CAPR'INOV Goat Conference 2008
Thursday 1st January 2009
CAPR'INOV Goat Conference in Niort, France : 25-28th November 2008
CAPR’INOV is a biannual event that has been running since 2006.
In 2008 it was attended by 3000 visitors, 77% being farmers, including UK goat breeders Nick Brandon, Tom and Clare Nichols and Neil Bellerby with his daughter Kirsty, all of which expressed a definite interest in returning in 2010, hopefully with a number of new recruits.
The conference organised by Sersia and Capgenes France, initiator of the progeny testing scheme GENE +, consisted of an exhibition and several farm visits, the first farm visit being in the afternoon after a short flight from Liverpool and a 40 minute drive from Nantes to Niort.
This was a brand new farm situated on a Greenfield site consisting of three polyurethane roofed buildings, milking 600 Alpine goats through a rotary parlour, with head locking yokes and an automated (milk feeding) kid rearing system.
The other farms were more traditional.
The most interesting was milking 600 Saanen goats, also through a rotary parlour with an automated kid rearing system, but with the addition of an automated straights feeder, which could combine up to 5 different components.
The other two farms were smaller units each milking 150 head and processing their milk to make regional cheeses.
Most of the farms were using between 40 and 60 % Artificial Insemination from the GENE+ program and planned to increase the percentage of progeny reared from A.I. each year, as there was a definite correlation between the efficiency of the farm and the percentage of milking daughters by A.I. bucks.
All farms were within 30 minutes of Niort by car, which made the visits quick and convenient.
The CAPRI’NOV exhibition was held over two days and had more than 120 trade stands on display, from regional cheeses to automated feeding equipment.
There were ongoing demonstrations including the use of a hydraulic foot trimming crush which was designed to reduce stress on the animal.
The main features of the exhibition included a show of 120 female goats - approximately 55 Alpine and 65 Saanen; a young judges competition including an explanation of the 14 linear traits that are routinely measured on more than 20,000 goats every year (organised by Capgenes); conferences explaining the aims of GENE + program and the IMC Morphology (Type) Index, which is designed to facilitate milking and improve longevity and udder health; a presentation of some of the highest production donor dams selected for the future progeny testing program and finally, a display of progeny sired by A.I. bucks in the current Sersia catalogue.
In summary, all who attended the conference assured me that they thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition and surmised that the likelihood of a similar event ever being achieved in the UK was a distant dream, not to mention the excellent food and wine that was consumed during the 4 days, much courtesy of our tour guide, Ali Haidar, from Sersia France.
ALISON LOFTUS (Farmer To Farmer)
P.S Thank you to Nick, Roger, Tom, Clare, Neil and Kirsty for such an enjoyable trip and also the education.
I am now converted to drinking goats milk!!
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