Indoor Dairy Goat Farming
Indoor (Housed) Dairy Goat Farming Systems
The first question anyone asks when you mention housing dairy goats is - why? Why would you intentionally house your livestock, and wouldn't they be healthier free to roam outdoors. Surprisingly, the answer is NO. Dairy goats are actually healthier when predominantly housed indoors compared to a fully outdoor setting.
Why House Goats Indoors?
Goats, by nature, are browsers, so they will pick and choose what they want to eat, and when they find something worth eating in a paddock, they will chew it down hard. This means, in a paddock grazed setting, the goats would continually graze to the lower portion of the grass sward where intestinal worm eggs exist. They then ingest the worms, and if left untreated, would eventually become so worm burdened that they would become very malnourished and in most cases would eventually die.
As in sheep, intestinal worms hosted by goats will develop resistance to the active ingredients when continually treated by the way of pour-ons or oral drenches, In addition to this, these products are not suitable for using with lactating animals.
For the reasons mentioned above, the best way to avoid the goats becoming worm burdened is to prevent them from ingesting the worm eggs in the first place. This is done by housing the animals indoors (so they aren't able to graze hard on the paddocks) and bring the food to them. In a Cut and Carry system, the fresh grass is cut on a daily basis and brought in to the goats. When cutting the grass, the mower height is set above the level that worm eggs are typically located. The grass has all the same freshness and nutritional goodness as they would get if grazing in the paddocks themselves, but with added advantage of being (almost) worm free.
Some worm eggs are still likely to end up in part of the goats' feed but not in sufficient numbers to cause a herd wide issue. Individual animals can be treated if they display symptoms associated with worms and/or the whole herd or groups can be treated during the dry period when the goats are not producing milk.
An alternative to the fresh grass cut and carry system is to feed goats on a TMR (Total Mixed Ration) diet. In this system, grass is continually conserved as silage when it reaches peak nutritional goodness and is fed as required to the goats on a daily basis. The high quality grass silage is mixed with hay/straw, grains, minerals and commonly molasses.
Housing Barns
Housing barns are designed to allow for shelter whilst also providing good air flow. Where westerly winds prevail, barns are typically built with a North-South orientation. The two main housing barn systems are those with drive-through lanes, and those with feed conveyors. Feed conveyor systems utilise the space more efficiently, allowing for a greater number of animals to be housed compared with a drive-through barn with the same roof area. Despite this, drive-through barns are typically easier to feed out in and allow you to better monitor animal behaviour as you feed out or are just passing by during the day. Conveyor barns require an additional set of mechanical parts (the conveyor belt system) and it is much slower to distribute the feed .
Regardless of the feed system used, all housing barns require on-going maintenance to keep them in good physical condition, a clean space to live in and to maintain feed quality.
The minimum permitted loafing (bedding) space per adult goat is 3 square meters, with a minimum feed space per goat of 330mm per goat . The majority of housing barns operate at higher areas per animal, particularly as each the season progresses and stocking rates naturally decrease as animals as removed from the system. The number and type of troughs must be enough to provide sufficient water supply to all the animals, all year round. Best practice is to have at least 1 trough per 40 adult goats.
Outdoor Spaces
Outdoor spaces are an integral part of indoor dairy goat systems. For the same reasons that dairy goats are housed to control worms, outdoor spaces typically do not contain grassed surfaces. River stones or coarse sand are common.
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Being able to shut goats off from their outdoor space during bad weather is an advantage, especially during the kidding period
The provision of enrichment items allow the goats to scratch, climb and explore.
Health and Safety on Indoor Goat Farms
Aspects of Health and Safety that are specifically applicable to Indoor Dairy Goat Farms are as follows:
Goats:
The goats themselves are one of the most likely ways in which a worker may become injured on a dairy goat farm. Because they are smaller in size and more stubborn than, for example, a dairy cow, manual handling is often carried out. Care must be taken to avoid back injuries when doing so. Furthermore, where a goat is being moved with the aid of a collar, be careful not to let your hand or fingers become trapped or wrapped around the collar as a sudden twist of the goat's body has the potential to cause serious injury to you.
Goats are highly motivated by feed and do not 'give way' to each other, or people, when on a mission to access a feed source. Given space, a goat will not purposefully run into a person, however goats which are fed in the milking shed are known to rush towards the milking platform and bale area. If a person happens to find themselves in between the goats and this area, they are very likely to become squashed or trapped between the goats and the yard or milking rails, creating a significant hazard.
Most dairy goats are dehorned shortly after birth for the safety of each other and people handling them. It is not uncommon for some goats horns to partially regrow or for some kids to be missed at the dehorning stage due to illness, on-farm management, or animals not intended to be kept in the herd. Goats are very unlikely to use their horns aggressively towards humans, but a simple lift of the head at the wrong moment or a playful rub of their head against your side can accidentally injure people. When handling or working around animals with horns, particular care should be taken to protect the face and eyes.
Tractors and Machinery:
Machinery and moving vehicles pose one of the most significant, in terms of seriousness of potential harm, on an indoor dairy goat farm. Not only do operators need to take sensible precautions for their own safety, they must be vigilant to ensure the safety of other staff, children or visitors who may be on the farm as they move around. Mixer wagons should not be left running unattended, silo ladders should be inaccessible to young children, and vehicle speeds need to be kept at a minimum.
Slippery Surfaces:
In order to create easy to clean surfaces, many concreted areas are smoother than normally used on a dairy farm. These concrete areas become extra slippery when wet and are at their most slippery when recently scraped. Walking on bedding areas rather than scrape lanes, near rails that can be used for support, not rushing when moving over slippery areas, and foot wear with good grip all help to prevent accidental falls.
Follow this link for a full checklist of items to consider when preparing a Goat Farming Health and Safety Plan.
