newberry, a spokesman for GTC, which is based in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Other drugs produced in animals are under development. One company, Pharming, based in the Netherlands, plans to apply this year for U.S. approval of a drug produced in the milk of transgenic rabbits to treat hereditary angioedema, a protein deficiency that can lead to dangerous swelling of tissues.

Another company, PharmAthene, working under a U.S. Defense Department contract, is developing a treatment for nerve-gas poisoning in the milk of transgenic goats.

But turning animals into walking pharmaceutical factories does not sit well with some environmental advocates and animal rights activists.

"It is a mechanistic use of animals that seems to perpetuate the notion of their being merely tools for human use rather than sentient creatures," the Humane Society of the United States says in its position paper on the practice.

There are also more concrete concerns - that the animals could be harmed, that animal germs might contaminate the drug, and that the milk or meat from genetically engineered drug-producing animals might enter the food supply. There is also a concern that such animals might escape and breed with other animals, spreading the gene, with unpredictable consequences.

Still, it is not clear to what extent the use of the animals will catch on. Established manufacturers might stick with the tried-and-true methods.

"I think we have very good ways of making therapeutic proteins today," said Norbert Riedel, chief scientific officer at Baxter International, which makes proteins both from human plasma and in cell culture. One risk of using animals is that drug production can be lost if a disease wipes out the herd.

Still, the government's stance on the GTC drug, which was issued Friday, eliminates one barrier to producing drugs in animals: companies' uncertainty over whether the Food and Drug Administration would ever approve such a drug.

"It really takes away one of the biggest issues that have always been on the table, which is how do regulatory agencies view this kind of technology," said Samir Singh, president of the U.S. operations of Pharming.

Indeed, showing that approval could be obtained is a major reason GTC developed its drug, ATryn. Sales of the drug are expected to be modest. It was approved in Europe in 2006, and sales there have been small.

ATryn will be sold in the United States by Ovation Pharmaceuticals. It is not clear what the price will be and how that price will compare to that of the product from human plasma. The drug was approved for people born with a rare hereditary deficiency of antithrombin to prevent blood clots while they undergo surgery or childbirth.

People with the deficiency are vulnerable to blood clots. They can reduce that risk by taking blood thinners like warfarin. But during surgery or childbirth, blood thinners are usually not used because they increase the risk of excessive bleeding.

The FDA determined ATryn was as effective as antithrombin derived from human plasma in preventing clots. However, the protein derived from plasma lasts longer in the body than the one from goats, probably because the sugars coating the protein are different

New York State Goat Inventory Increases
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New York total goat inventory on Jan. 1, 2009, increased from a year earlier, according to Stephen Ropel, U.S. Agriculture Department National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office director.

Milk goats totaled 13,550 head for Jan. 1, 2009, a 13 percent increase from 2008. Meat goats totaled 27,000 head for 2009, 2,000 head more than the 2008 total.

All goat inventory in the United States on January 1, 2009, totaled 3.07 million head, a 2 percent decrease from 2008. Breeding goat inventory totaled 2.54 million head, a 2 percent decrease from 2008. All market goats and kids totaled 528,000 head, a 1 percent increase from a year ago. On January 1, 2009, meat and all other goats totaled 2.55 million head, a 2 percent decrease from 2008. Milk goat inventory increased 4 percent to 335,000 head while angora goats decreased 10 percent, totaling 185,000 head. The 2008 kid crop totaled 1.96 million head for all goats, a 2 percent decrease from 2007.

Mohair production in the United States during 2008 was 1.18 million pounds. Goats and kids clipped totaled 193,500 head. Average weight per clip was 6.10 pounds. Mohair price was $3.31 per pound with a value of 3.91 million dollars

Goat abattoir breaks production records

 A goat abattoir in south-west Queensland has set new records for its production, despite uncertainty in global markets.

The Western Exporters Abattoir in Charleville was forced to close earlier this year because it could not find enough workers.

It has now been able to employ more overseas workers under the 457 visa program.

Managing director Neil Duncan says it processed 24,000 goats in the past two weeks for export markets.

"Well mainly to the US, Taiwan, our normal customers," he said.

"We should have been doing these sort of numbers years ago, we need to do that to keep up with the goat industry.

"We've jumped our work force from 90 people to a bit over 150 people now."

