Extinct Goat Cloned --
Briefly
Last Edited: Monday, 02 Feb 2009, 6:46 PM EST
Created On: Monday, 02 Feb 2009, 6:42 PM EST

By ANTHONY BARTKEWICZ, MyFox National
- Scientists in Spain performed the first successful cloning of an extinct mammal, but the newborn animal died shortly after it was born.

Plans to clone the ibex, a rare species of mountain goat native to Spain, began in 1999 when the animal was close to extinction . Scientists took a tissue sample from the last surviving ibex before it was killed by a falling tree in 2000 and the species was declared to be extinct.

The UK's Telegraph reports that the scientists replaced the genetic material in eggs from common goats with DNA taken from those tissue samples to create 439 ibex embryos. 57 of the embryos were implanted into surrogate female goats, 7 of the embryos resulted in pregnancies, and just one gave birth to a "genetically identical" ibex. The cloned ibex survived for 7 minutes before dying from lung complications.

Despite the cloned ibex's brief life, the experiment has given scientists hope for future cloning of extinct animals. "Clearly there is some way to go before it can be used effectively, but the advances in this field are such that we will see more and more solutions to the problems faced," said Professor Robert Miller, director the Medical Research Council's Reproductive Sciences Unit at Edinburgh University in a report on Red Orbit .

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Feral goat success at Murrami
Lindsay Hayes

February 4, 2009
BACKGROUNDING feral goats is more than just a way of making a quick buck for Maurice and Kim Walsh.

It is proving a successful addition to their southern NSW broadacre cropping and prime cattle enterprise.

The couple, who farm several properties as one at Murrami, near Griffith, NSW, switched to goats from sheep five years ago.

Maurice said the plentiful supply of stock on Western Division properties and the steady consumer demand for goat meat indicated a bright future for the industry.

"I'm mainly targeting the domestic market. There is a big demand for goat meat from the ethnic population of Australia," he said.

"I'd had enough of sheep. Goats are easy-care maintenance in comparison. You're not chasing flies and they don't need shearing."

"There is not the capital involved as there is with sheep and you're getting a similar return."

Maurice said he buys the goats for about $10 a head and sells them for $40 three months later.

"There are thousands running wild on the big stations and the owners want to get rid of them," he said.

"They yard the goats and I go and look at them, buy what I want and get a stock carrier to bring them here."

Maurice sells the goats for $1.20/kg and said as long as the buy-in price remained reasonable, goats were a viable proposition for him.

Another 600 kids and young goats arrived this month, taking his total numbers to 1500 head.

The goats are processed by abattoirs in NSW and Victoria.

"I only buy them marked, so there are no bucks," he said.

"We don't do any breeding here, were a backgrounding operation only."

Maurice said the only farm preparation required for the goats was modifying the sheep yards.

He gave wry grin when asked about fencing.

"Fences don't mean anything to goats - they'll find a way through." Maurice said.

"We are fortunate in having the irrigation channel on one boundary, which stops them."

Maurice sees no danger of an over-supply of goat meat, at least not from his district.

"I'm the only one around here silly enough to have goats," he said.

Besides benefiting from their returns, Maurice enjoys the animals.

"They're intelligent and I quite like them," he said.

The goats, which have just come off wheat stubble, are not receiving supplementary feed.

After the winter crops have been sown and harvested the goats will go back on the stubble.

Elsewhere on the farm, the main income-earners - 120 mixed-breed cattle - rest in the shade of part of a tea-tree woodland, which Maurice fenced 10 years ago to establish a feedlot alongside cattle yards.

The woodland extends up a hill which has been left to regenerate.

The property has its own feed mill, comprising a grain and hay mixer and a canola oilseed extractor.

"We mix up four tonnes of hay and grain at a time. Canola meal is added and micro-nutrients, bought from Melbourne," Maurice said.

"We sell the cattle direct to the killing floor at Rockdale, Cargill and other abattoirs depending on the best price."

