Selecting Meat Goats for Parasite Resistance
One can greatly improve the parasite resistance of meat goats by selecting and breeding for this trait. Our twelve years of experience in breeding full blood Boers has shown us that the heritability of resistance to internal parasites in Boer goats is much greater than we originally thought it would be. We have made great progress in improving our herd for this trait. When we first started breeding Boer goats for parasite resistance, we had to worm our goats three times per year. Over a ten year period, we have achieved enough genetic improvement for parasite resistance to be able to worm only once per year. Individual goats which required more frequent worming were culled. If one worms too often, one is breeding superior worms, not better goats.
Fertility and mothering ability are also very important. Meat goats will not be profitable if they do not have kids, if they do not care for and protect their kids, or if they do not produce enough milk for their kids to grow rapidly. We have found that goats that are parasite resistant are also more fertile and better mothers.
Because the Kiko breed of goat originated in New Zealand which has a warm, wet climate many Kiko breeders insist that Kikos are more resistant to internal parasites than Boers. This might possibly be true when looking at averages, but some of the research done trying to prove this is flawed. No person, who has a basic understanding of population genetics, biometrics, and the history of these two breeds, would even try to prove such a thing. Both of these breeds were developed very recently by crossing very diverse types of goats. Very little line breeding has been done within either breed to fix certain traits. Thus, the differences between individual goats within each of these breeds, for resistance to parasites, are much greater than the differences between the breeds. Most of the Kiko breeders in our area were worming their Kikos more often than we wormed our full blood Boer goats. We do believe that Kikos are great meat goats, and the breed is playing a very important role in our meat goat industry.
Fertility and mothering ability are also very important. Meat goats will not be profitable if they do not have kids, if they do not care for and protect their kids, or if they do not produce enough milk for their kids to grow rapidly. We have found that goats that are parasite resistant are also more fertile and better mothers.
Because the Kiko breed of goat originated in New Zealand which has a warm, wet climate many Kiko breeders insist that Kikos are more resistant to internal parasites than Boers. This might possibly be true when looking at averages, but some of the research done trying to prove this is flawed. No person, who has a basic understanding of population genetics, biometrics, and the history of these two breeds, would even try to prove such a thing. Both of these breeds were developed very recently by crossing very diverse types of goats. Very little line breeding has been done within either breed to fix certain traits. Thus, the differences between individual goats within each of these breeds, for resistance to parasites, are much greater than the differences between the breeds. Most of the Kiko breeders in our area were worming their Kikos more often than we wormed our full blood Boer goats. We do believe that Kikos are great meat goats, and the breed is playing a very important role in our meat goat industry.
Parasite resistance is very difficult to measure accurately. Selection for this trait is equally difficult. Nutrition, sanitation, and climate have an impact on parasite resistance in goats. These environmental factors vary greatly from herd to herd and from year to year within a herd. It is almost impossible to select for this trait when buying goats, especially if one has little information on how the goats were managed or on when and how often they were wormed. This is one reason for not buying breeding stock at sale barns. A second reason is that sale barns are where we and others sell our culls. Every producer has culls to sell. Even when breeding the best to the best, some of the offspring will be culls. One often has to buy goats and try them out before using them in a breeding program. This can be very expensive and can slow down progress in achieving ones goals. The two most expensive goats we ever bought were culls and were never used in our breeding program.
For those who wish to select and breed meat goats for parasite resistance, the future looks brighter because of very important research currently in progress at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. They are trying to develop tools for performance testing bucks and rams for parasite resistance. If successful they will implement a new central sire performance testing program for goats and sheep. They are also looking for genetic markers that can be used to select goats and sheep for parasite resistance, and they have set up experiments to determine the rate of improvement likely when breeding goats or sheep for parasite resistance. They are working with Boer, Kiko, and Spanish meat goats and with Dorper, Katahdin, and St. Croix hair sheep.
To do this research, Langston University is collaborating with the USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Arkansas, the Oklahoma State University Department of Animal Science, the Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Economics, three goat producers, and three sheep producers. The collaborating producers must have one hundred twenty females in their herd, and must have facilities for pen breeding six groups of animals. The producers must practice good management and must keep good records for progeny ID.
For those who wish to select and breed meat goats for parasite resistance, the future looks brighter because of very important research currently in progress at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. They are trying to develop tools for performance testing bucks and rams for parasite resistance. If successful they will implement a new central sire performance testing program for goats and sheep. They are also looking for genetic markers that can be used to select goats and sheep for parasite resistance, and they have set up experiments to determine the rate of improvement likely when breeding goats or sheep for parasite resistance. They are working with Boer, Kiko, and Spanish meat goats and with Dorper, Katahdin, and St. Croix hair sheep.
To do this research, Langston University is collaborating with the USDA-ARS Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Arkansas, the Oklahoma State University Department of Animal Science, the Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Economics, three goat producers, and three sheep producers. The collaborating producers must have one hundred twenty females in their herd, and must have facilities for pen breeding six groups of animals. The producers must practice good management and must keep good records for progeny ID.
Come Visit Us and See Our Herd
We are located in north central Arkansas, twenty miles south of Missouri.
Ralph is four miles south of Yellville, Arkansas, on Highway 14.
We are two miles west of Ralph on County Road 5040.
Ken and Candy Ziemer
1656 MC 5040, Yellville, Arkansas 72687
(870) 449-6789
Ralph is four miles south of Yellville, Arkansas, on Highway 14.
We are two miles west of Ralph on County Road 5040.
Ken and Candy Ziemer
1656 MC 5040, Yellville, Arkansas 72687
(870) 449-6789
