IGA Blog

IGA Website Updates, May 2019

5/17/2019

We are constantly updating the IGA website with the best and newest information, but did you know that we also add important documents from throughout IGA’s history.

We have proceedings and abstracts from many past IGA conferences. Here are some you will find:
International Conferences
Abstracts – 12th ICG, Antalya, Turkey, 2016
Abstracts – 10th ICG, Recife, Canary Islands, 2012
Abstracts – 9th ICG, Queretaro, Mexico, 2008
Papers – 8th ICG, Pretoria, South Africa, 2004

Regional Conferences
Abstracts – Tromsoe, Norway, June 2013
Proceedings – Bella, Italy, May 2007
Papers, Session Posters, and Poster Summaries – Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, April 2003

We hope that this information will be useful and that it encourages you to spend some time visiting the IGA website.

2018 IGA Achievement Awards

5/8/2019

Recognition of IGA’s Most Active CRs and RDs

As part of a new initiative, the International Goat Association wishes to officially recognize the most active Country Representatives (CR) and Regional Directors (RD). RDs and CRs are a very important part of IGA, and we greatly appreciate all that they do: promoting IGA and our International Conference on Goats, organizing in-country and regional conferences, soliciting new members, preparing country reports for IGA’s Newsletter, etc.

The Regional Director & Country Representative Committee recently selected the individuals who have done an outstanding job representing IGA in their region or country during the past year, and we wish to congratulate them for their involvement and successes.

The 2018 IGA Achievement Award recipients are Emilia Bagnicka (RD for Eastern Europe) and Clara Viviana Rúa Bustamante (CR for Colombia).

Additionally, we would like to thank the other Country Representatives, Regional Directors, and members who helped make 2018 such a wonderful success.

Proceedings of the 3rd National Goat Conference, USA

5/6/2019

Download the Proceedings.

“Building Towards a Sustainable Future via a Healthy and Profitable Goat Industry”

The Proceedings of the 3rd National Goat Conference are now available. You can download them here or here,
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/67d69e_327ca4bcdc69404f9a7f45dcdee824a3.pdf.

This conference took place on September 16-18, 2018 at Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama, USA.

In memoriam of Carlos Gutiérrez Cabrera

5/3/2019

Dr. Carlos Gutiérrez Cabrera passed away Friday 8 March 2019 in a tragic car accident. Dr. Gutiérrez was born in the Canary Islands (Spain) in 1960. He studied Veterinary Science in the Cordoba Veterinary Faculty in Spain, and in 1989 joined to Academic Faculty staff in the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Veterinary Faculty as Assistant Professor in Large Animals Medicine area. Dr. Gutiérrez earned his Associate Professor position in 1998. In 2015, he received a Full Professor position. As a Professor, Dr. Gutiérrez was devoted to his students, always available to solve any query from his pupils. Dr. Gutiérrez research was focussed in large animal diseases mainly trypanosomiasis. He was an expert in Camel medicine. As a human being, Carlos always held a smile in his face. His attitude in live was always positive and he was available when you need him. I will miss you.

Rest in peace Carlos,
Anastasio Argüello

Dr. Jim De Vries obituary

5/2/2019

The International Goat Association is sad to announce the passing of Dr. James De Vries on April 7, 2019 (February 13, 1944 - April 7, 2019).

Jim was a very devoted member of the IGA. He served as the IGA Secretary-Treasurer for two terms and was a Board member for three terms.

He was born in the Netherlands, emigrated by boat with his parents and seven siblings to the United States, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1961. His passion for helping others led him to join the Peace Corps where he served in East Africa. His time in Africa marked a turning point in his life.

Report – 2018 Scientific Meeting Polish Society of Animal Production

4/9/2019

Between September 19-21, 2018 the LXXXIII scientific meeting of Polish Society of Animal Production entitled “Challenges of animal husbandry in sustainable agriculture conditions” took place in Lublin (south-eastern Poland). The main organizer of the conference was the University of Life Science in Lublin, Faculty of Biology, Animal Sciences and Bioeconomy. There was also a meeting of the section goat and sheep rearing and breeding during the conference. Twenty-five people took part in this meeting.

