Milk production of PNG goats

GOATS were introduced to Papua New Guinea by early missionaries and explorers in the late 1800s for milk and meat production.
The numerous individual introductions of goat flocks left behind small pools of breeding stock which, over the years, spread and interbred mainly in the highlands. To date, they are collectively known as PNG goats.
The national goat population is now estimated to be as high as 20,000, if not more, and most of them are concentrated in Eastern Highlands, Chimbu, Western Highlands, Enga and Morobe.
Use of goats for milk production is unknown in the country, although goats are recognised globally as efficient producers of nutritious milk both in developing and developed countries. In fact, in many dry and arid pastoral and agro-pastoral communities of Asia and Africa, goats are referred to as the “milk cow of the poor” to signify their crucial role in producing valuable milk for home consumption and sales in suitably small amounts, even during the dry seasons.
One main reason for the low profile of goats in milk production is believed to be the fact that, in general, milk does not appear in PNG staple diets. Other reasons may be the lack of knowledge and skills in using goats for milk production and the low level of care provided to goats by farmers, which can be overcome through research for development.
NARI has conducted an on-station assessment of goat milk production from a flock of goats.
An average adult milk doe can produce on average a quarter of a litre of milk off take per day for a lactation period of three to four months. This adds up to 27kg of milk off take from one lactating goat during the lactation period.
Milk off take is what is drawn out of the udder and does not include the amount normally sucked by the kids.
During the trial, not all milk was drawn out of the udder, as part of it needs to be left for suckling kids. At peak lactation, they can give milk off take of up to 600ml and even 700ml per day.
The results also showed that apart from the level of feeding and care provided to the goat, size of the udder, age of the goat and the number of kids born at a time influence the amount of milk that can be obtained.
For good milk production, a milking goat must have access to good pasture and supplementary concentrate feeds such as copra meal or wheat mill run. Higher milk producers, and those with twin or triple kids, need to get more supplementary feed.
Milk production increases with age and parity of the doe, i.e. the number of times the doe has given birth. Milk production peaks in the third and fourth parities before it declines gradually.
An indication of the potential milk production of a goat is the size of its udder. Large and extended udders and teats tend to give more milk, apart from being easier for drawing the milk. Goats having twin or triplet kids were observed to have higher capacity for milk production.
In terms of nutrient composition of milk from the PNG goats, milk fat ranged widely from a low of 3.6% to more than 10%, with an average of about 7%, compared to 3-6% for tropical milk goats in general. The milk protein was at 3-4 % of whole milk. The total milk solids reach 17.8% of the total milk yield, giving about 10% of non-fat solids (SNF).
Low milk yield is always associated with higher milk fat and solid output.
Overall, the nutritional quality is very good. In particular, goat milk is a source of high quality protein and has similar nutritional profile to human milk.
The smaller size of fat globules in goat milk makes the milk easier to digest in the human stomach. Goat milk is often recommended to people with certain medical conditions like anaemia and allergic reactions to cow’s milk.
Goat milk is also known to be very rich in digestible minerals such as iron, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.
PNG goats can, therefore, produce milk for household use as well as sales in suitable small quantities. This attributes of PNG goats should, therefore, be promoted for its nutritional and economic benefits in rural and urban areas of PNG.
Goats can feed on a broader range of grass and browse species than can sheep and cows. They can better meet their nutritional requirements in less resourceful environments.
Goats are small in body size and easy to handle. They also have a higher disease tolerance and adaptation capacity in both hot and cold climates.
Goats thrive well throughout PNG where there exists a rich diversity of vegetation that they can feed on. They are also known to have good capacity to efficiently utilise coarse and fibrous vegetable in arid and dry areas.