We're raising GM goats to make human breast milk, say Russians
By Will Stewart
Last updated at 10:29 PM on 10th February 2009
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Scientists are genetically engineering goats to produce the same milk as a human mother.
They claim the breakthrough will allow babies whose mothers can't feed them to receive all the goodness of breast milk.
Researchers behind the experiments reject fears of Dr Frankenstein-style tinkering with nature.
 The goats being bred at a secret farm near Moscow

They say their work will also lead to the development of medicines exploiting the antibiotic qualities of lactoferrin, a protein found in women's milk.
The revelations follow research by scientists in Russia and Belarus in which male mice were implanted with human genes.
'This led to surprising amounts of lactoferrin being produced in their female offspring - 160grams per litre of milk,' said the project's chief, Dr Elena Sadchikova.
Researchers then switched to goats to obtain much larger quantities of lactoferrin.
Now 90 females sired by GM male goats are being raised on a secret farm outside Moscow.
They believe that from later this year when the goats mature they will obtain larger amounts of lactoferrin than found naturally in human breast milk.
'The new programme will be aimed at producing milk with the human protein, as well as making medicines from it,' said Dr Pyotr Vitsyaz, of the Belarussian National Academy of Sciences.

 More...The perfect baby who died five days after she was born - poisoned by her mother's milk
Take children off full-fat milk after the age of two, say experts

The scientists say that the medicines will be used to treat cancer and illnesses of the immune and digestive systems.
Igor Goldman, head of the transgenebank at the Russian Academy of Science, said: 'Human lactoferrin is a natural antibiotic, and it provides babies who don't have their own developed immune system.'
He dismissed complaints about genetic engineering. 'In this case, genetically modified milk is a drug, not a food.
'I am personally concerned about GM products. You never know how they would affect your body. But with drugs it's different. There is no way to create protein. It is too expensive to get it from human cells and impossible on an industrial scale.
'Protein in this form is the best drug invented by God. It is a natural thing that we already have in our bodies. You don't get allergies to it, nor any side effects.'
Dr Goldman said the ' transgenetic' milk could be drunk by adults as well as children.
Two years ago GM rice crops containing human genes were approved for commercial production in America.
The rice was altered to produce human proteins found in breast milk which could then be used in drinks, desserts and muesli bars.
That came ten years after scientists made a major breakthrough by inserting copies of genes from flounder fish into tomatoes to help them withstand frost.

Goat milk may soon save millions of livesThursday, February 12, 2009 | 7:34 PMStory Media Top Stories
  DAVIS, CA (KGO) -- A research team at UC Davis is hoping to save millions of lives with a product created from bioengineered animals. Just last, week the FDA approved the first drug for humans, created from a similar animal.
But what the Davis team has created, would work in an even more basic way.
Story continues belowAdvertisement
 Being goats they don't get excited about much.
But these animals on the UC Davis campus could be on the forefront of a medical revolution -- preventing diseases that claim millions of lives.
"There are places where one in four kids die before the age of five because of diarrhea. It's a huge cost to the world," said James Murray, Ph.D. from UC Davis.
Murray is a professor of biotechnology. He believes many of those children could be saved by milk from these goats.
It contains lysozyme, a protein that fights bacteria. It's found in high concentrations in human breast milk -- but in only trace amounts in the milk of goats and cows.
So why are these animals different?
"We took a human gene and hooked it up to a switch that would make it express only when goat is in milk in the mammary gland, and we transferred into a one cell embryo and developed a line of goats that now express that human gene in milk when ever they're milking," said Murray, Ph.D.
In other words, they've been genetically altered. In animal studies, with samples like these, the goat's milk has demonstrated many of the same anti-bacterial benefits as human breast milk.
"And in one experiment, we've been able to reduce the ability of an infectious bacteria to colonize in the GI tract," said Murray, Ph.D.
Two recent moves by the FDA could signal better prospects the milk actually coming to market. Last month, the agency issued regulations requiring prior approval for the sale food products from bioengineered animals but no special labeling. Then a few weeks later, the FDA also approved the first human drug created from a bioengineered animal.
That drug prevents clotting of the blood, and it's also produced in the milk of goats.
Back in the lab at UC Davis, researcher Elizabeth Maga says projects in the works could soon produce everything from more nutritious milk to leaner meats.
"Any trait that's a one gene trait like composition of milk, trying to increase protein or decrease fat," said Maga.
The FDA will look at each project on a case by case basis. But researchers say they're hoping support from the new administration could accelerate the approval process.
"If we can't identify any side effects which we haven't, then the next step would be human trials Davis Goats," said Murray, Ph.D.
The Davis team has already submitted its application to the FDA, and the researchers are hoping to be one of the early candidates to be approved for human trials.

