The Newsletter of the E (Kika) de la Garza American Institute for Goat Research Cooperative Extension Program, Langston University
| Written by Dr. Tilahun Sahlu IGA Board member and Director of E (Kika) de la Garza American Institute for Goat Research As usual, this time of year is very busy as we prepare for our annual Goat Field Day and conduct research projects. This year, the theme for our Goat and Hair Sheep Field Day is Preventing Production Losses and you can read more about it on page 3 of this newsletter. This year our featured speakers will be Mr. Matthew Branan, Dr. David Pugh, and Dr. Jim Keen. Mr. Branan is from the USDA/APHIS National Animal Health Monitoring System in Fort Collins, CO; Dr. Pugh is from the Alabama Veterinary Diagnostic Lab System in Auburn, AL; and Dr. Keen is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. |  Download a copy of their Newsletter here. |
Production loss has many facets. According to the USDA/APHIS NAHMS report entitled "Goat and Kid Predator and Nonpredator Death Loss in the United States, 2015", by the way Mr. Branan is associated with this USDA program, about 500,000 adult and kid goats were lost to all causes (nonpredator and predator) in 2015, which represented 10% of U.S. adult goat inventory and 20% of kids born in 2015. The total value of goat and kid losses was $70 million. Texas had the largest inventory of goats and also had the highest percentage of losses: 36% of U.S. adult goat deaths and 38 % of kid deaths. Nonpredator causes accounted for about three-fourths of all adult goat and kid death losses in the U.S. in 2015. Of known losses due to nonpredator causes, internal parasites were the primary cause, resulting in almost 87,000 goat and kid deaths in 2015. For 2015 death losses due to predators, coyotes and dogs accounted for the highest percentages of goat and kid death losses in 2015. Overall, coyotes and dogs accounted for almost 80,000 goat and kid deaths, or about 65% of all losses due to predators.
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