IGA Blog

OVIespaña, revista online

9/23/2020

OVIespaña y CABRAespaña

¿Sigues esta revista online desde España?
Échale un vistazo a todo el maravilloso artículo sobre ovejas y cabras, https://www.oviespana.com/.

OVIespaña and CABRAespaña

Are you following this online magazine from Spain?
Check it out all there wonderful sheep and goat article, https://www.oviespana.com/.

Palas meat sheep, Romania

9/22/2020

Written by Gabriel Vicovan
Special thanks to Radu Răducu, Enciu Ana, and Vicovan Adriana for their assistance.

Historic
The meat breed – Palas was created at the Research and Development Institute for Sheep and Goat Breeding Palas – Constanța, from 1973 to 1989, by crossing the breeds Ile de France and Palas Merino, followed by reproductive isolation and selection in the direction of meat production. Crossings with the Ile de France breed aimed to improve growth rate, increase feed conversion capacity, improve conformation, increase yield, and carcass quality indices.

The breed has in the genome 93% genes from the Ile de France and Palas Merino breeds and less than 7% genes from other breeds. It was homologated as a breed in 2012.

Breeding area
In Dobrogea, at the Research and Development Institute for Sheep and Goat Breeding Palas – Constanța and other farms in Constanța County. The number of ewes is about 3,000 heads.

Breeding program
Palas are bred at the Research and Development Institute for Sheep and Goat Breeding Palas – Constanța, which deliver rams with high breeding value to improve the production of meat in sheep.

Conservation program
The only genetic fund of the breed, from the Research and Development Institute for Sheep and Goat Breeding Palas – Constanța, is structured in 12 ram families during the breeding season, proceeding the rotational mating between families.

External (morphological) characteristics
It is a precocious breed, brevimorphic to mesomorphic with aptitudes for meat production. The ears are large, worn horizontally, or slightly raised. The trunk is long and broad. The chest is wide and lowered; the back and loins are long and wide, well dressed in muscles; the rump is horizontal, wide, and long. The tail is caught up; the gigots are convex, descended, well dressed with muscle, and the abdomen is rounded. The limbs are short, distant, with correct aplomb, and the hocks are vertical. The wool coat is white and covers the body well, with the wool extending on the head to the level of the orbits and the limbs to the knees and hips.

The body dimensions
Adult animals are: height at the withers (cm) 69-71 in rams and 67-69 in ewes; croup height (cm) 69-71 in rams and 67-69 in ewes ; trunk length (cm) 73-75 in rams and 68-70 in ewes; croup length (cm) 26-28 in rams and 25-27 in ewes ; shoulder width 27-28 cm for rams and 24-26 cm for ewes; width for coxo-femoral joints (cm) 29-31 for rams and 26-28 for ewes; chest depth 33-35 cm for rams and 30-32 in ewes, chest width (cm) 31-33 in rams and 29-31 in ewes, chest circumference (cm) 97-99 in rams and 91-93 in ewes, whistle perimeter (cm) 9-10 in rams and 8-9 in ewes.

Production characters

Bodyweight: rams 110-125 kg, ewes 65-80 kg
Lambs at birth 4-5 kg
Lambs at the age of 3 months 30 kg
Lambs at the age of 5 months 50 kg
Weight gain in fattened 280-320 g
Carcasses of class E 2-3 in proportion of 50% and U2-3 50% according to the European grid

Wool production

Weight of wool in: rams 5-6 kg, ewes 3-4 kg
Fiber fineness 23-25 microns
The length of the staples 8-10 cm
Scouring yields, 43-48%

Reproductive characters

Breeding season all year round
Fecundity 95-97%
Prolificacy 130-150%

Using of the breed
The Palas breed produces high hybrid fat lambs.
The Institute delivers about 300 yearling rams every year for sheep breeders.