Meat price sticky amid rise in Livestock supply
By Hassan Mghenyi

The livestock supply to Dar es Salaam from upcountry increased to 865 animals on the average last week from 785 the previous week.

But the meat price has remained at Sh4,000 a kilo for nearly two months.

A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Marketing report shows that 465 head of cattle were on the average supplied daily last week, more than 425 the previous week.

The Pugu market receives cattle mainly from Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga, Dodoma and Morogoro.

The average price of a grade two cow was Sh330,000 last week compared with Sh384,000 a week earlier while that of a grade three animal decreased to Sh184,000 from Sh274,000.

The average price of a grade two bull was Sh510,000 last week from Sh506,000 the previous week. A mature grade three male animal was sold for Sh388,000, lower than Sh414,000 during the same period.

The report indicates that 300 goats were delivered daily last week compared with 280 the previous week. A grade two she-goat was traded at an average of Sh67,600 last week from Sh58,200 the preceding week.

A grade three nanny-goat was sold at Sh40,000 compared with Sh43,200 during the same period.

A grade two he-goat was traded at an average of Sh70,400 last week from Sh69,200 during the period while a grade three male goat was sold for Sh43,200 from Sh47,800.

However, the sheep supply increased to an average of 100 a day last week from 80 the previous week. The average price of a grade two ewe was Sh56,600 last week compared with Sh50,000 a week earlier while that of a grade three animal was Sh36,600 last week higher than Sh35,600 before.

A grade two ram was sold for an average of Sh68,400 last week compared with Sh56,800 the preceding week. A grade three ram was sold for Sh39,400 from Sh39,000 during the same period.

Livestock keepers have recently started selling their animals to get money to buy food which is increasingly becoming scarce

And finally this midday:A goat in Wisconsin is defying the odds when it comes to giving birth.Allen Kraft runs a traveling petting zoo and he raises Nigerian miniature goats.It's common for these goats to give birth to two kids at a time.Any more than that is considered rare.Last week, one of Kraft's goats delivered quadruplets.If that's not enough, the same goat had triplets last year.This was her third batch of babies. The first time she had two. Then she had three. Now, she's had four.

USDA to launch first national goat study
In July and August 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will contact randomly selected goat producers in 21 states to participate in the first national study of priority health and health-management issues facing the U.S. goat industry.

Two USDA agencies--the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the National Agricultural Statistics Service--will conduct the study, which will focus on the health, productivity and management practices of the meat, dairy and fiber goat industries. USDA will collect data from producers representing 78.4 percent of U.S. goat operations and 85.3 percent of U.S. goats.

APHIS' National Animal Health Monitoring System, which designed the study and will analyze the data, worked with industry representatives, academia, veterinary representatives and other stakeholders to ensure that the study addresses the industry's priority health issues. The Goat 2009 study has the following major objectives:

--Determine producer awareness of veterinary services program diseases and describe management and biosecurity practices important for the control of infectious diseases--including brucellosis, scrapie, caprine arthritis encephalitis, Johne's disease and caseous lymphadenitis.

--Establish a baseline description of animal health, nutrition and management practices in the U.S. goat industry.

--Estimate the prevalence of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) infection, internal parasitism and anthelmintic resistance.

--Characterize contagious ecthyma (sore mouth) in U.S. goats. Determine producer awareness of the zoonotic potential and practices to prevent sore mouth transmission, and assess producer interest in an improved vaccine for sore mouth.

--Examine factors (e.g., genetic and management) that correlate with CAE virus levels.

--Provide genetic and serological banks for future research.

Participation in USDA's Goat 2009 study is voluntary and confidential. Results will be presented on regional and national bases; data provided by individual participants will remain confidential and cannot be identified. Links between NAHMS data and participating operations are confidential.

