Abstract
Simple SummaryThere appears to be a rapid expansion of dairy goat farming in the United States and the information available to producers on health, welfare, and production applicable to those in the Midwestern US is limited. This study intended to survey 30 dairy goat farms in the Midwestern US to provide insight into husbandry practices pertaining to health, welfare, and production, and to identify areas of future research. Pain relief for disbudding and castration, education and training programs, early kid management, and hoof trimming were identified as potential areas of future research. This study provided insight into the husbandry practices carried out on 30 dairy goat farms in the Midwestern US and areas of research to improve health and welfare.Dairy goat production in the Midwestern United States is increasing at a rapid rate and information on dairy goat husbandry practices applicable for producers in this region is limited. The objective of this study was to survey 30 dairy goat farms in the Midwestern US to provide insight into husbandry practices pertaining to health, welfare, and production, and to identify areas of future research. A questionnaire was developed and comprised 163 questions that were organized into categories including information on the producer (e.g., farming experience), staff, and goats (e.g., herd size, breed), housing, feeding and nutrition, milking practices and production, kid management, husbandry practices (e.g., disbudding, castration, hoof trimming), and health. Areas of future research that can improve goat health, production and welfare include pain relief for husbandry practices such as disbudding and castration, early kid management during birth to prevent illness/disease or mortality (e.g., warm and dry areas for kid rearing), eradication programs for common contagious diseases, training programs and education for claw trimming, disbudding, and udder health. In conclusion, this study provided insight into the husbandry practices carried out on 30 dairy goat farms in the Midwestern US and areas of research to improve health and welfare.
Highlights
In the United States (US) there are approximately 2.7 million goats, and of these, 440,000 are dairy goats [1]
A recent study from Turkey reported that 73% (67/92) of dairy goat producers did not provide staff training for milking practices, which may not have been necessary as the producers stated that staff had many years of milking experience [19]
This study has provided insight into the husbandry practices carried out on 30 dairy goat farms in the Midwestern US, which can be used by the industry to inform and improve routine husbandry practices
Summary
In the United States (US) there are approximately 2.7 million goats, and of these, 440,000 are dairy goats [1]. The number of milking goats within the study population comprising Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois is 14,000, 29,000, 82,000 and 10,000, respectively [1], which is representative of approximately 30% of the total population of dairy goats in the US. Welfare assessment of dairy goat farms is increasing, with research available in the UK [3], Europe [4,5,6,7] and South America [8]. To our knowledge, there are few studies of dairy goat welfare assessment in the US, with the exception of our own study [9]
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