Reproductive performance in goats and causes of perinatal mortality: a review

9/21/2020

Download the PDF

S. M. Robertson, T. Atkinson, M. A. Friend, M. B. Allworth, and G. Refshauge

Abstract
Goat meat production is an expanding industry in Australia. However, there is limited data quantifying the levels of reproductive performance, particularly under extensively grazed rangeland conditions, which would inform interventions to improve performance. This review aimed to quantify the levels of reproduction, time and causes of reproductive wastage in goats. It considers the levels of fertility, fecundity, embryonic loss, fetal loss and post-natal survival reported under Australian conditions, and comparisons are made with international reports. Key management factors that may contribute to reproductive performance include breed, seasonality, nutritional conditions, and weather conditions at kidding. While goats are potentially prolific breeders, in Australia, the variation in weaning rate (kids/doe joined) among properties is large (51–165%), although the causes of this variation are not well defined. Generally, conception and kidding rates are high, although fetal loss associated with undernutrition is more likely in goats than sheep. As with sheep, perinatal losses are generally the largest source of wastage, with an average 20% kid mortality, but this level is influenced by litter size and appears to be higher under extensive rangeland systems. The causes of perinatal kid loss under Australian conditions are similar to those in sheep, with starvation–mismothering–exposure and dystocia or stillbirth the key causes. Studies are needed to accurately quantify the level and causes of reproductive wastage in commercial herds, including a range of management situations, to enable effective interventions to be developed.

Additional keywords: conception, litter size, reproduction, survival.

Sandra Baxendell’s YouTube channel

9/18/2020

Are you looking for good goat videos that covers issues such as:

Hoof trimming
Listeriosis
Goat Pox
Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis (CAE)
And more

Sandra is one of our awesome IGA members and she has a great YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/SandraBaxendell/videos.

Visit her channel now.

Farmer to Farmer webinar, September 18, 6pm

9/16/2020

Si eres productor caprino, este webinar es para ti.

Este viernes 18 de septiembre a las 6:00 pm (hora de Guatemala) tendremos webinar con la Agrocadena Caprina Nacional, donde el tema será "Manejo y Alimentación en Crianza de Cabritas (nacimiento al destete)". La conferencia será impartida por Héctor Andrade, Doctor en Ciencias Veterinarias y Tecnología de Alimentos de la Universidad de Murcia, España, e Investigador de la Facultad de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México.

Puedes unirte a través del siguiente link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84180944020

If you are a goat producer, this webinar is for you.

This Friday, September 18 at 6:00 pm (Guatemala time) we will have a webinar with the Agrocadena Caprina Nacional, where the theme will be "Management and Feeding in Goat Raising (birth to weaning)". The conference will be given by Héctor Andrade, Doctor in Veterinary Sciences and Food Technology from the University of Murcia, Spain, and Researcher from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Autonomous University of Querétaro, Mexico.

You can join through the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84180944020

Report – IGA Latin America virtual meeting, July 31, 2020

9/8/2020

Last July 31st Clara Rúa, IGA Regional Director (RD) for South America, held a virtual meeting with the current IGA Country Representatives (CR) from Colombia (Mónica Cardozo), Bolivia (Angelika Stemmer), Peru (Guadalupe Huamán and Irma Celi), Brazil (Livio Costa) and the CR candidates from Ecuador and Venezuela. This virtual meeting was the first one organized under Clara’s regional leadership. The main objective of the meeting was to learn more about the current position of the CR regarding their small ruminant-related activities (specifically goats) in their respective countries, in addition to the potential formation of a regional work team to respond to the commitments assumed as IGA representatives in their own country. An agenda was agreed for future virtual meetings convened by the RD to advance different topics and proposals to be developed, and to achieve greater interactions with other CRs, RDs and the IGA board members. The meeting was also attended by Davinia Sánchez and Jean-Marie Luginbuhl, two members of the IGA Board who have significantly heightened the commitment of IGA to the CRs and the Regional Directors.