Australian goat breeder Leesa Lewis
starts Australian Association for Dairy Goats

By Jennifer Stultz 


Leesa Lewis, Cambrai, South Australia, Australia, classifies herself as a sensible breeder and a goat promoter. She believes in the value of dairy goats as commercial producers so much that she took on the entrenched local goat clubs that did little to improve the outlook for an Australian dairy goat industry, and then formed her own successful organization, prioritized for dairy goat promotion, the Australian Association for Dairy Goats. All this, even though she lives in a region where approximately 80 percent of the population has never tasted goat milk-and most don't want to try.

"Thirteen years ago I started as a hobby goat breeder in South Australia," Lewis said. "This part of the country is ideal for dairy goats-dry, scrubby and hot. But the powers 'that be' (meaning the government) have given priority to cow milk and the entire population is brainwashed into believing that it is the best milk and won't try anything else. I am one of the many people who cannot tolerate cow milk and have been drinking goat milk most of my life. The last 13 years I have been dedicated to breeding quality animals, which give lots of milk on 'normal' goat food-no irrigated pasture and very little grain. This has been difficult as I was working with a goat society that was totally out of touch with the goat as a milk producer. All they were interested in was show animals and these, I've learned over the years, were not suitable for commercial dairies."


Austrailian dairy goats must be able to produce in what some might view as less than desirable conditions for a dairy animal, i.e. semi arid conditions with a maximum of 7 inches of rain annually.
 
Lewis, who hopes someday that Australia will have many mainstream commercial goat dairies, felt that a new organization was needed to propel the concept into positive public reception.

"I always had discussions with other breeders and tried very hard to promote the goat as a viable alternative to cows, but it fell on deaf ears," Lewis said. "The goat shows here were just beauty pageants that the average farmer, looking for a diversification option, would laugh at. It was a common belief that the goat is a great paddock cleaner of weeds but milking goats were not worth the trouble."

Lewis said she was "thrown out" of the other goat society two years ago because she was not able to attend a meeting 100k's away due to being on a disability pension. It was a meeting set up to "sort out" issues she had with them.

"I was just upset that there were no goat promotion programs in place, shows were never advertised, and outsiders never could see the goat as an alternative dairy animal," she said. "As you can imagine I was angry at the outcome and my father suggested I could do a better job of running a goat association."

Lewis started The Australian Association for Dairy Goats (AADG) in January of 2004 and said this association has not looked back. After one year in existence, the membership role is 234 and continually rising.

"We don't have umpteen million impossible silly rules. . .the main aim is to promote dairy goats in any way the member sees fit for his or her area," she said.

The AADG now has representatives in five states and is working with the members in all areas, finding ways to put their goats in the newspapers (under human interest stories) and at all farm fairs and exhibitions. Members can take six animals and show the farmer what can be done at these farm exhibitions. They are armed with leaflets and information either supplied by the AADG or the local Department of Primary Industries and we are slowly working towards changing the attitude of the general public toward goat milk, Lewis said.

"One of our members took 12 goats to a farm expo in NSW and sold the lot for $350 each. It was just an experiment as the goats were not registered," Lewis said. "We were online and I sent the buyer a voucher for the papers via an e-mail, right on the spot. . .he did not have to wait two months for his confirmation of ownership. Since then his neighbors have been looking to buy dairy goats from our members."

Lewis said the AADG also promotes "new breeds" of dairy goats, getting away from the traditional restrictions of only having Saanens available as dairy stock. In addition to promoting the Toggenburg, the British Alpine and the Anglo Nubian, they also have the Melaan (a solid black Alpine). They are additionally registering AOVs (Any Other Variety) and there are seven different new breeds being worked on at the moment. All are being upgraded and once 40 have been registered, DNA'd and blood tested for JD and CAE, they then go into the full registry books.

"We do have a shortage of these animals at the moment as now they are wanted by farmers as an alternate source of income nationwide," Lewis said. "I never dreamed that it would take off so well, but not having a mountain of paperwork for our members to plough through makes a lot of difference."

Lewis said that milk awards are important as is the testing of bucks future viability to produce milkers. The AADG is having DNA tests for milk production of bucks in the near future and they are also selling animals overseas.

"The DNA tests are appreciated by overseas buyers because they can be sure that what they receive is value for money paid," Lewis said.

According to Lewis, the dairy goat industry in Australia is about 20 years behind the rest of the world, but with the AADG at the helm, dairy goat breeders from "Down Under" are fast catching up with a promising future.

