Benchmarking is an important tool to improve health and profitability but requires available data from similar production systems for comparison of performance. This study was conducted to generate a first dataset regarding dairy goat management and kid health in Southern Germany. Participation was voluntary, and 33 farmers contributed to a questionnaire survey, while 19 additionally recorded kidding and mortality data for twelve months in 2018/2019. A total of 2,371 kids were born at term, 154 of which were stillborn. Of the 2,217 live-born kids, a total of 195 died during the rearing period, with total losses (stillbirth and mortality of live-born kids) accounting for 14.7%. Farm-specific mortality parameters were variable, with a mean stillbirth rate of 6.4% (median: 5.8%; range: 0–20.7%). The average mortality of live-born kids was 9.1% (median: 8.7%; range: 1.6–25.5%). Predominant clinical signs associated with mortality were diarrhoea (25.6%), followed by weakness at birth (20.3%). Active control of colostrum intake (p=0.032) and selenium supplementation (p=0.008) were associated with lower overall mortality rates, while early weaning (aged 6–8 weeks) was associated with increased mortality in animals >1 month (p=0.043). A considerable percentage of post-weaning deaths and commonly observed diarrhoea in this age group also highlight the importance of appropriate management of coccidiosis. This study generated first benchmarking data for the specific conditions of predominantly organic Southern German dairy goat farms. Data analysis was also useful to identify individual areas of improvement on the participating farms and should be further promoted in small ruminant health management.
BT - Berliner und Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift CY - Hannover DA - 11/2022 DO - 10.2376/1439-0299-2022-14 LA - English N2 -Benchmarking is an important tool to improve health and profitability but requires available data from similar production systems for comparison of performance. This study was conducted to generate a first dataset regarding dairy goat management and kid health in Southern Germany. Participation was voluntary, and 33 farmers contributed to a questionnaire survey, while 19 additionally recorded kidding and mortality data for twelve months in 2018/2019. A total of 2,371 kids were born at term, 154 of which were stillborn. Of the 2,217 live-born kids, a total of 195 died during the rearing period, with total losses (stillbirth and mortality of live-born kids) accounting for 14.7%. Farm-specific mortality parameters were variable, with a mean stillbirth rate of 6.4% (median: 5.8%; range: 0–20.7%). The average mortality of live-born kids was 9.1% (median: 8.7%; range: 1.6–25.5%). Predominant clinical signs associated with mortality were diarrhoea (25.6%), followed by weakness at birth (20.3%). Active control of colostrum intake (p=0.032) and selenium supplementation (p=0.008) were associated with lower overall mortality rates, while early weaning (aged 6–8 weeks) was associated with increased mortality in animals >1 month (p=0.043). A considerable percentage of post-weaning deaths and commonly observed diarrhoea in this age group also highlight the importance of appropriate management of coccidiosis. This study generated first benchmarking data for the specific conditions of predominantly organic Southern German dairy goat farms. Data analysis was also useful to identify individual areas of improvement on the participating farms and should be further promoted in small ruminant health management.
PB - Schlütersche Fachmedien GmbH PP - Hannover PY - 2022 EP - 1–10 T1 - Management and goat kid mortality on Southern German dairy goat farms T2 - Berliner und Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift TI - Management and goat kid mortality on Southern German dairy goat farms TT - Management und Kitzsterblichkeit in süddeutschen Milchziegenbetrieben VL - 135 SN - 1439-0299 ER -