El 31 de julio, a través de una plataforma virtual, Clara Rúa, actual RD sudamericana, fueron convocadas por las actuales RC de los países, Colombia (Mónica Cardozo), Bolivia (Angélika Stemmer) y Perú (Guadalupe Huamán e Irma Celi), Brasil (Livio Costa) y aquellos CR en proceso de formalización de los países Ecuador y Venezuela, esta es la primera reunión bajo el liderazgo regional a cargo del mismo. El principal objetivo del encuentro fue conocer un poco más sobre la posición actual en su país de cada uno de los CR en cuanto al trabajo con pequeños rumiantes específicamente cabras, además de intentar instalar un equipo de trabajo regional orientado a dar respuesta a los compromisos asumidos. en la representación del país. Se acordó una agenda en la que se realizará una reunión virtual convocada por RD, con el fin de avanzar en diferentes temas y propuestas a desarrollar, de la misma manera para lograr una mayor interacción con otros CR y RD y el directorio de IGA. La reunión estuvo acompañada por Davinia Sánchez y Jean-Marie Luginbuhl, miembros del directorio de IGA y quienes han promovido significativamente el compromiso con IGA en los CR y la Dirección Regional.

Afshari Goat Rearing in Zanjan Province

9/7/2020

Rahman Rostamkhani (1), Seyyed Saeid Mousavi (2), Hossein Ghorbani (1), Seyyed Vahid Mortazavi (1), Mohammad Taghi Moslemioun (2), Mohammad Hossein Nemati (2), Hassan Mohammadi Nedjad (2), Nader Papi (3) and Farhad Mirzaei (3)
(1) Animal Production Improvement Administration of Zanjan province. Agricultural Jihad Organization. Zanjan, Iran.
(2) Animal Science Research Department. Zanjan Agricultural and Natural Recourses Research and Education Center. AREEO. Zanjan, Iran.
(3) Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Animal Science Institute of Iran, Karaj.

History of goat rearing in Zanjan province
Archeological studies show the history of goat domestication dates to 7000 BC. Historical references also refer to Persia (Iran) as the land of origination of goat domestication. Since the earliest times, Iranians have reared goats for meat, milk, fiber, and skin supply. Currently, goat rearing has a notable role in Iranian nomadic and rural household’s life economy. The recent year’s goat keeping importance has been revealed much more because of climate changes, feed source limitation, and lack of relative advantage of pure breed farm animal production in Iran. Goat keeping has an essential role in meat and milk production in Zanjan province. Historically Name of Afshari goat is originated from the Afshar tribes who first reared this ecotype of goat in the region.

Geographic distribution area
Afshari goat population has been distributed in the different parts of the Zanjan province in about 20000 Km2.surface area, including highland altitudes and plains areas with other climatic conditions.

Population
Based on the current official data, the Afshari goat population is estimated at about 130,000 heads in the province.

Rearing systems
Goat keeping procedures are generally rural or semi-nomadic system. Goats are often reared together with sheep and in the grazing livestock act as a frontier animal or leadership of the flocks. Pure herds of goats are not usually seen among the local livestock.

Job creation
Among the farm animal rearing, goat keeping is a part of daily life of the rural and tribes because of their great interest in this occupation. They usually keep goats not only to improve their incomes but also for the natural compatibility and attractive appearance of their herds.

The cultural, social, and economic relationship among nomadic and rural communities
Afshari goats with 130,000 heads produce some 550 tons of meat and 2,000 tons of milk in the province annually. Milk, fiber, and meat of Afshari goat are used by the nomadic and rural, and also urban people. Goat keeping has an important role in rural and nomadic life economy because of the food source supply and earning incomes. Hence, Afshari goats have great economic importance for rural or nomadic households.

Appearance features
Few references indicate the phenotypic characteristics of Afshari goat among the goat sciences literature. In general, the dominant color of the coating fiber is pure black, but other colors are seen in the flocks. Both male and female goats are hornless. Bucks have a strong and muscular body, and because of the good capability of grazing in poor pastures or feeding low-quality forages and they can return good income for their owners. Does have good performance of milk production, daily milk yield ranges from 1.5-2.3 Kgs. Mature bucks weigh more than 60 kgs., which is a good potential for meat production.