"We are slowly educating farmers into biodiversity and it appears to be working." she said.

Leesa Lewis, registrar for The Australian Association for Dairy Goats, The Australian Association for Nubian Meat Goats, and The Australian Association for Coloured Pigs, currently has 38 goats including four bucks. Breeds in her personal herd include: Saanens, Australian Blacks, British Alpines, Toggenburgs and a couple of AOV's. None produce less than 4 kgs of milk in their first lactation and several does have records of production of 10 kgs. and one that is 11.2 in second lactations.
 

Goats slump to 150c/kg
SAM WHITE
20/03/2009 10:19:00 AM
OVER-the-hooks (OTH) goat prices have been on a serious decline during the past two months as global economic pressures reduce overseas buyer interest.
The medium weight 12- to 16- kilogram goats sold direct to works have fallen through the 170 cents a kilogram mark and this week landed at 150c/kg, according to the National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS).

The prices were flying high at 187c/kg last October before the dramatic fall.

P. and D. Exports manager, Paul Eliseo, Adelaide, South Australia, said there were quite a few Australian goats (bush or feral) being exported but there was a shortage of Boer-cross goats.

He said most contracts were usually filled by December and the early months of the year were quiet.

“We source the Boer-cross from breeders in Victoria, NSW and Queensland because they are more of a farm goat.”

For more see this week's The Land.

By Peter Michael
April 07, 2009 12:00am

A CASTAWAY cattle dog has been reunited with her owners after surviving four months on a tropical north Queensland island eating goats and koalas.

In a miraculous tale of survival, owner Jan Griffith said the family pet and "indoor" dog was making world headlines after her emotional homecoming.

"People are just like 'wow'," Ms Griffith, of Mackay, said yesterday.

"We wish she could talk, we really do."

Sophie Tucker, a four-year-old blue heeler, had disappeared feared dead when she was washed overboard in choppy seas during a family boat trip last November.

But unseen by her devastated owners, who searched two days for their pet, the hardy hound swam five nautical miles to nearby Keswick Island, near Mackay.

"We hit a rough patch and when we turned around the dog was gone," Ms Griffith said. "We searched for her for ages, it was terrible, we were convinced she had drowned."

The canine castaway was last week reunited with family after rangers trapped what they thought was a wild dog.

"She had become quite wild and vicious," Ms Griffith said. "She wouldn't let anyone go near her or touch her."

Sophie Tucker, named after a famous 1900s vaudeville artist, had been spotted "in very poor condition" by a family on Keswick Island and then by a caretaker on St Bees island.

"It's the blue cattle dog thing, extreme loyalty, she could have gone to those people and gone on to have a nice life," Ms Griffith said. "But clearly she was not going to be anybody else's dog but ours.

"She was seen on St Bees looking pretty poor and then all of a sudden she started to look good and that was when they discovered she was eating wild baby goats."

Marine Park rangers also reported she had been hunting koalas.

Ms Griffith said blue heelers had been crossed with dingoes to make them "tougher" and her family pet had reverted to her basic instincts.

They heard rangers had trapped a wild dog and met them at Mackay harbour last Tuesday.

"She was quite vicious in the cage but apparently relaxed as they came into harbour," Ms Griffith said.

"When we called her she started whimpering and banging the cage.

"They let her out and she just about flattened us.

"And at that point there was not a dry eye in the house.

"She gave each of us a slurp on cheek and has slotted back into life with us like you would not believe."

Yesterday, the celebrity survivor pooch enjoyed her usual diet of mince and dog biscuits before taking the family on an afternoon walk.

 

SHEEP:

TERMINAL SLAUGHTER SHEEP- Wednesday Apr 29, 2009. There are no estimated slaughter sheep on offer this morning in Terminal Markets.

SIOUX FALLS, SD SLAUGHTER SHEEP & GOAT CLOSE- Tuesday Apr 28, 2009. Receipts: Sheep 397; Goats 26. Due to light receipts of slaughter lambs last week, a meaningful trend not possible; however, on a light test a sharply higher undertone noted. Compared to last week Good grade slaughter ewes sold 2.00-3.00 higher, while the Utility and Cull grades sold 2.00-3.00 lower. Today's offering of New Crop feeder lambs sold mixed. A consignment of 43 lbs sold dollars higher. The other weights sold with a lower undertone noted. Today's receipts about 10 percent slaughter lambs; 40 percent slaughter ewes; 40 percent feeder lambs and the balance was bucks and misc. sheep. Buyer attendance good with good to very good demand.

