- Small Ruminant Research
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1. Small Ruminant Research ELSEVIER Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 www elsevier com locate smallrumres Characterization of semi extensive goat production systems in southern Spain J M Castel Y Mena M Delgado Pert ez J Cam ez b J Basulto F Caravaca J L Guzm n Guerrero M J Alcalde Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales Escuela de Ingenier a T cnica Agr cola Universidad de Sevilla Ctra Utrera km 1 41013 Sevilla Spain gt Departamento de Econom a Aplicada I Facultad de Ciencias Econ micas y Empresariales Universidad de Sevilla Avda Ram n y Cajal 1 Sevilla Spain Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales Escuela Polit cnica Superior Universidad de Huelva Campus Universitario de la R bida 21819 Palos de la Frontera Huelva Spain Accepted 26 October 2002 Abstract This study attempts to describe the semi extensive goat farming sector in Andalusia south of Spain and to establish characteristics Eighty nine goat farmers were surveyed in three areas of this region The survey examined all aspects of the systems from socio economy to management A multivariate analysis multiple correspondence and cluster was used to determine the different farm characteristics Most of the goat farms studied are single worker or family managed The farmers lack training and are elderly so that continuity of the activity is not assured although newcomers are usually young All the farms have2. This work supposes previous steps for improving the semi extensive goat farming sector From a methodological point of view the discussion on variable types and utility establishes farm type characteristics 2002 Elsevier Science B V All rights reserved Keywords Goat systems Semi extensive farming Characterization methods Southern Spain Corresponding author Tel 34 954 486454 fax 34 954 232644 E mail address castel us es J M Castel 0921 4488 02 see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science B V All rights reserved PII S0921 4488 02 00250 X 134 J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 1 Introduction Society s awareness of the detrimental effects of intensive livestock systems has changed methods and aims of researchers and even in research institutes trying to focus on the improvement of sustainability of systems instead of increasing productivity Sorensen and Kristensen 1992 At this point the continuity of semi extensive systems without the loss of their traditional val ues re evaluation of little productive land environ mental conservation requires a good knowledge of their characteristics and of their strengths and weak nesses at the farm level and within the framework of the overall farming sector Rubino and Haenlein 1996 Currently when scientific advance in animal pro duction has been largely based on specialized re search Livestock Farming Systems LSF resear
3. pigs or sheep whereas on the farms with smaller area the main activity of the farmers is usually goat farming with a greater trend towards dairy specialization even for those having mixed breeds e The existence of installations for machine milking most frequently found on the farms more directed to milk production with dairy or mixed breeds depends to a large extent on the existence of water and electricity supplies and of the size of herd e Artificial nursing is also related to the presence of water and electricity supplies and the capacity of the goats although other factors have influence such as the commercialization of low cost milk sub stitutes such as acid milk by the cooperatives e Twice daily milking is associated with the most ex tensive farms with a medium low herd size likely hand milking and goats of little or medium dairy capacity This is often found in herds in which the milking of a relatively small number of animals means less labor than in larger herds The aim is to obtain a higher production of milk during the time when the goats are being milked 5 Conclusions Nowadays at Sierra areas of Andalusia milk goats are mostly farmed as mixed range and concentrate feeding system according to El Aich et al 1995 classification A fast evolution is observed at this sys tem in general tending to a milk production oriented specialization on most farms including those where goat farming is sh