The property turns off as many as 1000 prime cattle annually.

After the existing mob is sold, and before the replacement cattle arrive, Maurice will collect the manure from the feedlot and recycle it as natural fertiliser on the cropping land.

The action is prompted by the high price of fertiliser which, with other chemicals and fuel, heads the list of the farm's biggest costs.

Maurice looks after the livestock and the cropping program on his own, using contractors for livestock, grain and canola oilseed cartage only.

The couple, who have four children, expanded their holdings in 1980 when they bought the main farm block.

They redesigned and refenced the property, laser-levelled the land for rice and cereal crops and built 10km of internal channels.

Maurice and Kim are currently in a "holding pattern" with the prolonged drought leading to slashed water allocations and a greatly reduced cropping program.

The property's entitlement is 2000 megalitres of low-security water. Their current allocation is 21 per cent.

While most of the crops are grown to support the feedlot enterprise, rice, canola for oil seed and some grain are cash crops integral to the farm business.

Maurice normally plants 162ha of rice, but this year put in just 50ha using a 4 per cent water allocation, only to lose the lot to locusts.

A positive thinker, he viewed this as a temporary setback.

Apart from rice, the crops are dryland, but when water is available some are irrigated.

Besides rice, the normal cropping program comprises 162ha of canola for a dryland yield of 1.2 tonnes per hectare - double that if irrigated - 162ha of barley and 80ha of wheat, for respective yields of 1t/ha and 1.8t/ha.

This year everything, apart from the rice, made it through to harvest without water.

Most of the grain and much of the canola seed is retained for use in the feedlot.

This year, to offset lost rice income, Maurice sold 30 to 40 tonnes of canola.

This bettered last year, when with no canola for feedlot meal processing, he was forced to buy 10 tonnes of soya beans as a substitute.

An advocate of sustainable farming practices, Maurice direct drills and rotates crops to build up nitrogen levels.

He is looking forward to breaking the "holding pattern" and getting back to a normal cropping program.

Maurice has not ruled out future expansion.

"Well just wait and see. If any of the children want to enter farming it is easy enough to buy another farm," he said.

A third-generation farmer, Maurice is optimistic about the long-term future of the livestock and crops.

Wisconsin dairy goat industry continues to grow
Associated Press
3:52 PM CST, February 3, 2009
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin's dairy goat industry is growing.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that Wisconsin had 40,000 milk goats on Jan. 1. Its inventory was up more than 14 percent, or 5,000 goats, from the year before.

NASS says Wisconsin continues to lead the nation in the number of milk goats.

Nationally, the number of milk goats grew 4 percent in the past year to 335,000 as of Jan. 1.



However, the number of all goats dropped 2 percent to a little more than 3 million. NASS says that's the first drop since it started publishing goat numbers in 2005.

Wisconsin has 18,000 meat and other goats and 1,000 Angora goats.

Nationwide, there's 2.55 million meat and other goats and 185,000 Angora goats.

Holidays bring increased demand for goat meat
With the meat enjoyed by many immigrant cultures, butchers and farmers are racing to meet increasing want for goats
By Antonio Olivo


As the holiday season hits full swing, immigrants are flocking to butcher shops, meatpacking plants and farms for the food they crave: goat.

Muslims who marked the three-day Eid al-Adha festival that ended Wednesday divided goat carcasses into portions of three—honoring the idea of sacrifice by feeding the poor as well as cooking up the sweetly pungent meat for their families.

Mexicans gearing up for Christmas are pulling out family recipes for birria goat stew. Jamaicans plan meals of jerked goat. And West Africans prepare to use imported burned skin goat to roast on spits or boil in pepper soup.

“There is no comparison!” said Abu Sibou, 42, of the African nation of Mauritania, as he held two sacks of goat meat outside a West Loop packing house. “This is the food we love.”