Slaughter Lambs: Wooled Choice and Prime 2-3 120-130 lbs (123) 111.86; pkg 140 lbs 110.00. Wooled Choice 1-2 pkg guant 100 lbs 116.50.

Slaughter Ewes: Good 1-3 fleshy 160-175 lbs (165) 41.56. Good 2-3 fleshy 130-150 lbs (140) 35.81; pkg 175 lbs 39.00. Good 2-4 fleshy pkg 195 lbs 35.44; 200-220 lbs (211) 32.43. Utility and Good 1-3 Medium Flesh and Fleshy 160-200 lbs (169) 25.25. Cull and Utility 1-2 Thin and Medium Flesh 135-155 lbs (145) 21.00. Ewes Cull 1 thin 120-135 lbs (130) 10.52.

Feeder Lambs: Medium and Large 1-2 pkg 45 lbs 152.00; pkg 55 lbs 124.35; pkg 75 lbs 125.00; pkg 85 lbs 111.00; pkg 100 lbs 105.57. Medium and Large 2 pkg 85 lbs 101.00.

Slaughter Kids: Selection 1 pkg 55 lbs 167.00; pkg 60 lbs 140.00.

Slaughter Nannies/Does: Selection 1 pkg 120 lbs 59.50.

NATIONAL SHEEP SUMMARY- Tuesday Apr 28, 2009. At New Holland, PA slaughter lambs were 2.00-4.00 lower and slaughter ewes were steady to 2.00 lower. At San Angelo, TX heavy slaughter lambs not well tested; light slaughter lambs 15.00- 20.00 higher; slaughter ewes 3.00-5.00 lower; feeder lambs not tested. 3,600 head estimated for the one day sale.

ESTIMATED SHEEP SLAUGHTER UNDER FEDERAL INSPECTION: (Mon-Tue) Week to Date 17,000; Last Week 18,000; Year Ago 16,000.

CARLOT LAMB CARCASS- Tuesday Apr 28, 2009. 0 hd (Prices bases on Weighted Average) ..Today's trades not reportable because they did not meet the 3/70/20 guideline for carcass lambs. Below is the last reported market as of 4/27/2009...

SOURCE: USDA- MO Dept of AG Market News Service, St.

Goat price boost for SA
MIRANDA KENNY
18/05/2009 10:39:00 AM
GOAT prices are set to rise in South Australia as a new buyer looks to consolidate sale averages.
A collaboration between an Adelaide livestock buying company and a Victorian abattoir will see up to 7000 goats bought weekly from SA and neighbouring States.

Leonard Livestock director Paul Leonard and goat buyer Alick Scott will be in charge of SA sales, with goats being processed at Cedar Meats' Brooklyn, Vic, abattoir.

Mr Leonard said current over-the-hooks goat prices were set at $1.70 a kilogram for goats at 10-16kg carcase weight, and $1.80/kg for goats at 16kgcw-plus.

A shortage of sheep had meant he had to use goats as another option to fill kill space, but he intended to be in the goat market for the long-term.

"There is a real shortage of mutton at the moment and it's going to take five to six years for sheep numbers to build up again," he said.

"There is room for us to be here, and demand from SA producers. I think we've already had a positive effect on the market ? prices have already risen 20-30c/kg."

He planned to concentrate on buying mutton and goats, because light-medium weight mutton and goatmeat mostly sold to the same overseas markets in Mexico, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

* Extract from a full report in Stock Journal, May 14 issue.

FAO forecasts void in lamb supply
[13 August 2010] The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has said that within five years there could be a 300,000-tonne void in lamb supply due to growth in demand of 1.6 million tonnes, mostly from China. Meat and Livestock Australia is looking to fill this gap, but Beef and Lamb NZ chairman Mike Petersen said demand was starting to slip as well in traditional lamb export markets such as Europe. He said two things were needed to capture younger consumers - hey had to be educated on the taste of lamb and how to cook it, and exporters had to supply the meat in consumer-ready packs. Sheep flocks around the world were shrinking, creating new opportunities and Mr Petersen said New Zealand should be able to capture some of that global demand by improving on farm productivity.