Conference Report – Poland, "Native goat breeds and traditional dairy products"

4/8/2019

October 9-10, 2018
Dwór Ostoja, Klimkówka and The Institute’s Experimental Station in Odrzechowa

Conference subject: breeding of the Carpathian Goats, implementation of the conservation program, veterinary prevention, and quality of goat products.

The conference “Native goat breeds and traditional dairy products” was organized by the National Research Institute of Animal Production, Department of Sheep and Goat Breeding within the project BIOSTRATEG II “Use and protection of genetic resources of livestock in sustainable development conditions.” It took place at the Institute’s Experimental Station in Odrzechowa (Poland) on October 9th and 10th, 2018.

Report – International Conference, Kouty, Czech Republic, November 2018

4/5/2019

Zuzana Sztankoova, the IGA Country Representative of the Czech Republic from the Institute of Animal Science, Department of Genetics and Breeding of Farm Animals in Prague, participated in the international goat conference that took place in Kouty from November 9th to 10th, 2018. The conference included visitors from Poland and the Slovak Republic.

Can goats empower women?

3/25/2019

Written by Bill Gates

Can goats empower women?

In one of the poorest areas of India, they already are.

This is thanks to a new team of health workers who are training rural women how to gain financial independence by raising healthier goats.

READ MORE...

Report: Visiting China - August 2018

3/15/2019

By Juan Capote, IGA Past-President & Jean-Marie Luginbuhl, IGA Secretary-Treasurer

In August 2018, Juan Capote as IGA Past-President, Herve Hoste as IGA Board Member, Zaisen Wang as IGA Member from Langston University and Jean-Marie Luginbuhl as IGA Secretary-Treasurer participated and made oral presentations at the 2018 Chinese National Sheep and Goat Conference held in Bengbu 15-18 August. We had been invited by Dr. Yingjie Zhang, president of the Chinese Sheep and Goat Association, IGA Board Member and Professor and Dean from the Agricultural University of Hebei. In addition to the scientific presentations, the attendees visited two sheep farms. Unfortunately, typhoon Rumbia passed through Bengbu during the conference and drenched the region with heavy rains accompanied by strong wind gusts. While at the meeting, we interacted with Dr. Luo Jun, IGA Regional Director from Northwest A&F University.

Following the National Sheep and Goat Conference, Juan Capote and Jean-Marie Luginbuhl traveled to Fuping, in the province of Shaanxi, to attend and participate at the 2nd World Dairy Goat and Sheep Industry Development Conference where they met Dr. Maria Fresno, IGA member from the Canary Islands, Spain and Vicky McLean, IGA Country Representative from New Zealand. The four of us had been invited by Dr. Binyun Cao from Northwest A&F University. Also attending the conference were Dr. Luo Jun, IGA Regional Director from Northwest A&F University and Dr. Sun Haizhou, IGA Country Representative for Northwest China and Inner Mongolia. Maria, Juan, Vicky and myself made presentations during the conference and at several other locations post-conference. In Quianyang, we made presentations in a session for farmers and visited the goat show where the farmers had the best milking goats received a monetary incentive.

While at the conference, we attended a meeting, chaired by Dr. Binuyn Cao, along with conferences attendees from Australia and New Zealand, to discuss the main organizational body structure of the International Dairy Goat/Sheep Industry Association (IDGSIA). The Association was registered in Paris on August 18, 2018. We also visited several dairy goat farms and very modern milk processing plants manufacturing milk powder and became part of a panel ranking powder milk samples according to solubility, color, odor, and flavor.

Jean-Marie Luginbuhl also visited the Animal Science department of Northwest A&F University in Yangling, the university experimental farm, and an animal feed manufacturing plant owned and managed by a Northwest A&F University alumnus. Finally, Jean-Marie made a presentation to Northwest A&F University Animal Science students.

Latvian Goat Society's new website

3/14/2019

Check out the Latvian Goat Society’s beautiful new website, http://www.latkaza.lv/.

