Stéphanie Bélanger-Naud (MSc candidate) attended the OMAFRA’s 2018 Small Ruminant Research Forum held in Guelph on May 14. Stephanie presented her research to the attendees in three minutes, followed by a presentation of her poster on the “Identification, Analysis, and Development of Dairy Goat Kid Rearing Practices on Canadian Farms”. She even brought home third place in the competition between the presenters.
The two main objectives of her project are (1) to identify the common dairy goat kid rearing practices from birth to weaning, inclusive, on Canadian farms and make associations with overall herd performance and (2) to determine the optimal weaning time to maximize growth and health as well as minimize stress during and after weaning of dairy goat kids fed high quantities of milk replacer.
Researchers, industry representatives, government specialists, and other stakeholders were present at this meeting where many contacts were made and very interesting research ideas and industry needs were discussed. The day was divided into three sessions of conferences including topics on genetics, health & welfare, and nutrition of sheep and goats.