4. 34 8 Proprietary 56 5 Type of farm or company Family 30 4 Single worker 52 2 Corporate 17 4 Education gt professional training 17 4 Negotiable access roads 91 3 Electricity supply provided 8 7 Water supply provided 8 7 Main activity of the farm Goats 4 3 Goats together with other activity 43 5 Other than goats 52 2 Has dairy breed goats 60 9 Has mixed breed goats 69 6 Has meat producing goats 78 3 Cultivates for the goats 52 2 Supplements goats of higher production 17 4 Uses olive branches own 4 3 Uses acorn tree branches own 43 5 Water troughs provided 56 5 Carries out artificial nursing 4 3 Installations for kids provided 82 6 Type of milking machine 21 7 Number of milking daily One 13 Two 56 5 One or two depending on season 30 4 Carries out vaccinations 87 Parasite control of animals 91 3 the person in charge being close to retirement 56 years old and with a long time in goat farming 34 years The herd size is medium 220 adult goats infrastructures are good most use machine milking but artificial nursing is still not common Use of acorn tree branches is frequent Breeding periods are medium 5 months Type 4 Farms of the Sierra whose main activity is dairy goat farming with highly specialized breeds and medium sized grazing area 62 ha most of which is rented They are family farms the person in charge being late middle aged 50 years old with a medium time in the activity 16 years The h
5. 42 1 Cluster 4 n 7 M 16 4 50 10 6 62 165 3 7 4 7 5 3 2 5 7 9 Min Max 1 30 31 67 60 0 300 52 500 3 11 2 7 0 2 20 8 0 8 5 9 1 25 21 8 207 174 92 9 50 3 50 1 136 72 103 Cluster 5 n 13 39 3 2 32 129 7 6 Jad 93 1 6 6 9 56 0 5 0 5 Max 30 54 129 194 400 40 12 75 8 ded CV 69 21 138 159 73 8 132 34 6 217 47 4 111 SEI EHI ESI E007 Lp Youvasay Jubuluny DUS P 12 1918500 WT J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 139 Cluster 2 Cluster 3 Cluster 4 Cluster 5 n 30 n 16 n 7 n 13 13 3 6 3 93 8 85 7 86 7 14 3 100 13 3 18 8 14 3 23 3 15 4 63 3 81 3 85 7 84 6 20 100 100 30 8 46 7 69 2 33 3 10 6 3 15 4 63 3 100 100 38 5 60 87 5 100 69 2 53 3 68 8 100 61 5 30 93 8 100 76 9 33 3 6 3 23 1 36 7 43 3 100 100 30 8 93 3 0 0 100 3 3 0 0 0 13 3 56 3 85 7 92 3 16 7 25 100 15 4 60 6 3 85 7 76 9 26 7 100 100 15 4 90 87 5 100 100 10 25 71 4 38 5 83 3 68 8 71 4 92 3 43 3 75 42 9 53 8 70 93 8 71 4 53 8 23 3 6 3 28 6 15 4 6 7 30 8 90 100 100 92 3 96 7 81 3 85 7 92 3 Table 2 Frequency percentage of farms of the discrete variables by goat farming type Variable Cluster 1 n 23 Study area Sierra Norte of Seville 100 M laga Sierra Norte of C diz Legal situation of the farm Partnership 8 7 Rented
6. Gousse S Delgado Perti ez M Caravaca F Alcalde M J Guzm n Guerrero J L 1999 Caracterizaci n de explotaciones caprinas sistemas extensivos de la Sierra Norte de Sevilla Goat farms study extensive system of Sierra Norte of Sevilla county ITEA 20 735 737 Porras C J Mart nez R Fern ndez A 1997 Sistemas agrarios tradicionales de dehesa en las comarcas de la Sierra y los And valos de la provincia de Huelva Traditional dehesa farm systems in Sierra and the Andevalos counties in Huelva province Consejer a de Agricultura y Pesca de la Junta de Andaluc a 313 pp Rubino R Haenlein G F W 1996 Goat milk production systems sub systems and differentiation factors In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Goats vol 1 Beijing China 6 11 May 1996 International Academy Publishing Beijing China pp 9 15 Sorensen J T Kristensen E S 1992 Systemic modelling a research methodology in livestock farming In Gibon A Matheron G Eds Global Appraisal of Livestock Farming System and Study of Their Organisational Levels Concepts Methodology and Results Publ Eur 14479 Office for Official Publications of the European Communities Luxembourg pp 45 57 SPSS 1999 Manual del Usuario versi n 10 0 SPSS Inc Chicago 548 pp
7. should be oriented to wards a sustainable production system based on land use and reducing external factors In this way types 3 5 should be priorities for study 1 evaluation of lo cal feedstuff including natural forage and agricultural byproducts 2 local goat breed productivity yield distribution throughout the year and genetic improve ment and 3 quality and commercialization of milk as the main valuable product For farm types 1 and 2 studies should be done on 1 range management for different species on the same farm and quality of main products milk and meat obtained from goats 2 grassland quantity and quality grazing planning and dietary supplementation and 3 local breed value and an appraisal of products from them as part of natural production systems Acknowledgements The authors thank the Direcci n General de In vestigaci n y Formaci n Agraria of the Consejer a de Agricultura y Pesca Junta de Andaluc a and the Federaci n Andaluza de Empresas Cooperativas for the provision of funding Project C 97 078 the co operatives Corsevilla and Nuestra Se ora de los Remedios and the Asociaci n de Productores de la raza caprina Malague a for technical help in carry ing out the surveys References Alvarez Funes R Paz Motola R 1997 Metodolog a asociada al dise o de propuestas para el desarrollo de la producci n lechera caprina Associated methodolo