Once a novelty in the Midwest, the demand for goat meat is skyrocketing in Illinois and nearby states, with immigrants from around the globe transforming a struggling livestock industry.

Between January 2005 and January 2008, federal figures show, the number of goats in Illinois raised for meat consumption jumped 63 percent to 19,600.

With 827,000 meat goats slaughtered in the country last year, “we only produce about 55 percent of all the goat meat eaten in the United States,” said Frank Pinkerton, a livestock industry consultant based in Texas. “So, we are short of goat meat.”

In Illinois, farmers are working to bridge that gap.

Harry Carr, owner of Mint Creek Farm in east central Illinois, realized he had stumbled on to something promising at a South Side farmers market a few years ago when African Muslim shoppers approached asking whether he had any halal-zabiha goat meat.

Under the Quran, slaughter requires 1-year-old goats killed facing Mecca with minimal stress and a precise knife, after a short prayer.

Carr, for 14 years a sheep farmer, had no such meat. But, today, he is raising about 75 South African Boer goats, most of them slaughtered by a halal-certified butcher before they are taken to Chicago.

“Remarkably, they’re a lot like raising sheep,” Carr said.

How the meat is used is as varied as those consuming it. For Muslims, sacrificing a goat, lamb or cow stems from the biblical story of Abraham, who was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. When he set out to do so, God instead placed a lamb in front of Abraham. Dividing the meat into three, with one portion going to the poor, follows through on the idea of sacrifice.

“When we sacrifice the goat, I am also sacrificing my crude desires,” said Dr. Danish Ahmed, an Indian immigrant physician waiting for his 30-pound order inside a Devon Avenue meat market in West Rogers Park.

With West Africans, Greeks, Chinese and others all choosing their own style of cooking, many share one desire that gives health officials pause: They prefer freshly slaughtered goat.

Such kills outside of government-approved facilities are outlawed unless done by farmers feeding their families or non-paying guests. But consumers and farmers sometimes flout those rules, said Rich Knipe, a University of Illinois Extension meat industry specialist.

“A lot of it is happening in backyards, unfortunately,” said Knipe. Dick Cobb, another goat expert at the University of Illinois Extension, said such unsafe practices could be avoided if U.S. agricultural laws governing the goat market bend more to accommodate immigrant consumers.

“We’ve gotta come up with a way that makes it OK for them to do that on a farm,” he said.

Health scare force new goat security
6/02/2009 10:19:00 AM
THOUSANDS of Australian registered goat farmers have won a reprieve from perilous domestic trade, which has been handicapped by biosecurity concerns.
As of this week the Goat Industry Council of Australia (GICA) has introduced a national goat health statement to assist producers provide information about the health status of their goats during sale transactions which previously have been difficult to ascertain.

GICA president Steven Roots conceded this week that the new declaration would bring a “new level” of assurance for producers involved with the trading of goats.

“There is always a risk involved when buying and selling goats and this statement will eliminate some of that risk for producers,” Mr Roots said.

Mr Roots said the declaration would become an “important part” of trading goats and assist in minimising the spread of disease Australia wide.

For mohair producer Ian Cathles, the declaration is welcomed news.

Mr Cathles said a goat health statement that included a risk rating system for Johnes’s disease was a “long awaited” management tool for his industry.

“This statement reassures our industry that what stock we buy and sell is of good animal health,” Mr Cathles said.

As of 2009 there are in excess of 8000 registered goat producers Australia wide

FDA approves medicine from engineered goats
By Andrew Pollack Published: February 9, 2009

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Potentially opening a new era in farming and pharmaceuticals, the U.S. government has approved the first drug produced by genetically engineered livestock.

The drug, meant to prevent fatal blood clots in people with a rare condition, is a protein extracted from the milk of goats that have been given a human gene.

The same drug, which was approved in Europe in 2006 but has not been widely adopted, is the first to have been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under guidelines the agency adopted only last month to regulate the use of transgenic animals in the nation's drug and food supply.

