![]() Dear IGA Friends and Family, I am delighted to announce that we have adopted a new logo and will be updating the IGA website to give it a fresh new look! The updated website will be more engaging and more straightforward to navigate and serve us well for many years. You will see changes happen on our website throughout October. Please join me in thanking Christian De Vries for the beautiful design and improved functionality of our website. We also wish to thank Evans Torres for assisting us with the IGA website redesign and for our excellent new logo. To learn more about Evans, click here. The global COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on all of us, so we hope that this news will be a bright spot in a challenging year. We believe IGA will be well-positioned to be the leader on all goat related activities in the post-COVID world. Warm wishes, Beth A. Miller, DVM President International Goat Association
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![]() Recognition of IGA’s Most Active CRs and RDs Every year the International Goat Association officially recognizes the most active Regional Directors (RD) and Country Representatives (CR). RDs and CRs are an essential part of IGA, and we sincerely grateful for 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. We wish to congratulate them for their involvement and successes. The 2019 IGA Achievement Award recipients are Hector Mario Andrade-Montemayor (RD for Mexico, Caribbean & Central America) and Farhad Mirzaei (CR for Iran). With also wish to give an honorable mention and special thanks to:
We appreciate all our Country Representatives, Regional Directors, and you, our wonderful members. Thank you for making 2019 an excellent year for IGA. ![]() Dear Sir/Madam On behalf of the 5th AADGC 2020 organizing committee, we would like to inform you that due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The AADGC board and the 5th AADGC 2020 organizing committee have unanimously decided to postpone the event to another date, which has not been decided yet. We have monitored the COVID-19 situation for the best time to have a great success and safe for the conference and all participants, respectively. We also apologize for any inconvenience caused by postponing the conference and hope to see all of you at this important international event to celebrate all together. The Organizing Secretary will contact all parties involved (Speakers, Sponsors & Exhibitors, Delegates, Poster Presenters, and others) with further information. Take care and best regards. Visit the AADGC website for more information, http://aadgc2020.com. ![]() The 3rd edition of the Indigenous Goat Production Handbook is available. This book aims to assist owners of indigenous goats with semi-intensive and extensive farming systems. It looks at ways to improve the productivity of their herds and start commercializing. This edition contains an expanded section on internal parasites, specifically worms, innovations that have been carried out with farmers in South Africa such as goat dips and kid enclosures, and the results of lessons learned since the last edition. The book is part of an ongoing collaboration of the KwaZulu Natal Goat Agribusiness Project with HPSA, Mdukatshani, and the South African government and vets. For more information on the project visit www.gapkzn.co.za. Or contact Marisia Geraci, marisia@hpsa.org.za. Special thanks to Marisia Geraci, IGA Country Representative for South Africa. ![]() Edited by Sándor Kukovics Széchenyi István University of Sciences Goat science covers quite a wide range and varieties of topics, from genetics and breeding, via nutrition, production systems, reproduction, milk and meat production, animal health and parasitism, etc., up to the effects of goat products on human health. In this book, several parts of them are presented within 18 different chapters. Molecular genetics and genetic improvement of goats are the new approaches of goat development. Several factors affect the passage rate of digesta in goats, but for diet properties, goats are similar to other ruminants. Iodine deficiency in goats could be dangerous. Assisted reproduction techniques have similar importance in goats like in other ruminants. Milk and meat production traits of goats are almost equally important and have significant positive impacts on human health. Many factors affect the health of goats, heat stress being of increasing importance. Production systems could modify all of the abovementioned characteristics of goats. You can download each chapter at IntechOpen, https://www.intechopen.com/books/goat-science. The IGA Board of Directors is pleased to announce two great new Country Representatives (CR) and a wonderful new Regional Director (RD). They have each demonstrated their commitment to IGA and knowledge of the goat sector.
These recently elected Country Representatives are María Eva Muñoz Mejías (Spain) and Jon Chirisa (Zimbabwe). The new Regional Director is Dr. Juan Boo Liang. IGA is pleased to join the SMARTER Stakeholder Committee, to provide insight and feedback from the new “Small Ruminant Breeding for Efficiency and Resilience.” It is a new European and international initiative funded by the EU that will use genomic selection across countries. It will make selection for traits conferring efficiency and resilience both faster and more efficient. SMARTER will also characterize the phenotype and genome of traditional and underutilized breeds. Finally, SMARTER will propose new breeding strategies that utilize these traits and trade-offs and balance economic, social and environmental challenges.
Please visit the SMARTER website, and sign up for the free newsletter: https://www.smarterproject.eu/ Beth A. Miller, DVM President, International Goat Association ![]() 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. ![]() That Sheep May Safely Graze is written by David Sherman, former Editor-in-Chief of Small Ruminant Research, 2001-2005. Veterinarian and global goat health expert David Sherman shares his big-picture view of the development challenges in Afghanistan based on his years of living there. He illustrates the importance of animal health, often overlooked by development experts, so readers can appreciate how healthy sheep and goats provide livelihoods for rural people, food for hungry cities, and wool for beautiful carpets. The book contains numerous short and charming vignettes that vary from quiet delight in small farm life to portraits of fascinating individuals to frustration with ever-changing political agendas. Most importantly, David invites readers to see the dignity and humanity in his Afghan colleagues and ordinary villagers. Western development aid has resulted in too few successes, but this highly readable account of Afghanistan’s veterinary field unit project is a “how-to” of effective assistance that improves the lives of animals and the people who depend on them. Beth A. Miller President, International Goat Association This book will be released on March 15, 2019, but it is available to pre-order from Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions. A global view of small ruminant production gives a fascinating and truly global insight into the daily lives of vets, livestock keepers and the sheep and goats in their care. Featuring over 400 images and accompanying texts from over 50 countries, this collection was first displayed at the 9th International Sheep Veterinary Congress in Harrogate in 2017.
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