Abstract
In order to determine the safety of milk produced by smallholder dairy goat farms, a farm-based research study was conducted on commercial dairy goat farms to compare the microbiological quality of milk produced using 3 different types of dairy goat production systems (intensive, semi-intensive and extensive). A survey of dairy goat farms in and around Pretoria carried out by means of a questionnaire revealed that most of the smallholder dairy goat farms surveyed used an extensive type of production system. The method of milking varied with the type of production system, i.e. machine milking; bucket system machine milking and hand-milking, respectively. Udder half milk samples (n=270) were analysed, of which 31.1% were infected with bacteria. The lowest intra-mammary infection was found amongst goats in the herd under the extensive system (13.3%), compared with 43.3% and 36.7% infection rates under the intensive and semi-intensive production systems, respectively. Staphylococcus intermedius (coagulase positive), Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus simulans (both coagulase negative), were the most common cause of intramammary infection with a prevalence of 85.7% of the infected udder halves. The remaining 14.3% of the infection was due to Staphylococcus aureus. Bacteriology of bulk milk samples on the other hand, showed that raw milk obtained by the bucket system milking machine had the lowest total bacterial count (16,450 colony forming units (CFU)/ml) compared to that by pipeline milking machine (36,300 CFU/ml) or hand-milking (48,000 CFU/ml). No significant relationship was found between the somatic cell counts (SCC) and presence of bacterial infection in goat milk In comparison with the herds under the other 2 production systems, it was shown that dairy goat farming under the extensive production system, where hand-milking was used, can be adequate for the production of safe raw goat milk.
Highlights
Goat milk and its products are popular among health conscious consumers and certain ethnic groups[11]
Many countries are trying to initiate or stimulate dairy husbandry, through dairy development programmes. Success in such an enterprise requires an understanding of the smallholder farmers, characteristics of their enterprises and the resources available[4,14]
The 1 herd using an extensive production system that was studied in this project revealed that it is possible to produce goat milk that is safe for human consumption
Summary
Goat milk and its products are popular among health conscious consumers and certain ethnic groups[11]. A recent survey showed that there are approximately 42 registered commercial dairy goat farmers in South Africa, 19 of whom are in Gauteng province[1]. Donkin[5] identified a need for increased investments in dairy goat schemes to support and expand household milk supply and promote small-scale dairy enterprises at the village level. It is important to ascertain whether the small-scale dairy enterprises composed of smallholder farmers can compete favourably in the production of safe goat milk. Jaubert & Kalantzopoulos[8] stated that aDepartment of Paraclinical Sciences, bDepartment of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, 0110 South Africa.
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