Made by GTC Biotherapeutics, the drug is produced by a herd of 200 goats that live under quarantine on a high-security farm in central Massachusetts. The animals have been bred to contain a human gene that causes their milk to produce a human blood protein that can be extracted and processed into the anti-clotting drug.

Proponents say such animals could become a way of producing biotechnology drugs at lower cost or in greater quantities than with the existing methods, which involve extracting the drugs from donated human blood or growing genetically engineered cells in steel tanks. The protein in the goat milk, antithrombin, is sometimes in short supply or unavailable for pharmaceutical use because of a shortage of human plasma donations.

GTC Biotherapeutics said one of its goats can produce as much antithrombin in a year as can be derived from 90,000 blood donations. And if more drug is needed, the herd can be expanded.

"If you need more, you breed more," said Thomas Newberry, a spokesman for GTC, which is based in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Other drugs produced in animals are under development. One company, Pharming, based in the Netherlands, plans to apply this year for U.S. approval of a drug produced in the milk of transgenic rabbits to treat hereditary angioedema, a protein deficiency that can lead to dangerous swelling of tissues.

Another company, PharmAthene, working under a U.S. Defense Department contract, is developing a treatment for nerve-gas poisoning in the milk of transgenic goats.

But turning animals into walking pharmaceutical factories does not sit well with some environmental advocates and animal rights activists.

"It is a mechanistic use of animals that seems to perpetuate the notion of their being merely tools for human use rather than sentient creatures," the Humane Society of the United States says in its position paper on the practice.

There are also more concrete concerns - that the animals could be harmed, that animal germs might contaminate the drug, and that the milk or meat from genetically engineered drug-producing animals might enter the food supply. There is also a concern that such animals might escape and breed with other animals, spreading the gene, with unpredictable consequences.

Still, it is not clear to what extent the use of the animals will catch on. Established manufacturers might stick with the tried-and-true methods.

"I think we have very good ways of making therapeutic proteins today," said Norbert Riedel, chief scientific officer at Baxter International, which makes proteins both from human plasma and in cell culture. One risk of using animals is that drug production can be lost if a disease wipes out the herd.

Still, the government's stance on the GTC drug, which was issued Friday, eliminates one barrier to producing drugs in animals: companies' uncertainty over whether the Food and Drug Administration would ever approve such a drug.

"It really takes away one of the biggest issues that have always been on the table, which is how do regulatory agencies view this kind of technology," said Samir Singh, president of the U.S. operations of Pharming.

Indeed, showing that approval could be obtained is a major reason GTC developed its drug, ATryn. Sales of the drug are expected to be modest. It was approved in Europe in 2006, and sales there have been small.

ATryn will be sold in the United States by Ovation Pharmaceuticals. It is not clear what the price will be and how that price will compare to that of the product from human plasma. The drug was approved for people born with a rare hereditary deficiency of antithrombin to prevent blood clots while they undergo surgery or childbirth.

People with the deficiency are vulnerable to blood clots. They can reduce that risk by taking blood thinners like warfarin. But during surgery or childbirth, blood thinners are usually not used because they increase the risk of excessive bleeding.

The FDA determined ATryn was as effective as antithrombin derived from human plasma in preventing clots. However, the protein derived from plasma lasts longer in the body than the one from goats, probably because the sugars coating the protein are different

New York State Goat Inventory Increases
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New York total goat inventory on Jan. 1, 2009, increased from a year earlier, according to Stephen Ropel, U.S. Agriculture Department National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office director.

Milk goats totaled 13,550 head for Jan. 1, 2009, a 13 percent increase from 2008. Meat goats totaled 27,000 head for 2009, 2,000 head more than the 2008 total.

