D4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 6,1981
Dairy specialist challenges goat owners
Special to Lancaster Fanning
LANCASTER Questions.
George Haenlem, dairy specialist
at the University of Delaware,
presented lots of them at the recent
meeting of the Dutch Country
Dairy Goat Association.
Through slides and com
mentary, Haenlem challenged the
group to pursue answers to some of
the problems he sees m the dairy
goat industry. Among the
questions he posed were:
Did you know that TBZ, the
most commonly used goat wor
mer, does not control the most
prevalent internal parasite in
goats —Haemonchus?
Are dairy goats suited to the
temperate climate?
ls browse an unportant part of
the diet for dairy goats, and what
happens to them when it’s
eliminated?
Did you know that in
California they are using goats to
graze down the fire breaks?
By removing the horns from
goats, as we are robbing them of a
natural heat control mechanism
much like the dewlap or floppy
ears on the rabbit?
ls it possible that the in
creased vascularization we have
found present in the sinus area in
goats provides cooling of the blood,
protecting the brain from heat
stroke?
Did you know that Penn
sylvania is the only state m the
Union with research in goats
currently taking place?
And did you know that while
we all know that some babies
cannot tolerate cow’s milk, not one
medical person is involved m goat
research?
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sylvama is one of the few slates
permitting sales of raw goat’s milk
through raw milk licensing?
✓ Did you know that the milk
code m Delaware says milk is the
secretion of a cow, period’ I
wonder what they would say if we
would starting milking mares
and there is commercial mare’s
milk available, you know.
Are you aware that to nine out
of ten milk sanitarians, goat’s milk
stinks and carries everything bad
in the world.
Should we be trying to raise
the goats like dairy cattle, or
should we be recognizing their
differences?
Can dairy goats survive the
strains of confinement housing
used in other dairy animals?
ln our confmement systems,
do we seriously consider the
parasite control problem?
lf we raise goats in con
finement, should we raise them on
an elevated floor?
Terming parasite control efforts
in dairy goats “marginal”,
Haenlem urged the group to push
for approval of a wider range of
goat wormers. Through slides, he
emphasized goats are naturally
inhabitants of and regions and that
when goats are raised in tem
perate regions, chemical wormers
must be used.
Slides of goats indigent to the
Swiss Alps provided a graphic
reminder that goats are naturally
browsing rather than grazing
animals. Haenlem noted that
resins, present in evergreens, have
been recognized for their
usefulness in controlling diarrhea
and digestive upsets in goats. In
addition, pictures showing goats
nibbling shrubs which are
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poisonous to them prompted
Haenlem to question upsetting
what this process of selective
browsing does to the dairy goat.
In his talk, Haenlem emphasized
the need for dairy goat owners to
see the goat as a total animal
capable of providing meat as well
as milk. And services such as
grazing hillsides and scrub areas,
he noted, have been used by people
m Europe for centuries.
Relatmg postmortem findings of
increased vascularization m the
sinus area in goats compared to
other cattle, he said, “We can find
no reason for this to be. Could it be
this provides cooling of the blood
mto the bram even when the body
is too hot?”
Haenlem urged the group to
address itself to the prejudices
against goat’s milk through sup
port of research efforts. He called
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the finding for the Pennsylvania
research project “pitiful.”
In dairy goat management,
Haenlem said, “The goat industry
is gaming and benefiting from
what has been done m this country
m the dairy industry as long as it is
recognized there are certain basic
differences, not all of which are
medical. Maybe out cows are able
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to stand confinement a little better
than our goats.
“Maybe we have a problem
similar to that in turkeys. In Texas
they can raise turkeys on the
ground, but not here. Maybe goats
are similar. We seem to have a
problem (internal parasites) that
our vets don’t know how to cope
with.”