Animal behaviour and welfare: Goats Part 1

GOAT BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 1

Goats & man: Senses: Social behaviour

By Dr Clive Dalton

Goats are not like sheep

Milking goats soon adapt their grazing and herding behaviour to the
timing and routine of twice-a-day milking

• The first thing to accept is that goats are very different from sheep in their behaviour, and we sometimes forget this when trying to handle them.
  
• The goat is found on all the continents of the world, and is one of man's most important animals as more people in the world eat goat meat than eat sheep meat.
• Goat remains 10,000 years old (or of their early ancestors) have been found in central and West Iran, and domestic goats existed in other parts of the world for 8,000 years.
  
• Some authorities suggest that goats were companion animals long before dogs. The goat has also caused many of the world's deserts through man's ignorance and stupidity resulting in over grazing.
• The goat was domesticated early along with sheep and adapted well to man's nomadic lifestyle as well as in established farming.
• Goats are a different species to sheep with different numbers of chromosomes (sheep 27 pairs and goat 30 pairs). Hybrids between them are often reported (Geeps or Shoats) but are not viable and don't breed.

Products from goats:

• Meat - called Chevon
• Dairy produce - milk, cheese, yoghurt
• Skins
• Fibre - mohair, cashmere, cashgora (Cashmere x Angora), and beard hair.
• In some cultures they are sacrificed for religious reasons.
  
• Companions and pets.
  

Goat senses

Sight

• Sight is very similar to sheep (see sheep)
• Goats have a similar blind spot at their rear, but they are more difficult to catch using this area as they are generally more alert than sheep and are not blinded by wool on the head and around the eyes.
• They can distinguish different colours - responding best to orange and worst to blue.
  

Hearing

• Goats are very sensitive to a range of sounds from the high pitched squeals of kids to low pitched snorts or foot stamping on the ground.
• They have an ability to move their ears to locate the source of sound.
  

Smell

• Being browsers and highly selective grazers, goats have a keen sense of smell which aids in diet selection.
• Goats will not eat mouldy or musty feed, and generally avoid poisonous plants unless they are wilted and then are more palatable.

Peg Dewes knows that goats are not like sheep
and expects to be accosted & have her jacket chewed & tasted

Social behaviour

• Goats are a flocking species but they don't flock as tightly as sheep.
  
• Feral goats are hard to muster as individuals (especially males) keep breaking back and prefer to escape rather than herd with the mob.
  
• Sheep stick with the mob for safety unlike goats that seem to more keen to take a chance on their own.
  
• Goats will herd together better when you get them off their home range. It's a good idea to have some sheep in the goat mob to encourage flocking during mustering.
• Goats are a "lying-out" species like cattle and deer which is a big contrast to sheep.
• Males join harems of females in autumn and feral bucks will travel up to 20km to find does. But the rest of the year they are in bachelor groups or live as solitary males. They sort out a social order in these groups by bunting and horn wrestling.
• So most of the year, an alpha female leads a small family group of females suckling their current kids, with any previous adolescent females still in the group. A dam may suckle a kid till the next one is born.
• Younger members of the family or tribe are submissive to higher-ranking females.
• As most feral goats in NZ have horns, they use these along with head butts to sort out their social status.
• In farmed milking goats, you see them bunting and biting each other in the milking bail to sort out their differences, especially in competition for any feed supplements.
• At mating the buck is the harem leader and fights off any on-comers. These may be younger lower-ranking males in the group waiting for an opportunity, but the old buck is the boss and does the mating.
• Mature bucks sort themselves out by serious head butting, rising on their hind legs to attack with horns and heads. They also use their horns to side-rake their opponents
  

Climbing and digging

Goats will dig holes to get through below fences

• Goats are remarkable in their ability to climb and can move safely along narrow mountain paths to graze among the rocks.
• You often see a roadside goat standing on the ridge of their A-framed shelter.
• The contrast between goats and sheep is best seen at school pet days, where the goat kids are tested in extra exercises like climbing and walking over a see saw which would be a much greater challenge to a lamb.
• This ability can be a problem in farming, as goats will climb fence stays to jump over. So electric fencing is necessary to run goats, especially at the high stocking rates needed to make them eat weeds.
• Goats will also dig holes below fences to escape. They also like to dig areas to lie in and enjoy the sun's warmth in winter. They do this especially on North facing slopes which then start eroding.
  

Animal behaviour and welfare: Deer Part 1

DEER BEHAVIOUR BASICS: PART 1

Farmed deer: Terminology: Senses: Social behaviour: Feeding

By Dr Clive Dalton

Deer in New Zealand
Man has hunted the various species of deer since early times. Deer were introduced into New Zealand and released by the early settlers for sport and are now classed as noxious pests in some areas because of damage they do to bush and exotic forest. Shooting and poisoning are the main control methods.
So now in New Zealand we have feral deer and farmed deer and they provide:

• Meat - farmed venison and game venison.
• Skins for clothing and housing.
• Hard antler for tools.
• Velvet antler for medicines.
• Other body parts for special markets - e.g. penises (pizzles), sinews, tails, teeth.
• Hunting - for meat and trophies (tourism)
  

Commercial deer farming

Commercially farmed Red deer

• Commercial farming of feral deer developed in 1960s and 1970s when hunters turned to capturing deer alive and trapping them for sale to deer pioneers who believed they could farm deer like cattle and sheep.
  