All goat inventory in the United States on January 1, 2009, totaled 3.07 million head, a 2 percent decrease from 2008. Breeding goat inventory totaled 2.54 million head, a 2 percent decrease from 2008. All market goats and kids totaled 528,000 head, a 1 percent increase from a year ago. On January 1, 2009, meat and all other goats totaled 2.55 million head, a 2 percent decrease from 2008. Milk goat inventory increased 4 percent to 335,000 head while angora goats decreased 10 percent, totaling 185,000 head. The 2008 kid crop totaled 1.96 million head for all goats, a 2 percent decrease from 2007.

Mohair production in the United States during 2008 was 1.18 million pounds. Goats and kids clipped totaled 193,500 head. Average weight per clip was 6.10 pounds. Mohair price was $3.31 per pound with a value of 3.91 million dollars

Goat abattoir breaks production records

 A goat abattoir in south-west Queensland has set new records for its production, despite uncertainty in global markets.

The Western Exporters Abattoir in Charleville was forced to close earlier this year because it could not find enough workers.

It has now been able to employ more overseas workers under the 457 visa program.

Managing director Neil Duncan says it processed 24,000 goats in the past two weeks for export markets.

"Well mainly to the US, Taiwan, our normal customers," he said.

"We should have been doing these sort of numbers years ago, we need to do that to keep up with the goat industry.

"We've jumped our work force from 90 people to a bit over 150 people now."

We're raising GM goats to make human breast milk, say Russians
By Will Stewart
Last updated at 10:29 PM on 10th February 2009
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Scientists are genetically engineering goats to produce the same milk as a human mother.
They claim the breakthrough will allow babies whose mothers can't feed them to receive all the goodness of breast milk.
Researchers behind the experiments reject fears of Dr Frankenstein-style tinkering with nature.
 The goats being bred at a secret farm near Moscow

They say their work will also lead to the development of medicines exploiting the antibiotic qualities of lactoferrin, a protein found in women's milk.
The revelations follow research by scientists in Russia and Belarus in which male mice were implanted with human genes.
'This led to surprising amounts of lactoferrin being produced in their female offspring - 160grams per litre of milk,' said the project's chief, Dr Elena Sadchikova.
Researchers then switched to goats to obtain much larger quantities of lactoferrin.
Now 90 females sired by GM male goats are being raised on a secret farm outside Moscow.
They believe that from later this year when the goats mature they will obtain larger amounts of lactoferrin than found naturally in human breast milk.
'The new programme will be aimed at producing milk with the human protein, as well as making medicines from it,' said Dr Pyotr Vitsyaz, of the Belarussian National Academy of Sciences.

 More...The perfect baby who died five days after she was born - poisoned by her mother's milk
Take children off full-fat milk after the age of two, say experts

The scientists say that the medicines will be used to treat cancer and illnesses of the immune and digestive systems.
Igor Goldman, head of the transgenebank at the Russian Academy of Science, said: 'Human lactoferrin is a natural antibiotic, and it provides babies who don't have their own developed immune system.'
He dismissed complaints about genetic engineering. 'In this case, genetically modified milk is a drug, not a food.
'I am personally concerned about GM products. You never know how they would affect your body. But with drugs it's different. There is no way to create protein. It is too expensive to get it from human cells and impossible on an industrial scale.
'Protein in this form is the best drug invented by God. It is a natural thing that we already have in our bodies. You don't get allergies to it, nor any side effects.'
Dr Goldman said the ' transgenetic' milk could be drunk by adults as well as children.
Two years ago GM rice crops containing human genes were approved for commercial production in America.
The rice was altered to produce human proteins found in breast milk which could then be used in drinks, desserts and muesli bars.
That came ten years after scientists made a major breakthrough by inserting copies of genes from flounder fish into tomatoes to help them withstand frost.

