The Goat Industry
The goat industry in Ontario has seen a steady growth over the last decades. From supplier of milk, meat and hair for the family, the goat has evolved into an animal that is mainly kept for commercial purposes. Increasing demand for goat milk, goat cheese and other dairy goat products stimulated the further professionalization of the dairy goat industry.

There are just under 200 commercial dairy goat farms in Ontario, according to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture (OMAF). Although most of the operations are found in South Western Ontario, there are also farms located in Northern and Eastern Ontario.

The dairy goat farms can be divided into three categories: farms with small herds up to 100 goats, medium size farms with herds from 100 to 300 animals and the bigger operations counting 300 or more goats. Breeds kept for milk production are Alpines, Saanens, Nubians, Toggenburgs and La Mancha’s.

Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative
The members of the Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative represent all of the three categories. The co-op counts over thirty producers by now, with production levels between 600 to 1000 liters of milk per goat, per year. The milk is being processed into fluid milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream and other products like curd and milk powder.

Milk Quality
The Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative is pro-active in producing a high quality product. To achieve this the co-op has taken several steps: twice a week pick up of the milk, stringent standards for bacteria count levels and a penalty system if these standards are not met. The quality committee monitors the milk quality of the individual producers, reports results back to producers and offers on farm assistance if problems occur.

The co-op is the first organization in the goat industry to provide goat farmers with their lab results online, giving them fast access to their test results.

OMAF's Food inspection Branch also provides on-farm inspection and advisory services to dairy goat producers by two Raw Milk Specialists. Annual inspections are conducted under the authority of the Milk Act (Ontario) and Regulation 761 to ensure farm premises meet and maintain sanitary requirements for milk production.

Milking
Goat farmers have milk equipment and milk parlours similar to the cow industry. Goats are milked on milk tables and in milk parlours. The sizes of the set up vary from single 6 stands to double 36. The amount of milkers does not necessarily have to equal the amount of goats. For example, in a double 24 parlour there can be 12, 18 or 24 milkers with automatic take off.

Housing
With goats being small animals compared to cows, many different buildings are suitable for housing them. Renovated bank barns, former chicken, hog and cow barns, and new facilities have all successfully housed goats. Goats are kept on bedded packs with straw or sawdust. With many animals to handle, goat farmers have to make sure their set up is as efficient as possible.

Feed
Good feeding practices lead to high milk production. This can be done in various ways. The goats are fed forages, which can include hay, haylage, corn silage and various by-products such as brewers grain and beet pulp. Dry hay can be fed in round bale feeders or along the feed alley. Newer and bigger operations are more likely to be set up for ensilaged feed. Dairy goats are supplemented with grain, which can be homegrown or purchased.

Youngstock
Raising young stock is an intense job on a goat farm because most goats have multiple births each year. On most goat farms only the female kids are kept and raised. Some farmers feed their goat kids cow colostrum, others leave the kids with the nanny for a few days. After this stage, the kids are fed milk replacer with bottles, troughs, nipple pails or with an automatic kid feeder.

Breeding
Goats are fall breeders by nature and have their young in the spring. By using different techniques, many producers have their goats kidding throughout the year. With a fall incentive and workshops, the co-op encourages it’s members to level out the milk production over the whole year. Most of the goat farmers use bucks for breeding, but more farmers are looking into artificial insemination to improve their genetics.