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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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.
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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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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.