Goat milk may soon save millions of livesThursday, February 12, 2009 | 7:34 PMStory Media Top Stories
  DAVIS, CA (KGO) -- A research team at UC Davis is hoping to save millions of lives with a product created from bioengineered animals. Just last, week the FDA approved the first drug for humans, created from a similar animal.
But what the Davis team has created, would work in an even more basic way.
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 Being goats they don't get excited about much.
But these animals on the UC Davis campus could be on the forefront of a medical revolution -- preventing diseases that claim millions of lives.
"There are places where one in four kids die before the age of five because of diarrhea. It's a huge cost to the world," said James Murray, Ph.D. from UC Davis.
Murray is a professor of biotechnology. He believes many of those children could be saved by milk from these goats.
It contains lysozyme, a protein that fights bacteria. It's found in high concentrations in human breast milk -- but in only trace amounts in the milk of goats and cows.
So why are these animals different?
"We took a human gene and hooked it up to a switch that would make it express only when goat is in milk in the mammary gland, and we transferred into a one cell embryo and developed a line of goats that now express that human gene in milk when ever they're milking," said Murray, Ph.D.
In other words, they've been genetically altered. In animal studies, with samples like these, the goat's milk has demonstrated many of the same anti-bacterial benefits as human breast milk.
"And in one experiment, we've been able to reduce the ability of an infectious bacteria to colonize in the GI tract," said Murray, Ph.D.
Two recent moves by the FDA could signal better prospects the milk actually coming to market. Last month, the agency issued regulations requiring prior approval for the sale food products from bioengineered animals but no special labeling. Then a few weeks later, the FDA also approved the first human drug created from a bioengineered animal.
That drug prevents clotting of the blood, and it's also produced in the milk of goats.
Back in the lab at UC Davis, researcher Elizabeth Maga says projects in the works could soon produce everything from more nutritious milk to leaner meats.
"Any trait that's a one gene trait like composition of milk, trying to increase protein or decrease fat," said Maga.
The FDA will look at each project on a case by case basis. But researchers say they're hoping support from the new administration could accelerate the approval process.
"If we can't identify any side effects which we haven't, then the next step would be human trials Davis Goats," said Murray, Ph.D.
The Davis team has already submitted its application to the FDA, and the researchers are hoping to be one of the early candidates to be approved for human trials.

Meat price sticky amid rise in Livestock supply
By Hassan Mghenyi

The livestock supply to Dar es Salaam from upcountry increased to 865 animals on the average last week from 785 the previous week.

But the meat price has remained at Sh4,000 a kilo for nearly two months.

A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Marketing report shows that 465 head of cattle were on the average supplied daily last week, more than 425 the previous week.

The Pugu market receives cattle mainly from Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga, Dodoma and Morogoro.

The average price of a grade two cow was Sh330,000 last week compared with Sh384,000 a week earlier while that of a grade three animal decreased to Sh184,000 from Sh274,000.

The average price of a grade two bull was Sh510,000 last week from Sh506,000 the previous week. A mature grade three male animal was sold for Sh388,000, lower than Sh414,000 during the same period.

The report indicates that 300 goats were delivered daily last week compared with 280 the previous week. A grade two she-goat was traded at an average of Sh67,600 last week from Sh58,200 the preceding week.

A grade three nanny-goat was sold at Sh40,000 compared with Sh43,200 during the same period.

A grade two he-goat was traded at an average of Sh70,400 last week from Sh69,200 during the period while a grade three male goat was sold for Sh43,200 from Sh47,800.

However, the sheep supply increased to an average of 100 a day last week from 80 the previous week. The average price of a grade two ewe was Sh56,600 last week compared with Sh50,000 a week earlier while that of a grade three animal was Sh36,600 last week higher than Sh35,600 before.

A grade two ram was sold for an average of Sh68,400 last week compared with Sh56,800 the preceding week. A grade three ram was sold for Sh39,400 from Sh39,000 during the same period.

