A survey of dairy goat kid-rearing practices on Canadian farms and their associations with self-reported farm performance

摘要

Although future production of dairy goats is influencedby kid-rearing practices, little is known regardingwhich practices maximize kid growth, welfare, andfuture production success. The objectives of this surveystudy were to (1) identify common rearing practices ofCanadian commercial dairy goat farms and evaluatetheir associations with 6 farm performance indicatorsand (2) determine if farms could be grouped by managementstyle on the basis of the 6 performance indicatorsand compare rearing practices common acrossthe different groups. A survey was sent by post orelectronic media to reach dairy goat producers acrossCanada. The questionnaire contained 70 questions onthe following areas of kid rearing: kidding management,care of newborn, colostrum management, milk andsolid feeding in the preweaning period, health management,disbudding, housing conditions, weaning strategies,record keeping and growth monitoring, and farmperformance data. Performance indicators, calculatedon self-reported data, were 305-d milk production,preweaning mortality rate, diarrhea and respiratorydisease prevalence, average daily gain from birth toweaning, herd milk production, and replacement rate.A total of 175 questionnaires were returned. Afterapplying inclusion criteria, including herd size (≥40goats) and completeness of surveys, 104 respondentsfrom Ontario (n = 72, 69%), Québec (n = 23, 22%),and the Western provinces (n = 9, 9%) were retainedfor analysis, representing 29% of all Canadian producers.Farm sizes ranged from 42 to 2,500 (median = 190)goats. A large amount of variation in rearing practicesand farm performance was found between farms. Colostrumand milk feeding management were found tobe associated with all performance indicators exceptfor kid respiratory disease prevalence, with timing ofcolostrum delivery and feeding method accounting formost the associations within each of the 2 areas. Replacementrate was mostly affected by whether or notkids were reared with their dam. Herds surveyed inthe study could successfully be divided into 3 distinctgroups (production-focused, longevity-focused, andlow performance), representing different managementstyles on the basis of farm self-reported performancelevels. Rearing practices found to be associated withhigher farm performance could be targeted by advisoryservices to help improve management practices on Canadiandairy goat farms.