A note: The effects of human handling on heart girth, behaviour and milk quality in dairy goats

Research on cattle, lambs and pigs suggests that when animals do not receive positive physical attention (“gentling”) from their stockpersons, they become fearful, stressed, less productive, and less healthy overall. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effects that positive human handling has on heart girth (which is reflective of body weight), behaviour and milk quality in dairy goats. Sixteen adult female dairy goats were subjects for this experiment. Nine were controls and seven were treatment animals that each received gentling for 10 min, for 24 days. Latency tests (the time required for animals to approach their human handler) were performed daily, for 24 days, and capped at 10 min. Heart girth measurements and milk samples were taken from all subjects on Days 1, 20 and 32 of the experiment. Milk fat and protein concentrations were compared between control and experimental groups. Results indicate that there was a significant difference in heart girth through the course of the study (F2,14 = 3.203, p = 0.05). The experimental goats showed a significant increase in heart girth (t0.05(6) = −3.12, S.E.M. = 0.54, p = 0.02) but no statistical change was observed in the controls (p = 0.74). The milk fat and protein concentrations did not change significantly for either the control or the experimental animals. It was also found that the treatment animals (X¯=228 s) approached the experimenter more quickly than the control animals (X¯=419 s) during the latency tests (F1,14 = 7.416, p = 0.016) and habituated to her presence faster (F3,44 = 2.758, S.E.M. = 24.54, p = 0.053). These results suggest that human gentling has a positive impact on the stress experienced by dairy goats. This research has implications for the welfare of dairy goats and for the productivity of the dairy industry.