Abstract
Dairy goats on high-concentrate diets attain high production levels, but at what cost? Here, ongoing lameness problems in a herd offered ad lib concentrates and roughages throughout their lifetime were...
Highlights
The dairy goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) industry is continuously looking for ways to improve its product in terms of both the quantity and quality of the produced milk, whilst maintaining high animal welfare standards
It has been previously reported that the goat can withstand both acute acidosis and prolonged periods of subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) without detrimental effect on health and welfare [1, 2]
Other workers reported noticeable individual variation between the goats studied, indicating that some goats are more resistant to ruminal acidosisrelated disease than others [8]
Summary
Dairy goats on high concentrate diets attain high production levels, but at what cost? Ongoing lameness problems in a herd offered ad lib concentrates and roughages throughout their lifetime were investigated. Chronically lame animals were euthanased and examined post-mortem. Foot pathology consisted of distortion of the claw shape and irregular fissures over the solar and bulbar horn with the distal phalanx rotated downwards on two claws. Rumen pH measured between 5.26 and 5.46 with moderate rumen mucosa hyperkeratosis, and ulcerative, mild lymphocytic rumenitis. Feet showed irregular hyperplasia of the epidermal laminae with parakeratotic hyperkeratosis, especially in solar regions. Dense clusters of lymphocytes expanded the dermal laminae. Based on these findings, chronic laminitis was suspected. The consequences of feeding a high concentrate ration throughout the life of dairy goats needs more research
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