Evaluation of the Milk Production Capacity in Goats after Extraction of Foreign Bodies from their Pre-Stomachs by Surgery

Abstract

The incessant human desire to increase profitability in livestock and agriculture has meant that some production animals have had to adapt, as is the case of goats, which for years have been in close contact with harmful materials resulting from anthropogenic activity, such as plastic, pruning waste, or products discarded by agriculture. Due to their natural behaviour, they have the habit of ingesting different types of materials, some of them harmful to their health, as some can accumulate in different areas of their digestive system, hindering their nutrition and impairing their ability to produce milk. The presence of non-digestible materials in pre-stomachs is quite notorious in certain farming systems, making surgical intervention necessary to eliminate the problem. In order to carry out this work, different varieties of the Canarian majorera goat were used, whose breed is characterised by its high dairy aptitude. All animals had non-digestible material in their pre-stomachs, so a rumenotomy was performed to remove these foreign bodies and, as a result, an increase in the milk yield record was observed.