Learn more about the Latvian Goat Society and what they do, read this great profile,
Announcement - Latvian Goat Society (Latvijas Kazkopības Biedrība) joins IGA.

“La cabra es el mejor aliado para limpiar el monte y mejorar el rendimiento del ganado vacuno”

3/6/2019

Entrevista a Koldo Osoro Otaduy, veterinario e investigador del Servicio Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Agroalimentario del Principado de Asturias (SERIDA). Participó recientemente en Viana do Bolo en la II Reunión de Otoño de la Sociedad Gallega de Pastos y Forrajes

David Glez. Eirexas

Profile – Dr. Hillary Voet

3/5/2019

Associate Editor for Statistics

Hillary Voet studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, attaining a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Statistics and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Statistics. She continued as a lecturer and senior lecturer at the Hebrew University Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, teaching a wide range of courses in statistics and SAS programming to undergraduate and graduate students. She also gave courses in statistical methodology to graduate students at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

In addition to teaching, she assisted students and faculty members in planning experiments and analyzing data. Her main areas of expertize were agricultural economics, dairy science, human nutrition, horticulture, biological control, and plant protection. She also provided statistical consultation to researchers and students from the Weizmann Institute, specializing in analysis and interpretation of data in Genetics, Biology, Bioinformatics, and Neurobiology. She has worked for over 30 years with agricultural production boards in survey design and sampling. She has also consulted and provided data analysis for clinical and preclinical studies with physicians from various hospitals in Israel and pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Currently, she provides statistical consultation and support to researchers and students at the Volcani ARO.

Profile – Dr. Raúl Bodas

3/4/2019

Associate Editor for Nutrition

Dr. Raul Bodas holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. title in Veterinary Science, specialty Animal Production from the University of León (Spain). He spent one year as a PostDoc at the Division of Farm Animal Science (University of Bristol, UK). He worked as a lecturer for the University of Valladolid (Spain) and as a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Currently, he is a researcher in the Livestock Research Area with the Agrarian Technological Institute of Castille and Leon (ITACyL, Spain). He is a member of the Spanish Society for the Study of Sheep and Goats (SEOC), the Interprofessional Association for Agricultural Development (AIDA), the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), and the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP).

Raul’s fields of expertise and interest are the interaction between ruminant feeding and production systems and their impact on product quality (meat, milk), environmental impact, efficient use of resources and animal welfare.

He has also been involved in many National and European public funded projects, contracts with enterprises or the administration. Raul is the co-author of around 60 JCR scientific papers, 25 peer-reviewed papers, 3 book chapters, 30 informative papers and more than 60 communications to national and international conferences. He has tutored 5 final degree projects, 3 MSc and 1 Ph.D. thesis. He also likes to collaborate in the review of scientific papers, projects, and proposals whenever his workload and editing duties allow.

ResearcherID: H-3094-2015
Scopus Author ID: 22949727000
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9736-7041
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=m6Ha6o8AAAAJ&hl=es.

Profile – Dr. J.N.B. Shrestha

3/1/2019

Associate Editor for Genetics

Dr. J.N.B. Shrestha retired as Research Scientist in the Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Quebec, Canada, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He obtained professional degrees from U.P. Agricultural University, India (BVSc & AH; 1966), and from University of Minnesota, USA (MS and Ph.D.; 1970 and 1973), followed by Postdoctoral research (1973-75) at the University of Minnesota and National Research Council of Canada. His area of specialization has been in Animal Breeding and Genetics, Reproduction, Production and Conservation of Domestic animal diversity. He has supervised numerous MS and Ph.D. students, as well as authored and co-authored more than 200 scientific, technical and popular papers on long-term sheep, swine and poultry breeding, development of reproduction and molecular technologies to enhance productivity, and the preservation of domestic animals. Dr. Shrestha also participated in International Conferences held in various countries as keynote speaker, chaired sessions and presented scientific papers.

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.

call +1-501-454-1641

© 2012 International Goat Association
12709 Grassy Dr.
Little Rock, Arkansas 72210, USA

Photo used under Creative Commons from Breville USA