THE HOUSING OF MILK GOATS

Increasing the size of specialised goat milk producing herds needs mod ifications in traditional concepts and housing equipment. Environmenta l factors such as air temperature, humidity, lighting, etc., must be c ontrolled to avoid serious goat diseases. The application of standard techniques in goat breeding such as space requirements, Ventilation an d insulation, and also an efficient use of building and sanitary prote ction, will lead to a healthy environment for goats and a good level o f milk production. The goat keeper spends an important number of worki ng hours in the building. However, the efficacy of working practices m ust not be in conflict with the goat's natural living conditions. The choice between one technique and another will introduce different conc epts into the layout. So each workstand and its equipment should compl y with efficient time management and with high quality milk production . Before taking the decision to build a goat house a comparison should be carried out between building and equipments costs and the economic s results of goat keeping. Often the goat keeper will have to find out about financial matters before being able to carry out this operation . Actually housing milking goats is becoming an essential production f actor. Correct building conception will lead to healthy goats and also help the farmer to maintain profitable work operations. However this investment must not bring imbalance to the future financial stability of the enterprise. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.