Goat Day Talks 2016

1. GREY BRUCE GOAT DAY
Issues and Activities Update
January 8, 2016

2. GOAT INDUSTRY ON THE MOVE!
 Excitement and optimism for the future growth of
the Ontario goat industry!
 Ontario is the epicenter for NA
Goat cheese
named in “Top
50 Healthiest
Foods of All
Time”

3. OG PROGRESS REPORT
 OG delivered on its 2 year
mandate of 3 main priorities
 Consumer marketing and
promotions
 Industry Communications
 Cost of Production
 6:1 ROI
 Voluntary agreements for
2016 being collected

4. INDUSTRY COMMUNICATIONS

5. NEW: SCRAPIE RESISTANCE TESTING
 Joint pilot project with Trent University and the COE
will:
 Assess the susceptibility of the Ontario goat population
by genotyping the prion gene in 1500 Ontario goats
 Establish the frequency of scrapie-resistant and
susceptible genotypes in breeds and herds across the
province
 The susceptible genotype can then be eliminated
through implementing breeding strategies
 No treatment or vaccine available, and all goats are
currently destroyed on farms where scrapie is detected

6. NEW: SCRAPIE RESISTANCE TESTING
 The key to success of the program will be ensuring
proper record-keeping and traceability exists, so that
desirable production traits can be maintained while
disease susceptibility is being reduced
 With few closed herds in the industry, good
management and enhanced biosecurity protocols on-
farm may make it possible to eliminate the susceptible
genotype in a few generations, leading to the
development of a scrapie status program for goats and
ultimately establishing a scrapie-resistant status in
Ontario

7. NEW: SCRAPIE RESISTANCE TESTING
 Significant risk management tool for goat farmers
 Low compensation rates for animals and costs for
cleaning and disinfection
 Limited availability of replacement goats; expanding
goat herds
 Whole goat herd is destroyed even if one goat is
identified; trace in and trace outs from other herds
are a risk for destruction orders
 Loss of income

8. COST OF PRODUCTION STUDY
 2014 results were released in July
 $1.368/L based on 14 farms
 Top 5 farms $0.965/L
 2015 data collection is winding up with results to be
released this summer
 Recruitment is still underway for the 2016 Dairy Goat
Cost of Production and Benchmarking Study.
 As in 2015, data will be collected from 20 licenced dairy
goat farms that represent a cross section of the industry.
 Producers interested in participating should contact Erin
MacDuff at the OG office

9. GOAT INDUSTRY ISSUES
 Center of Excellence (COE) is wrapping up current
round of funding
 Proud to be able to support research like Dr. Zobel
 Extra label drug use and drug approvals
 Minor use minor species (MUMS)
 Antimicrobial resistance- human health
 Cull goats at salesbarns
 Productivity, yields, efficiencies
 Long term industry plan and vision

10. GOAT RESOURCES
 All licensed dairy goat
producers and OG
members have received
the manuals
 Record-Keeping forms
available on website
 Available for purchase
for non-members
 Small investment
looking to start in goats

11. RESOURCES-AVAILABLE ON WEBSITE
 So You Want to Be a Goat Farmer?
 Commercial Dairy Goat Farming
 Commercial Meat Goat Farming
 Buying Goats
 Selling Goats
 Kidding Due Date Calculation Chart
 Goat Meat Marketing & Holiday Calendar
 Goat Milk Nutrition Factsheet
 Goat Meat Nutrition Factsheet

12. BIOSECURITY RESOURCES-AVAILABLE ON
WEBSITE
 Goat Movement and
Isolation Checklist
 On-Farm Cost of
Livestock Disease
Calculator
 Goat Livestock
Purchasing Guide

13. NEW RESOURCES
 Hypothermia poster
 Colostrum Management
 Booklet and article
 Management Practices for
Raising Dairy Buck Kids
for Meat
 Booklet and article
 Case studies
 Feeding Options
 Article
 Case studies x 4

14. NEW RESOURCES- LAUNCHED DEC 2015
 Kid Management booklet distributed with Alliance
magazine in December
 Downloadable one page summaries
 Colostrum Management for Commercial Goat Production
 Management Practices for Raising Dairy Buck Kids for Meat
 Kid Management
 Articles in the Alliance magazine
 Selenium
 Navel dipping
 5 C’s of starting kids

15. NEW! E-NEWSLETTER: GOAT GAZETTE
• Goat facilities
• Hoof trimming
• Record keeping
• Biosecurity
• Winter checklist
• Clean drinking water
• Warming boxes
• Colostrum-what is
good and what is bad
• Back to Basics
FREE to SIGN UP!
Sent out the 3rd Tuesday of the month

16. NEW RESOURCES BEING DEVELOPED
 OG has leveraged GF2 funding to develop
producer resources and education in order to assist
the industry with animal welfare
 Covering a wide range of topics and using video,
resource sheets, posters, seminars
 Body condition scoring
 Kid welfare in the first 24 hours
 Goat handling
 Hoof trimming
 Euthanasia

17. NEW RESOURCES BEING DEVELOPED
 Early disease detection booklet
 On farm welfare assessment - with Dr. Jennifer
Woods
 Articles
 Training doelings to milk
 Getting goats unstuck
 Restrain, treat and weigh
 Disbudding
 Healthy goat resource page

18. THANK YOU
 OG Annual General Meeting and Producer Education
Day
 Wednesday February 24th at Goff Hall, Woodstock
 Questions, comments, suggestions please feel free to
contact us at anytime:
Tel: 519-824-2942
Email: jhaley@livestockalliance.ca
Congratulations on the 50th Anniversary
of Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week