THE PREVALENCE OF MASTITIS IN SMALL RUMINANTS AND THE EFFECT OF MASTITIS ON SMALL RUMINANT PRODUCTION

摘要

There are almost eight million sheep and three and a half million goats in the United States (USDA-NASS, 2006). The milking goat population in the United States is approximately 1,000,000 head and the milking sheep population is approximately 7,000 head (Thomas and Haenlein, 2005). Commercial goat milk production in the United States is estimated to be 110 million pounds per year while commercial sheep milk production is estimated to be 2.6 million pounds per year (Thomas and Haenlein, 2005). While these numbers are small in comparison to dairy cattle statistics, small ruminant dairying is currently one of the most rapidly expanding areas of North American agriculture.