• NZ now has a thriving export market for venison, velvet and deer by-products.
• Previously the market was for "game" meat, but now the export market demands slaughter in licensed premises under strict animal health and welfare conditions.
• The velvet market is a secondary market, and prices fluctuate greatly. Strict veterinary and animal welfare standards (Codes of Welfare) are now in place for the harvesting of velvet from stags.
• Harvesting velvet is seen as inhumane in many parts of the world, and an affront to the dignity of the stag.
• The deer species farmed in New Zealand are mainly Red deer, Fallow deer and Wapiti (Elk), but there are also Sika, Rusa, Sambar, White tail and the rare Pere David.

Sika deer in a zoo - not farmed commercially

Terminology
This varies with the species:

• Red Deer - stags, hinds, calves, they "roar"
• Fallow - bucks, does, fawns, they "roar or grunt"
• Wapiti - bull, cow/hind, calf, they "bugle"
  

The innate behaviour of deer

• Are NZ deer domesticated? At this stage it would be best to say no. They are still wild as judged by their fight/flight distance and over time with selection, they should become less fearful of humans and hence fully domesticated.
• There is some selection for temperament going on by some breeders, but it's not very intense at this time.
• Deer have evolved in the forest fringes where they graze the open pastures and then take cover in the trees which they browse. They can do great damage to trees by eating out the top leader.
  
• Deer will seek out shade for both comfort and security and this is seen as a major welfare problem as on many deer farms shade is not available.
• Deer use speed to escape threats and predators, so they are very fleet of foot and nervous.
• Deer also like to wallow, especially stags during the rut.
• So it would be easy to conclude that farming deer is depriving them of the 5th freedom to show normal behaviour and are stressed. Experienced deer farmers will disagree with this.
  

Senses


Sight

• Deer have very acute vision.
  
• They recognise their usual handlers but strangers cannot fool them even when wearing their regular handler's clothes. They are clearly very alert to shapes and pattern of movement.
• They have wide monocular vision with much narrower binocular sight.
• They are very alert to movement on their periphery when grazing, and immediately raise their heads to check the threat with their binocular sight.
• They notice very small changes in their environment e.g. when traps are set for them.
• Their long neck aids their ability to see threats from a distance - predators moving in the grass.
• They have a blind spot at the rear like cattle, but they use their very mobile neck to check behind them all the time.
  

Smell

• Deer have an acute sense of smell.
• They can be easily panicked by smells that they associate with death or danger, especially of being trapped.
  

Social behaviour

• Wild deer have a clearly defined grazing area or home range. They graze these home ranges in defined social groups of mainly females. Different groups may overlap and share the same home range.
• At mating in autumn the stag forms and leads a harem of females. In the wild the areas where the stag gathers his harem are well established (and used each year) within these home ranges. The are called "stands".
• Farmed deer running in mobs have a social order of sorts. It is clearer among mobs of males than females, as fights among males are more obvious.
  
• But there is a clear matriarchal dominance in females and this may be of significance at mating for the attention of the male.
• The social order is sorted out by head butting and threat displays using a lot of body language.
• In confrontations, deer tilt their head and neck, partly rise on their hind legs, then rise fully and thrash with their front hooves.
• They grind their teeth as a sign of stress and threat. After teeth grinding, look out for the rearing and feet flying.
  
• They will also bite with head tilted, upper lips raised, tongue protruded showing the whites of their eyes and hissing.
  
• Deer are a classical lying-out species and hinds with young fawns hide them in long grass or scrub. The fawn communicates by a high-pitched squeaking sound when stressed.
• The males use their antlers to thrash bushes and gouge the bark of trees to mark their presence and territory and feral stags can cause devastation to forests in this behaviour.
• All deer species/breeds use flight to escape predators except Wapiti (Elk) who are not as fleet of foot and have evolved by spending a lot of time standing in water. Elk tend to back in to a safe corner and confront the threat head on with their large size.
  

Feeding

• Deer are ruminants and enjoy a wide range of diets from lush clover to woody browse. They are grazers and browsers too and appreciate variety in their diet.
• Farmed deer have similar feed preferences to cattle and sheep and this has allowed their rapid adaptation to farming.
• They enjoy grain and concentrate feed and this is ideal to tame them. They soon learn to follow a food truck and individuals will learn to eat out of your hand or bucket.
• In the wild in cold climates, they learn to survive on mosses and strip bark off trees in winter.