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Published:Saturday | September 10, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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Fearon - FILE
Champion farmer at Denbigh show 2006, Oral Robinson, explains the difference between a bore goat and a Nubian goat. Here, Robinson explains that this particular bore goat weighs about 400 pounds in meat size.
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Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

THE PROMOTION of goat milk production will get under way in Knockpatrick, Manchester, next month under a project being funded by the European Union (EU) and executed by two other international agencies, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).

"In this particular partnership, we are actually executing the training in husbandry, artificial insemination, and value-added components on behalf of the FAO, using EU money," Albert Fearon, who heads the CARDI animal production unit in Mandeville, told The Gleaner.

"We do have animals up there that can be milked right now, but we are waiting for the dairy to be finished - milking parlours, storage tanks, and the rest of the equipment - but the house itself is about 65 per cent completed right now," Fearon explained.

Upon completion of the infrastructure, additional dairy animals, namely Nubians and Alpines, will be imported from the United States to enhance the bloodlines. Their arrival is slated for mid-October.

When up and running, the facility will have between 35-50 milking ewes, but it is not intended to be fully commercial since it will be used mainly as a training-demonstration unit.

Fearon explained the thinking behind this concept: "We are trying to do measurement and stuff so that people around the area who are interested in dairy could see what kind of numbers are coming out. We already have the goat house down, and, of course, we have animals there that have been ongoing for some time, but this is coming under the EU-FAO Food Facility project aimed at enhancing food security."

Fearon noted that the new equipment was necessary to take them beyond the hand-milking method, which had been used for some time, with a view to bringing the facilities up to international standards.

Added Fearon: "We didn't have the proper facilities, so we just ran tests, in terms of measurement, to see how much milk the animals would give, and now we are satisfied that it's a possibility, and so we are putting in the correct infrastructure."

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com