Measuring caprine success

Larry Tranel, Iowa State University

KALONA, Iowa — Current and prospective dairy goat producers will get an inside look at profitable dairy goat operations and hear best management practices during an upcoming Dairy Economics and Facility Tour.

The event will be held July 29 near Kalona. Discussion will be led by Larry Tranel, dairy field specialist with Iowa State Extension and Outreach. Attendees will tour farms and hear from dairy goat producers.

“There are some pretty good producers here that we wanted to highlight for younger or newer producers and those looking to get into the industry,” Tranel said. “The goal of this event is for people to have takeaways that they can apply on their operation or future operation.”

According to Tranel, 25%-30% of the dairy producers in Iowa milk goats, not cows. The tour will feature four producers, each with differences in their setup.

“These farms were selected because I know they do a really good job,” Tranel said. “They are some of our more profitable operations and have facilities that we can all learn from.”

During the farm tours, Tranel and the farmers will share about their facilities, including milking systems, ventilation, feed bunk design and bedding options.

“We will look at feed bunk design because dry matter intake is pretty important and feed is expensive,” Tranel said. “We want to limit feed waste.”

Some of the farms featured have remodeled old facilities and some have built new. The farms vary in size from 120 to 220 milking goats and milking facilities ranging from swing-12 to swing-32 parlors. All of the farms on the tour will be within the Amish community.

“Producers will pick up tips on management practices from some successful operations and on facility design,” Tranel said. “They will also learn about Amish culture.”

Tranel, who has been with extension focusing on dairy goats for the past 37 years, has recently led a financial study of 16 dairy goat operations and evaluated the differences between higher-profit farms and less-profitable ones.

The study revealed that the most profitable farms are getting $1,000 in milk sales per goat per year, producing over 2,300 pounds of milk per year. Some were getting 3,000 pounds of milk per goat per year.

Profitable operations were milking 150-200 goats per person involved on the farm. This means these operations are producing 400,000 pounds of milk per person a year. Tranel will share the full list of results of the study with attendees during the tour.

“While we can’t guarantee success, we can use these numbers as benchmarks to shoot for,” Tranel said. “If you can get these kinds of numbers, you should be seeing success in your operation.”

Tranel encourages fellow dairy goat producers and those thinking about entering the industry to attend the events of the day.

The tour will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Paul Borntrager Farm, Kalona, Iowa. At 11 a.m., the tour will continue at the Mervin Ropp Farm near Kalona, Iowa.

Following a lunch break, the tour will reconvene at 1:30 p.m., where participants will visit two facilities at the Truman Bontrager Farm, located at Iowa City, Iowa. The tour will conclude around 3:15 p.m.

Registration is not required for the tour. Participants are responsible for their own lunch and for transportation between farms.

For more information, contact Larry Tranel at 563-580-6635 or tranel@iastate.edu