Export
Goat yields are generally consumed inside the province, and the exportation of the products is not performed.

Items used for products
Of the Afshari goat products, hair products can be mentioned. Hair fiber growth is about 25 cm/year, and each goat can produce some 400 grams of hair per year, which is used for preparing of handicrafts and traditional clothes in most villages. The skin is used in the leather industry. Milk is used for feeding kids, and the rest of it is used to prepare cheese, yogurt, whey, and some other local milk derivatives. Mature bucks weigh more than 60 kgs., which supply the local and urban residents’ meat needs.

Measures for identifying and genetic improvement
There is a decent rate of multiparity in Afshari goats, which can result in high performance and more economic animals, by performing of interbreeding selections or other livestock improvement programs. In 2007, an on-farm project plan entitled “An investigation on crossbreeding of the Sannen bucks with native black goat (Afshari does)” was carried by the Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources of Zanjan province. In these projects, the performance of first and second generation of crossbreds (F1 and F2) had a relatively good result, but in most cases, their adaptability was weak in the rural rearing condition.

Suggestions for performance improvement
As a national genetic resource, Afshari goats have valuable production performance and traits which has not been studied scientifically. For identification of the production performance of this ecotype, it is necessary to do comprehensive researches and studies.

Afshari goat - male

Afshari goat - female

Not all ruminants were created equal

9/5/2020

Environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of goats under a marginal-extensive production system

C. Navarrete-Molina, C.A. Meza-Herrera, M.A. Herrera-Machuca, U. Macias-Cruz, and F.G. Veliz-Deras

Abstract
Globally, while the livestock sector contributes significantly to the environmental impact (EI), it faces some key challenges such as to increase production to cover increased demand, to adapt to highly variable natural and economic scenarios, and to enhance its eco-environmental performance. Such complex scenarios require a comprehensive evaluation of the EI considering the carbon footprint (CF), the blue water footprint (BWF), the socio-economic sustainability (SES) and their interactions. Hence, the economic value (EV) made by the goat production system (GPS) in the Comarca Lagunera (CL), northern arid Mexico was quantified to compare it with its EI and SES (1994e2018). Response variables included the EV of the CF and BWF and the SES of the EV-GPS. The value of each of the variables was adjusted to 2011 euros while indicating the value in United States Dollars (USD) between parentheses. The CL recorded annual averages of 390,427 goats, 64.34 million liters of milk and 3,316.12 tons of meat. When contrasting the EV-GPS [MV 18.17 (MUSD 23.47)] with the EV-CF [MV 3.61 (MUSD 4.67); 84.29 kg CO2-eq kg milk-meat protein -1, MMP -1] þ EV-BWF [MV 2.48 (MUSD 3.20); 462.99 I H2O kg MMP -1)], a positive balance was observed. The accumulated GPS-CL economic spillover effect was MV 454.23 (MUSD 586.83), 5.79 million minimum wages (MW) yearly and close to 400,000 MW during the studied period. The GPS is highly eco-efficient considering both the CF and the transformation of the BWF into animal protein (milk-meat) with an undisputable biological value. Besides, the greater the economic and productive efficiency of the GPS, the better the socio-economic conditions of the producer and his family, with concomitant decreases in both the index and degree of marginalization of families and municipalities where goat production develops.

Keywords: Goats, Ecological footprint, Environmental and economic impacts

READ MORE…

Se necesitan expertos en pequeños rumiantes como parte del programa Farmer to Farmer

9/3/2020

Buenos días colegas de la International Goat Association (IGA),

Cordial saludo.

De parte del programa Farmer-to-Farmer, financiado por USAID y administrado por Partners of the Americas con sede central en Washington, DC es un placer comunicarle la oportunidad de pasantías y/o voluntariado con nosotros.

El programa Farmer-to-Farmer fue diseñado para llevar a voluntarios expertos desde Estados Unidos a países en desarrollo a través del hemisferio occidental. Estos voluntarios apoyan a agricultores, cooperativas, agronegocios, extensionistas e instituciones relacionadas con el sector agrícola a desarrollar sus capacidades, aumentar su productividad y posicionarse en el mercado.

