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Goat Production from the Goats Perspective

Mark Kepler

Purdue Extension Educator

Horse Pasture

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Plant Psychology

Not the Way to Go

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Understand Your Animal

Goat Psychology

Origin of the Species

Climate

Turkey and Iran

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What Do We See Here?

• Brush- mouth parts

• Little grass

• Rocks-hoof

• Lack of grain

• Horns-defense

• Herding instinct

• Up high

• Dry-Worms and Foot Rot

• Domesticated 8,000 BC

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Cattle

Goats less Europeanized

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Understand Your AnimalBoer Goat

Origin of the breed

South African Climate

• Rain- 17 inches

• Cold- Just under freezing at the lowest

• Hot- Less than 90F

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We are not South Africa!

GeneticsGoats (from their point of view) are naturally

developed and raised in a dry environment.

Cattle came for a wetter environment.

Breeding Resistance

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I Raise Cattle and Goats

Up High

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Even Higher• Goat on shed

Other Side of the Fence

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Cattle vs Goat

My Pasture

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Provided by David Ditsch

Goat Grazing Preference TrialUK Robinson Station

1. Sorghum Sudan

2. White Clover

3. Turnip

4. Red clover

5. Chicory

6. Sericea Lespedeza

7. Tall Oatgrass

8. Alfalfa

9. Warm Season Grasses

(EGG, Switch, BB, Indian)

10. Reed canarygrass

11. Orchardgrass

12. Annual Lespedeza

13. Novel Endophyte TF

14. Endophyte Free TF

15. Infected TF

16. Bluegrass

17. Bermudagrass

Brown Midrib Sorghum Sudan

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Chicory

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Chicory was cultivated as early as 5000 years ago by Egyptians as a medicinal plant.

Grain is a Drug

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Grain –Grass seed

Corn

Wheat

Barley

Oats

High in carbohydrates and low in protein.

SerotoninThe Feel Good Drug

• Secreted from the gut in response to food

and travels to the brain

• High grain low protein diets increase

serotonin production---Grains

• Also Increase domination

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Goat Queen

Common for a doe who has just kidded to try and ‘upgrade’ her pecking order

Goats will eat Dirt but they will not eat Dirty feed

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Goats do not like Wet

Wet and Wild

• Weedy house

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Rose Bush

• Rose bush

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Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Iraq-- first written reference to the

rose in 3,000 B.C.

Domestication is not Done