Livestock keepers have recently started selling their animals to get money to buy food which is increasingly becoming scarce

And finally this midday:A goat in Wisconsin is defying the odds when it comes to giving birth.Allen Kraft runs a traveling petting zoo and he raises Nigerian miniature goats.It's common for these goats to give birth to two kids at a time.Any more than that is considered rare.Last week, one of Kraft's goats delivered quadruplets.If that's not enough, the same goat had triplets last year.This was her third batch of babies. The first time she had two. Then she had three. Now, she's had four.

USDA to launch first national goat study
In July and August 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will contact randomly selected goat producers in 21 states to participate in the first national study of priority health and health-management issues facing the U.S. goat industry.

Two USDA agencies--the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the National Agricultural Statistics Service--will conduct the study, which will focus on the health, productivity and management practices of the meat, dairy and fiber goat industries. USDA will collect data from producers representing 78.4 percent of U.S. goat operations and 85.3 percent of U.S. goats.

APHIS' National Animal Health Monitoring System, which designed the study and will analyze the data, worked with industry representatives, academia, veterinary representatives and other stakeholders to ensure that the study addresses the industry's priority health issues. The Goat 2009 study has the following major objectives:

--Determine producer awareness of veterinary services program diseases and describe management and biosecurity practices important for the control of infectious diseases--including brucellosis, scrapie, caprine arthritis encephalitis, Johne's disease and caseous lymphadenitis.

--Establish a baseline description of animal health, nutrition and management practices in the U.S. goat industry.

--Estimate the prevalence of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) infection, internal parasitism and anthelmintic resistance.

--Characterize contagious ecthyma (sore mouth) in U.S. goats. Determine producer awareness of the zoonotic potential and practices to prevent sore mouth transmission, and assess producer interest in an improved vaccine for sore mouth.

--Examine factors (e.g., genetic and management) that correlate with CAE virus levels.

--Provide genetic and serological banks for future research.

Participation in USDA's Goat 2009 study is voluntary and confidential. Results will be presented on regional and national bases; data provided by individual participants will remain confidential and cannot be identified. Links between NAHMS data and participating operations are confidential.

Australian goat breeder Leesa Lewis
starts Australian Association for Dairy Goats

By Jennifer Stultz 


Leesa Lewis, Cambrai, South Australia, Australia, classifies herself as a sensible breeder and a goat promoter. She believes in the value of dairy goats as commercial producers so much that she took on the entrenched local goat clubs that did little to improve the outlook for an Australian dairy goat industry, and then formed her own successful organization, prioritized for dairy goat promotion, the Australian Association for Dairy Goats. All this, even though she lives in a region where approximately 80 percent of the population has never tasted goat milk-and most don't want to try.

"Thirteen years ago I started as a hobby goat breeder in South Australia," Lewis said. "This part of the country is ideal for dairy goats-dry, scrubby and hot. But the powers 'that be' (meaning the government) have given priority to cow milk and the entire population is brainwashed into believing that it is the best milk and won't try anything else. I am one of the many people who cannot tolerate cow milk and have been drinking goat milk most of my life. The last 13 years I have been dedicated to breeding quality animals, which give lots of milk on 'normal' goat food-no irrigated pasture and very little grain. This has been difficult as I was working with a goat society that was totally out of touch with the goat as a milk producer. All they were interested in was show animals and these, I've learned over the years, were not suitable for commercial dairies."


Austrailian dairy goats must be able to produce in what some might view as less than desirable conditions for a dairy animal, i.e. semi arid conditions with a maximum of 7 inches of rain annually.
 
Lewis, who hopes someday that Australia will have many mainstream commercial goat dairies, felt that a new organization was needed to propel the concept into positive public reception.

"I always had discussions with other breeders and tried very hard to promote the goat as a viable alternative to cows, but it fell on deaf ears," Lewis said. "The goat shows here were just beauty pageants that the average farmer, looking for a diversification option, would laugh at. It was a common belief that the goat is a great paddock cleaner of weeds but milking goats were not worth the trouble."

