An AI goat – the first in Cumbria – is thriving at a county farm.
Bricks, owned by Chris and Harriet McPhee, of McPhees Goat Company at Maulds Meaburn, was created by laparoscopic artificial insemination and it is hoped the animal will be the first of many.
It was created by Shap-based Tarn Farm Vets and Paragon Advanced Breeding.
Paragon, well known for its pioneering work in bovine advanced breeding, is working to extend its expertise to goats.
“This is an exciting development for me personally and for Paragon,” said Ben Dustan, Paragon shareholder and the vet who carried out the procedure.
Ben is also president of the Goat Veterinary Society.
He added: “It is the first time Paragon has ventured into the world of goat advanced breeding. We have become one of only a small number of veterinary centres able to offer this service within the UK.”
Bricks was created using semen from a top Dutch Saanen stud goat called Lego, with the aim of improving the genetics of the milking herd.
The McPhees farm 200 goats at Meaburn Hall, starting new to the business three years ago and supplying high quality milk to artisan cheese makers.
Harriet said: “AI is going to absolutely transform our herd, it will transform the health status, reduce the risk of bringing in animals that can harm the health status of our animals, and transform our yield and our income.
“We are very excited by Bricks we are watching him grow every day. He is a very good type, and he is thriving.
“Lego has got really good qualities that we wanted to bring into the herd, and we could not have got a billy on the market that would have genetic merit like him.
“When we first started out we had problems when we tried to buy in billies, travelling long distances to get to billies with high health status, which put a lot of stress on our animals.”
The McPhees are using AI on more of their herd, using semen from top sires across the UK and Europe.
“Paragon have been absolutely fantastic,” said Harriet. “Ben has been our vet from the start and has been fundamental to our business growing. Without Ben we probably wouldn’t still be going. It is amazing that Paragon are developing goat AI, we are very fortunate to have them nearby.”
Ben said: “We initially had four goats that we wanted to trial the procedure on, and Bricks was the result of our first attempt at the technique in goats and our first kid to hit the ground. He was proof that our approach was working and that we can undertake the technique successfully.”
Ben and the team have now performed the procedure a number of times since, with more goat kids due to be born soon.
Paragon aims to develop its goat advanced breeding service and to be able to offer this as a commercial service throughout Cumbria and across the North West.
“We want to move from AI into more advanced breeding techniques like embryo transfer and potentially IVF for goats,” said Ben.
“It is a natural expansion for us, and I am excited about getting a commercial service up and running.”
The technique used is similar to that in sheep, albeit with some goaty twists, Ben said. Laparoscopic AI means the goat is inseminated directly into the uterine horns using keyhole surgery.
“The keyhole surgery is minimally invasive, is done under heavy sedation and takes about 10 minutes from start to finish,” he said.
“All the goats are subject to a hormonal synchronization programme, which starts about nine days prior to insemination, leading to an approximate two-hour window in which to get them inseminated. This ensures the goats are at the same stage of their cycle and receptive to AI.”
Sexed semen inseminations – allowing farmers to select the sex of offspring – are not commercially available yet for goats, but Ben hopes that by working with other veterinary colleagues within the sector, Paragon will be able to contribute to its development in the future.
