Browsing by Author "Gray, D"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Brief Communication: Assessing the current value of milk, meat and fibre products from the goat industry in New Zealand
    (New Zealand Society of Animal Production, 28/06/2017) Lopez-Lozano, SR; Scholtens, MR; Smith, RMC; Lopez-Villalobos; Burt, D; Harper, L; Thomas, D; Carr, AJ; Gray, D; Tozer, PR; schreurs, N
    Goats have a historical record of being productive and valuable to families and communities (Aziz 2010). Small ruminants, which include goats, still have an ‘unfulfilled’ potential despite the numbers of animals farmed and their distribution around the world (Anaeto et al. 2010). Pollot and Wilson (2009) concluded that goats deserve greater attention due to their capacity for producing food. A similar study in New Zealand (Sheppard & O’Donnell 1979), described the uses of goats for meat, skins, milk and mohair and concluded that the goat was valuable, but that the production potential was largely unfulfilled. A recent New Zealand study (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 2009) concluded that food-consumption patterns are changing in New Zealand, and globally demand for more diversified products provided an opportunity for goat meat. The objective of this study was to determine the current value of domestic and exported New Zealand goat products and to explore possible future products and their target markets. Many of these product values are gathered from retailers, personal communications and individual producers. This research is an attempt to bring together information that has not yet been gathered to present a current value of the goat in New Zealand.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Brief communication: The potential of the New Zealand goat industry
    (New Zealand Society of Animal Production, 30/06/2017) Smith, RMC; Scholtens, MR; Lopez-Lozano, SR; Lopez-Villalobos; Burt, D; Harper, L; Thomas, D; Carr, AJ; Gray, D; Tozer, PR; Schreurs
    The New Zealand goat industry is evolving and there is potential for expansion of its export products. The production and value of the New Zealand goat industry has been explored previously when the industry was in its infancy (Sheppard & O’Donnell 1979), at a time when Mohair production was seen to be ‘the most profitable goat farming enterprise’. Since then major expansion has occurred in the production and export of dairy-goat products, and the production of quality Boer goat meat is under consideration. In order for further progress to be made, knowledge of the current production levels and value of the goat industry, and its potential for expansion is required. Using information describing the current situation of the goat industry (Scholtens et al. 2017) and the value of the goat (Lopez-Lozano et al. 2017), a model was created to estimate the current and potential production and value of the New Zealand goat industry by 2025.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Opportunities to improve grazing management
    (New Zealand Grasslands Association, 5/11/2014) McCarthy, S; Hirst, C; Donaghy, D; Gray, D; Wood, BA; New Zealand Grasslands Association
    Improved efficiency in growing and converting pasture into product is required to maintain New Zealand’s competitive advantage in dairying. This study focused on two areas of grazing management, the first an assessment of the indicators leaf stage, pre-grazing yield and grazing residual. In summary, 49% of measured paddocks were grazed too soon based on leaf stage, 62% were grazed outside the recommended pre-grazing yield, and 48% of measured paddocks were not grazed to a desirable height. The second part of the study provided an insight into farmer decision making at an operational level of grazing management with three key components identified. These were: 1) The recruitment of paddocks into a grazing plan; 2) The shuffling of the paddock grazing sequence within the grazing plan; and 3) The management of individual grazing events before, during and after the event. An improved understanding by rural professionals of grazing management decision making would result in extension strategies which generate increased farmer engagement, adoption of grazing management technologies and improved on-farm productivity.