8. some area in ownership although the farms most specialized in dairy goat products are the smallest in both ownership and total area The roads are generally in good condition except on farms with little land situated in areas of the sierra Machine milking installations closely related to the presence of infrastructures and of goats with a dairy tendency are generally lacking this aspect is improving day by day Artificial nursing is less generalized than machine milking Farms specializing in milk production whose main activity is dairy goat farming have dairy specialized breed or crossbred milk and meat goats Feeding depends largely on grazing with little area being cultivated to produce feed for the goats Little distinction is made for the production level Olive or acorn tree branches Quercus ilex spp are used as feedstuff depending on the types of tree predominating in the area Five farm types were established the differences depending on 14 variables of socio economic aspects level of production infrastructure and installations and feeding Generated information from this study entails an advance into knowledge of goat farming systems in the Mediterranean area where little information is generated The relevance of this study is important since Andalusia has 40 of goats in Spain that produce more than half of the total goat milk in the country which points out the socio economical importance for most depressed areas in the region
9. Goats Tours pp 362 364 De los Riscos L Martin A Mu oz J L Sanmart n F 1999 Estudio del sector ganadero rumiante en la comarca de la Serrania de Ronda Study of ruminant farm systems in Serrania of Ronda county A D S G Serrania de Ronda Ed 160 pp Di Silvestre F Monardes A Nino de Cepeda A Revoredo C L 1996 Elecci n de alternativas tecnol gicas una aplicaci n de programaci n multiobjetivo Selection of technological alternatives an application of multi objective programming Invest Agric Econ 2 3 575 598 El Aich A Landau S Napoleone M Borbouze A 1995 Goat production systems in the Mediterranean a comparative study In El Aich A Landau S Borbouze A Rubino R Morand Fehr P Eds Goat Production Systems in the Mediterranean vol 71 EAAP Publication Wageningen Pers Wageningen pp 222 237 Falag n A 1988 Caracterizaci n productiva de la raza caprina Murciana Granadina en la regi n de Murcia Productive characteristics of Murciana Granadina goat breed in the Murcia region INIA Ed 103 pp Falag n A Guerrero J E Serrano A 1995 Systemes d levage caprins dans le Sud de l Espagne Goat farming systems in southern Spain In El Aich A Landau S Borbouze A Rubino R Morand Fehr P Eds Goat Production Systems in the Mediterranean vol 71 EAAP Publication Wageningen Pers Wageningen pp 38 50 Garc a A Dom nech V Fr
10. and methods This work has been carried out in the Andalusia region southern Spain particularly in the central and western part The methodology used was an adaptation from Bourbouze 1995 and Alvarez Funes and Paz Motola 1997 with the following phases 1 selec tion of samples and construction of the data gathering instrument and 2 information treatment and statis tical processing including the review and selection of variables for the analysis of types application of multivariate statistical techniques multiple corre spondence and cluster and analysis of variance and contingency tables 2 1 Selection of samples and construction of the data gathering instrument Climatically Andalusia is a semi arid Mediter ranean region where rainfall distribution per year leaves short vegetative periods for annual plants and this offers little and seasonal grazing Boza and Guerrero 1994 Grazing resources also include tree species shrubs and yearly plants with fall and spring growth Herbs are the main forage resource basically in fall and spring when rainfall occurs This offers little and low quality in the rest of the year or in long dry periods Three representative areas from this region were chosen where goats are farmed semi extensively all of them with a substantial dependence on the land ba sis but with different degrees of intensification Zone 1 situated in the Sierra Norte of Seville where the farms present a h
