Situationsanalyse süddeutscher Erwerbsziegenhalter

Summary

Dairy goat keeping is a growing business in Germany since the 1980ies. So far, there is little knowledge on the structure of these goat farms and their husbandry and breed-ing management. Aim of this study was to get an overview on dairy goat husbandry and breeding in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. For this, a structured questionnaire was developed to investigate operational characteristics and basic data on dairy goat husbandry and breeding. The addresses of commercial dairy goat farms where ob-tained from goat breeders associations. The feedback from goat farmers was very high (94%). Most dairy goat farms are organic farms and belong to specific certifying organisations. Most farms (87%) farm less than 50 ha of agricultural land and keep between 60 and 100 goats. The German Fawn is the predominant breed (80%) in female goats. There is a large variation in numbers of male goats per farm and also in their breed. The marketing of surplus kids is mainly directly to the consumer and below 12 weeks of age. Finally, commercial dairy goat farming in south Germany secures an income to small family farms. So far, there is no consistent breeding strat-egy. Also, the marketing strategies still need improvement. Therefore, development of breeding and marketing organisation as well as performance based breeding pro-grammes will be of major importance for further improvement in dairy goat keeping.