Como se puede imaginar, el COVID-19 afectó drásticamente nuestro programa y los últimos meses los hemos invertido en encontrar formas de seguir apoyando a nuestras comunidades a través de asistencia técnica de una forma virtual, con el apoyo de voluntarios remotos.

Antes era un requisito que los voluntarios tuvieran ciudadanía o permiso de trabajo para Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, por las restricciones de viaje ocasionadas por la pandemia, USAID nos autorizó a cambiar temporalmente el formato de nuestro programa para involucrar a voluntarios locales que puedan brindar apoyo y conocimiento a sus propias comunidades. Es por eso que ahora estamos buscando a voluntarios expertos en el tema de pequeños rumiantes que podamos unir con voluntarios remotos en Estados Unidos, para que apoyen a nuestros socios y anfitriones juntos. La idea es que entre ambos voluntarios se colaboren, apoyen y complementen; y que nuestros beneficiarios aprendan de las dos personas.

Si usted ve alguna oportunidad de colaboración con nosotros o si tiene contactos a quienes les interesaría un voluntariado en una de las áreas mencionadas, por favor comuníquese con la oficina de reclutamiento en Washington, DC y escríbale a farmertofarmer@partners.net.

Finalmente, le quiero aclarar que nuestras asignaciones son voluntarias y no tienen ningún tipo de remuneración económica. Además, ofreceremos la opción de participar en esta oportunidad de voluntariado de forma virtual si la participación presencial presenta un alto riesgo dado al contexto de la pandemia. Los voluntarios que participen de forma presencial tendrán acceso a equipos de protección personal y podremos cubrir sus gastos básicos.

Quedamos atentos a cualquier duda que tenga y muchas gracias de antemano por su interés.

Cordialmente,

El Equipo Farmer to Farmer de Partners of the Americas

Small ruminant experts needed as part of Farmer to Farmer program

9/3/2020

Good Morning Colleagues of the International Goat Association (IGA),

On behalf of the USAID-funded program, Farmer to Farmer, administered by Partners of the Americas with headquarters in Washington, DC, it is a pleasure to share the following opportunity for volunteering and collaborating with us.

The Farmer to Farmer program was designed to bring US volunteers to developing countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. These volunteers support producers, cooperatives, agribusinesses, extension units, and agricultural institutions to develop their local capacity, increase productivity, and position themselves as competitors in the market.

As you can imagine, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically affected our activities and in the past couple months we have innovated and adapted our program to continue to support our communities through remote technical assistance with remote US volunteers.

Previously, our program could only support the participation of volunteers with US citizenship or work permits. However, due to the travel restrictions associated with the pandemic, USAID has authorized a temporary modification to the program format to include the participation of local volunteers. These local volunteers include technical experts who can support their communities by sharing their knowledge as it relates to themes in agriculture and food security.

We are looking for volunteer experts in Small Ruminants to support our programs in Guatemala and Jamaica who can collaborate with remote volunteers in the US and support our F2F programming. The hope is that both the local and remote volunteer will collaborate, complement each other in their expertise, provide robust contributions to the host. In this way, program beneficiaries will benefit from the knowledge of both volunteers.

If you or anyone in your networks would be interested in volunteering with us, please contact our recruitment office in Washington, DC at farmertofarmer@partners.net.
Finally, we would like to clarify that these are volunteer assignments and participants will not receive any financial compensation for their time. We offer the opportunity for local volunteers to participate virtually with the host organization in their country should in-person participation be compromised by risks associated with COVID-19. Volunteers who will make in-person visits to the host will be provided with personal protective equipment and financial compensation for basic needs associated with the assignment.

Please let us know should you have any questions and thank you for your interest in our F2F program.

Best regards,
The Farmer to Farmer team at Partners of the Americas

The International Goat Association's mission is to promote goat research and development for the benefit of humankind, to alleviate poverty, to promote prosperity and to improve the quality of life.

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