# Presentation: 829048

## Meat Goat Finishing Systems for Appalachian Small FarmsCRIS 1932-63000-001-00D

**Ken Turner ****	****	****Ani Sci/Lead Sci**
**Kim Cassida****	****	****Agronomist**
**Jorge Ferreira****	****	****Horticulturist**
**Joyce Foster****	****	****Biochemist**
**Dale Ritchey****	****	****Soil Scientist**

## Pasture Finishing Goats

**Weight gain, carcass parameters, and meat quality when finished on alfalfa, red clover, or orchardgrass pastures without energy/protein supplementation.**
**Monitoring FEC, PCV, FAMACHA, and blood parameters (VA-MD Veterinary College).**
**Monitoring REA and Back Fat with ultrasound technology (WVU).**

## Pasture Finishing Goats

**Monitoring forage quality and quantity.**
**Other feeding studies (VSU).**
**Economics pasture finishing (Univ. Pittsburgh, Katz School of Business).**

## Pasture Finishing Goats

**Nitrogen cycling in the pastures.**
**Water quality via suction lysimeters**

## Goats Grazing Alfalfa Paddocks in Sept. 2005

## Table 1. Final body weight (BW) and carcass parameters when meat goats were finished on alfalfa (ALF), red clover (RCL), or orchardgrass (OGR) pastures without grain                          supplementation in 2005.

## 84 Packing Co.Eighty Four, PA

## Halal

**Religious ceremony associated with harvesting of goat, lamb, beef, or poultry for human consumption.**
**Ethnic populations have accepted frozen goat carcasses because demand exceeds supply.**
**Fresh goat market is niche opportunity for farmers in the U.S.**

## Chevon carcasses Oct. 2005Halal Slaughter

## Animal IDEar tag #56Goat Loin

## HalalChevon and Lamb

**Desired 25-35 pound carcass.**
**Carcass has associated head, heart, kidneys, liver, and spleen.**
**Preferences is for lean carcass from grass feeding vs. grain feeding.**
**Families buy whole carcasses; individuals buy 5-6 pounds meat at one time. **

## Slide 12

## GI ParasiteLaboratory Studies

***Haemonchus contortus; *****Barberpole worm L3 larvae survival and egg hatch as influenced by plant secondary metabolites (includes traditional and non-traditional plants).**
**Small Ruminant GI Parasite/Gerbil Assay (VT Vet School).**

## New Small Ruminant Pasture Finishing Study

**Meat goat kids, Hair sheep lambs, and Traditional lambs (approx. same age).**
**Finished on orchardgrass/red clover/white clover pastures with and without supplementation.**
**Weight gain, carcass parameters, and meat quality.**
**Monitoring REA and BF with ultrasound technology.**
**Monitoring FEC, PCV, FAMACHA, and blood parameters.**

## AFSRC Small Farms Project-- agronomy-oriented small ruminant research -- 

- Forage Chicory
- Does soil P fertility alter persistence, yield, nutritive value, anthelmintic properties, or palatability of chicory for goats?
- Do chicory cultivars differ in anthelmintic potential?
- Forage Brassica
- Are turnips or forage rape useful in meat goat production systems?
- Do glucosinolates have anthelmintic properties for goats?
- How do brassica secondary compounds change across seasons and thus interact with parasitism in goats?
- Legume Pastures for Meat Goats
- Evaluate meat goat growth and carcass quality on alfalfa, red clover, and orchardgrass pastures
- Forage yield, grazing management/utilization, nutritive value, stand persistence, plant tissue turnover, soil N cycling, soil microbial ecology, economic analysis

## AFSRC Small Farms Project-- agronomy-oriented small ruminant research -- 

- Tannin-Containing Legumes
- sericea lespedeza, annual lespedeza, birdsfoot trefoil
- How do tannins impact parasitism in meat goats on pasture?
- How do tannins affect N cycling in pasture ecosystems?
- Appropriate species, cultivars, and management for Appalachia?
- Parasitism – Infective Potential of Pastures
- Develop quicker method for measuring infective larvae on forage
- How does infective potential vary with forage species, cultivar, and pasture management?
- Stockpiling prairiegrass for fall grazing of small ruminants