Online registry to assist meat goat producers

Monday, March 18, 2013

BY DIANNE FETTERLY

A new online pilot program is designed to assist meat goat producers in managing their herds and there’s still room for a few more farms to participate.

Set to have its national release on March 26, Bio-Track identifies each goat by its tattoo or ear tag and allows producers to store data such as health and vaccines, genetics, pedigree, herd information and animal movement, within the operation as well as from farm to farm. It also allows users to track all expenses so a farmer can know exactly what an animal costs to produce. Producers can also add notes to the online information.

Go-Gen project co-ordinator Kevin Weaver says there are currently eight Ontario pilot farms taking part in the project but there is enough money to include 15. Participating farms test the new Bio-Track system by using it to record their daily operations.

“We were looking to have a system for meat goat producers to track the day-to-day management on their farms. There are systems for other species of animals and we wanted to look at something for meat goats. Bio-Track, an online management program for beef farmers, was adapted for sheep and we wanted to look at it and see if it would work for goats as well. As it turned out, Bio was a perfect fit,” Weaver said.

Besides the online aspect, there are other benefits for producers, he added. Another area is traceability, using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. This is a useful tool for producers when selling their animals to other farmers because the information follows the animal, he said.

Also included in the project is a gap analysis and feasibility study to gather information from the packers and forward the data it back to farmers. And because of this aspect, there is an add-on benefit of the ability to develop genetic evaluations. “The whole premise is to help increase profits,” Weaver explained.

Weaver has been working on the project for the past two years. He also raises goats and milks about 150 registered Alpine goats at his London-area farm. The project received funding through the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Farmers interested in participating in the project can contact Ontario Goat. BF