NORWEGIAN GOAT HUSBANDRY
Only 3 % of the Norwegian land is cultivated. Mountainous landscape and a cool climate provide demanding conditions for agriculture. Except from grain production in the south-east part, the agricultural industry is dominated by animal production, cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. Goat husbandry is relatively small compared to other livestock. Still, goat milk production has long traditions in Norway. In the whole country there are about 38000 dairy goats. Total milk production is about 23 million liters. The total production has been stable the recent years, while the number of farms has declined heavily (fewer but bigger farms). The average size of a Norwegian goat farm is 85 dairy goats, and the milk production is regulated by a quota system. Though goat farms are spread all over the country, they are more densely concentrated in the Western and the Northern parts. Only a few farms in Norway base their production on meat from goats.
Pasture
The grazing season is relatively short (3 -4 months), and because of the climate goats are housed indoors for the rest of the year. In the summer time outdoor life is required by directive, and even if the period for grazing is limited, this is an important period. In Norway goats are grassing natural pastures in the woods. Many goat farms have summer pastures away from the farm, where the goats can find high quality grass and herbs. Grazing goats are popular among people in general, because goats contribute to keeping an open landscape by grazing growing bushes. For this purpose there is an increasing interest for Cashmere Goats that can be kept on islands along the coast or other areas where landscape getting overgrown by bushes is an increasing problem. Still, in areas with forest industry goats are not popular and over the years there have been regular conflicts between goat husbandry and the forest industry.
Buildings
Long winter necessitate a long period of indoor housing. To maintain good animal welfare improved housing is needed on many farms. Barns for goats normally are built with insulation in walls and ceiling to keep the temperature pleasant. New buildings are more and more without insulation, because farmers have realized that humidity and gasses are more challenging than low temperatures. Another reason for modernizing barns is the adaption to new technology like milk stalls and automatic systems for feeding and milking. The rate of improvement is however retarded by high building costs.
Health
The long period of indoor housing makes the goats exposed to contagious diseases. Especially three diseases, CLA (caseous lymfadenitis), paratuberculosis and CAE (caprine arthritis and encephalitis) have been harmful in many herds. In 2001 a national program was started to eradicate these three diseases. Because the diseases are chronic and resist treatment, the whole flock has to be replaced by healthy animals to eradicate them. There are few healthy animals to buy, so a technique of "snatching" kids has been used. This means that the farmer must survey every goat kidding. In helping with the delivery, he or she has to take the kid away from the barn as quickly as possible, avoiding contact with the other animals or any equipment.
A great effort is necessary from the farmers to carry out this program. Still, those who have completed it are in general satisfied. The extra work load is paid back by more healthy goats with improved milk production. More information about the programme: http://leine.no/htg/sanering/info/english/infengl.htm
Milk, cheese and market
About 80% of the goat milk produced has been used for making the traditional Norwegian brown cheese which is a whey product. However, the consumption of brown cheeses is declining, as consumers now want more white cheese products. White cheese production requires a better and more stable quality of the raw milk than whey products, and therefore it is necessary to improve the quality and change the character of the goat’s milk. This will be a big challenge for the Norwegian goat husbandry in the years to come.
The quality varies greatly during the lactation period, between individual animals, herds and seasons. Part of the problem is genetic and a targeted breeding program based on the relation between genetic variants of casein genes and quality problems, and new quality measures, could alleviate the problem. Feeding systems also affect milk quality, in particular the content and composition of proteins and lipids, which has implications for the cheese making abilities of the milk and for rheology, texture, and flavor of cheese. It is also a challenge to keep stable quality during the summer season. This is crucial for the entire goat dairy business because grazing natural pastures is a wanted policy.
To cope whit the quality problems, both The Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders (NSG) and The Norwegian Dairy Cooperative (Tine) have undertaken a wide range of actions. The first task is to reduce the level of free fatty acids (FFA). It is also a task to optimize the composition of caseins which inflect on rennet coagulation properties and on cheese yield. Milk from The Norwegian Dairy Goat has a low level of the αs1-casein compared to other European breeds.
Increased knowledge about milk quality is necessary, and it is necessary to intensify the scientific activity. A comprehensive project on Norwegian goat milk quality started this year. The project is a collaboration between several institutions (Tine, NSG, UMB (The Norwegian University of Life Sciences), Bioforsk (Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research) and The North Norwegian Agricultural Council). International partners are also included in the project.
The efforts for raising the milk quality must be corresponded by activity to develop market preferable cheeses and other goat products. In general the Norwegian consumers are positive to goats, but many find the flavor of the products too tart.
The mentioned problems concerning quality and market are possible to overcome. Therefore, Norwegian goat farmers have got reason to be optimistic.
Goat husbandry has a position all over the world, arctic areas included.
Tromsø, 01.07.08
Odd Arild Finnes