World Goat News:

[mikey]

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.

[nemo]

Mikey  thank you for the posts and keeping the forum full of info...

[mikey]

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.

[mikey]

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.
 
 
 

[mikey]

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.

[mikey]

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.

 

 

[mikey]

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.

[mikey]

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."

[mikey]

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.

[mikey]

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.”

[mikey]

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

[mikey]

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.

[mikey]

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.


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[mikey]

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.

[mikey]

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.