South Australia maintains low Ovine Johne's Disease status
//16 Dec 2010
Prevalence areas for fatal sheep disease OJD will be downgraded in Victoria, Western Australia and some parts of New South Wales from 1 January 2011.
Dr Rob Rahaley, South Australian Chief Veterinary Officer, urges all sheep producers to familiarise themselves with the new movement requirements, under the national Ovine Johne’s Disease (OJD) control program.

“The national sheep industry recently recommended these changes in prevalence areas and scores, as a result of increased detections in Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales,” Dr Rahaley said. “While South Australia’s prevalence areas have not changed, producers wanting to import sheep from medium to high prevalence areas interstate, or from Kangaroo Island (medium prevalence area), must be familiar with the new rules. “This is critical for mainland South Australia to maintain its low OJD prevalence rating and to help to further prevent the spread of the disease when trading sheep. “Our low prevalence area status is evidence of industry and government’s $9 million investment, since 1998, in controlling the disease.”

The reclassification of the prevalence areas and OJD scores will result in Victoria’s north-west and Western Australia’s prevalence areas dropping from a score of 4 to 2, while mainland SA retains a score of 4. Dr Rahaley said the relevance of this to cross border trade is the key premise of the national OJD program.


NOTE:one of the main reasons why the USA and Canada does not allow imports of live goats and sheep into N.America is the fear of Johnes disease.Countries will high sheep numbers are prone to Johnes dease.

Prize-winning Colorado goat in doping row Weinroth has passed the age limit for Colorado goat competitions
The grand champion goat from this year's Colorado State Fair has been disqualified after testing positive for an unapproved feed additive.

Margaret Weinroth, who raised Theodore the goat, will not receive its $5,500 (£3,500) sale price and is barred from future livestock events at the fair.

A second goat raised by the Weinroth family also tested positive for the additive, ractopamine.

They denied any wrongdoing and said their feed may have been tampered with.

Tests carried out on Theodore's urine revealed traces of ractopamine, a muscle growth additive approved by the federal government for use by swine but not goats.

Sabotage theory
 
Teenager Margaret Weinroth is an animal science student at Colorado State University.

She has a track record of rearing prize-winning goats, with another of her animals claiming top honours at the National Western Stock show in 2010, the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper reported.

Susan Weinroth, Margaret's mother, told reporters the family's animals have always tested clean and that the family was shocked.

The feed for both goats had been "moved and dumped and tampered with" during the fair, she said.

Theodore and a goat raised by Margaret's younger brother both became sick after eating the feed, Ms Weinroth said.

"I can't say if it was sabotage. All I can say is what happened," she said.

Chris Wiseman, general manager of the Colorado State Fair, which ran in August and September, told the Associated Press that Ms Weinroth had told him about the feed incident.

While the sale money would still be lost, Mr Wiseman said the ban on participating in future events would be lifted if officials find someone else did place the food additive in the goat's feed.

Texas A&M Researchers Create Goat With Malaria Vaccine In Her Milk


Over at the Texas A&M Reproductive Sciences Complex, you'll find several animals with unique capabilities.

Goat number 21 is one of those creatures.

"This project is one of the most interesting that we've been involved with because it has so much potential world wide," said Texas A&M researcher Charles Long.

Long & fellow A&M researcher Mark Westhusin keep a careful eye on goat number 21 because her milk holds a vaccine for malaria.

"There are lots of different things that one can think about producing in the milk. Malaria vaccine is one that's really important because there's a big demand for it in a lot of impoverished countries," said Westhusin.

Through genetic engineering, this goat could be the golden goose when it comes to preventing malaria in third world countries. A disease that kills a child in Africa every minute according to the World Health Organization.

"What you'd have is an animal that could be in any village around the world and all natives would have to do is drink some of that milk and be immunized against malaria," said Long.

But before any of that happens, this goat has to jump through a lot of hoops.

"We'd love to start air dropping goats into Africa but the reality is we're not going to be able to achieve that objective for another five or 10 years at least," joked Long.

"What we have to do is milk the goat, purify the protein, then we'd have to do all kinds of clinical testing and safety testing. Just like as if we were to take any drug and go to market with it," said Westhusin.