Lewis said she was "thrown out" of the other goat society two years ago because she was not able to attend a meeting 100k's away due to being on a disability pension. It was a meeting set up to "sort out" issues she had with them.

"I was just upset that there were no goat promotion programs in place, shows were never advertised, and outsiders never could see the goat as an alternative dairy animal," she said. "As you can imagine I was angry at the outcome and my father suggested I could do a better job of running a goat association."

Lewis started The Australian Association for Dairy Goats (AADG) in January of 2004 and said this association has not looked back. After one year in existence, the membership role is 234 and continually rising.

"We don't have umpteen million impossible silly rules. . .the main aim is to promote dairy goats in any way the member sees fit for his or her area," she said.

The AADG now has representatives in five states and is working with the members in all areas, finding ways to put their goats in the newspapers (under human interest stories) and at all farm fairs and exhibitions. Members can take six animals and show the farmer what can be done at these farm exhibitions. They are armed with leaflets and information either supplied by the AADG or the local Department of Primary Industries and we are slowly working towards changing the attitude of the general public toward goat milk, Lewis said.

"One of our members took 12 goats to a farm expo in NSW and sold the lot for $350 each. It was just an experiment as the goats were not registered," Lewis said. "We were online and I sent the buyer a voucher for the papers via an e-mail, right on the spot. . .he did not have to wait two months for his confirmation of ownership. Since then his neighbors have been looking to buy dairy goats from our members."

Lewis said the AADG also promotes "new breeds" of dairy goats, getting away from the traditional restrictions of only having Saanens available as dairy stock. In addition to promoting the Toggenburg, the British Alpine and the Anglo Nubian, they also have the Melaan (a solid black Alpine). They are additionally registering AOVs (Any Other Variety) and there are seven different new breeds being worked on at the moment. All are being upgraded and once 40 have been registered, DNA'd and blood tested for JD and CAE, they then go into the full registry books.

"We do have a shortage of these animals at the moment as now they are wanted by farmers as an alternate source of income nationwide," Lewis said. "I never dreamed that it would take off so well, but not having a mountain of paperwork for our members to plough through makes a lot of difference."

Lewis said that milk awards are important as is the testing of bucks future viability to produce milkers. The AADG is having DNA tests for milk production of bucks in the near future and they are also selling animals overseas.

"The DNA tests are appreciated by overseas buyers because they can be sure that what they receive is value for money paid," Lewis said.

According to Lewis, the dairy goat industry in Australia is about 20 years behind the rest of the world, but with the AADG at the helm, dairy goat breeders from "Down Under" are fast catching up with a promising future.

"We are slowly educating farmers into biodiversity and it appears to be working." she said.

Leesa Lewis, registrar for The Australian Association for Dairy Goats, The Australian Association for Nubian Meat Goats, and The Australian Association for Coloured Pigs, currently has 38 goats including four bucks. Breeds in her personal herd include: Saanens, Australian Blacks, British Alpines, Toggenburgs and a couple of AOV's. None produce less than 4 kgs of milk in their first lactation and several does have records of production of 10 kgs. and one that is 11.2 in second lactations.
 

Goats slump to 150c/kg
SAM WHITE
20/03/2009 10:19:00 AM
OVER-the-hooks (OTH) goat prices have been on a serious decline during the past two months as global economic pressures reduce overseas buyer interest.
The medium weight 12- to 16- kilogram goats sold direct to works have fallen through the 170 cents a kilogram mark and this week landed at 150c/kg, according to the National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS).

The prices were flying high at 187c/kg last October before the dramatic fall.

P. and D. Exports manager, Paul Eliseo, Adelaide, South Australia, said there were quite a few Australian goats (bush or feral) being exported but there was a shortage of Boer-cross goats.

He said most contracts were usually filled by December and the early months of the year were quiet.

“We source the Boer-cross from breeders in Victoria, NSW and Queensland because they are more of a farm goat.”

For more see this week's The Land.