Step number one will be waiting for this motherly goat to give birth, which will happen in the next week. That's when testing on the milk will intensify and the offspring checked to see if they carry on the gene that carries on the vaccine.

"That's when we get to start to collect this milk, storing the milk to extract out the antigen that will become the vaccine," said Long.　
　
It's estimated that malaria kills between 650,000 and 1.2 million people every year.

Researches at the Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology Department are also working on animals that are more disease resistant, more feed efficient, and produce milk that produces lower fat.

SALT LAKE CITY — A man spotted dressed in a goat suit among a herd of wild goats in the mountains of northern Utah has wildlife officials worried he could be in danger as hunting season approaches.
 
Phil Douglass of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said Friday the person is doing nothing illegal, but he worries the so-called “goat man” is unaware of the dangers.
 
“My very first concern is the person doesn’t understand the risks,” Douglass said. “Who’s to say what could happen.”
 

Related

Can’t understand your goat? Maybe it’s his accent

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Douglass said a man hiking Sunday along Ben Lomond peak in the mountains above Ogden, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) north of Salt Lake City, spotted the person dressed like a goat among a herd of real goats. The person provided some blurry photographs to Douglass, who said they did not appear to have been altered.
 
Wildlife officials now just want to talk to the man so that he is aware of the dangers. There’s no telling what his intentions are, Douglass said, but it is believed he could just be an extreme wildlife enthusiast.
 




Fotolia

An actual goat (not a goat man)
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“People do some pretty out there things in the name of enjoying wildlife. But I’ve never had a report like this,” Douglass said. “There’s a saying we have among biologists — You don’t go far enough, you don’t get the data. You go too far, you don’t go home. The same is true with some wildlife enthusiasts.”
 
Douglass said 60 permits will be issued for goat hunting season in that area, which begins in September. He worries the goat man might be accidentally shot or could be attacked by a real goat.
 
“They may get agitated. They’re territorial. They are, after all, wild animals,” he said. “This person puts on a goat suit, he changes the game. But as long as he accepts responsibility, it’s not illegal.”
 
Douglass said wildlife officials received an anonymous call Thursday from an “agitated man” after the sighting was reported in local media. The caller simply said, “Leave goat man alone. He’s done nothing wrong.”’
 
“I want people to enjoy Utah’s wildlife. We live in a really neat place. We have wildlife all around us,” Douglass said. “We just want people to be safe.”
 
Coty Creighton, 33, spotted the goat man Sunday during his hike. He said he came across the herd, but noticed something odd about one goat that was trailing behind the rest.
 
“I thought maybe it was injured,” Creighton said Friday. “It just looked odd.”
 
He said he pulled out binoculars to get a closer look at the herd about 200 yards (meters) away and was shocked. The man appeared to be acting like a goat while wearing the crudely made costume, which had fake horns and a cloth mask with cut-out eye holes, Creighton said.
 
“I thought, ’What is this guy doing?’ ” Creighton said. “He was actually on his hands and knees. He was climbing over rocks and bushes and pretty rough terrain on a steep hillside.”
 
Creighton said the man occasionally pulled up his mask, apparently trying to navigate the rocky terrain. The man then appeared to spot Creighton.
 
“He just stopped in his tracks and froze,” he said.
 
Creighton moved down the mountain and hid behind a tree, then began snapping photographs.
 
The goat man then put his mask back on, Creighton said, got back down on his hands and knees and scurried to catch up with the herd.
 
“We were the only ones around for miles,” Creighton said. “It was real creepy.”
 
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Posted in: News, World  Tags: animals, goats, utah

An argument over sacrificing goats during a Hindu festival triggered a stampede that killed 10 people in a packed temple in northern India. More than 40,000 people, many inebriated, had taken their goats to the Tildiha village temple in Bihar state to offer sacrifice and prayers to the goddess Durga on the last day of the Navratri festival. As the worshippers lined up before the butcher, a scuffle broke out and some people were trampled. "People were vying with each other to get their goats sacrificed first, and they had a verbal duel with the butcher,". Four women and six men died in the stampede, and another 11 were injured, three of them critically, Banka district police director Neelmani said. The injured were being treated in hospitals. The district spokesman said some 30,000 goats were sacrificed at the temple on Saturday. The 10-day Navratri festival honours Durga, the mother goddess in the Hindu religion. The village in Banka district is about 200km southeast of Bihar's state capital, Patna