11. ared with other species A tendency is observed in improving infrastructures and instal lations and to reduce natural feeding resources de pendency even zero gracing It seems an inevitable intensification process Classification obtained in this work allows discrim ination within mixed range and concentrate feeding system type of five farm types based basically on localization infrastructures and installation grazing area and milk specialization degree of farms The goat farming sector in Andalusia is involved in a modern ization process that in western countries had occurred long time ago Farm type characterization represents an important step to better understanding the productive systems In a first approach the structural variable types re ferring to geographical area and to the system as a whole like farm size property characteristics age of farmer available crop and range land or production type must be used The information obtained through 142 J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 surveys lets build a classification of structures The use of variables referring to systems operations should be done in a second phase trying to answer specific problems such as feeding management or commercial improvement Further investigations should be done in order to avoid generalized intensification of the goat milking system moreover in those areas where appropriate grazing resources exist and they
12. ch in western Europe has tried to generate an integrated understanding of animal farming product processing and scientific bases for the evaluation of their overall efficiency Gibon et al 1999 According to the collective view of European LFS research Gibon et al 1996 one of the overall objec tives is to increase knowledge about livestock farming systems and their diversity According to this some researchers Gibon 1994 Alvarez Funes and Paz Motola 1997 emphasize the increasing interest in developing livestock farm characteristics The aims of this study in which three Andalu sian areas have been selected as representative of semi extensive goat farming with different degrees of intensification in each were the following e To analyze as a whole the three areas to obtain bet ter knowledge of the reality of the Andalusian goat sector which contributes to 51 of the goat milk produced in Spain e To detect the main distinguishing elements of the different types of farms e To establish from the foregoing different overall types of goat farms This study is also a first step towards further projects with the following intentions e To observe trends in the evolution of the different farming systems e To plan possible actions in the systems leading to improved techniques and profitability and at the same time to improvements in the quality of life of the farmers enabling the farms to persist 2 Materials
13. d Blanca Andaluza grazing area for the animals type of busi ness use of artificial nursing with commercial milk substitute feeds and use of machine milking The second component corresponding to the ordinate includes in order of importance the squared corre lation coefficients range between 71 and 21 the following variables study area productive capacity 136 J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 of the goats years of experience on the part of the farmer good farm accessibility use of olive branches as feed for the goats and number of milkings per goat per day In this study the number of adult goats on the farm was not a variable enabling independent discrimination between types Next we present the statistical significance of the differences between clusters or farm types five clus ters were established for those main variables in creat ing the two principal components such variables have been grouped in four categories 1 socio economic aspects 2 line of production 3 infrastructure and installations and 4 feeding 1 Variables related to socio economic aspects that have an effect on farm types and statistical sig nificance the area of study P lt 0 001 total grazing areas and those in ownership P lt 0 05 in both cases the age of the farmer P lt 0 01 seniority at the farm P lt 0 001 and type of business P lt 0 001 For the vari ables number of adult
14. discriminating between farms is partly because the survey did not detail the options of response to them Moreover according to Bourbouze 1995 for this kind of classification the study must be centered in a more specific systems aspect and it should answer to more defined initial aims and to a concrete supporting need We agree with Alvarez Funes and Paz Motola 1997 on that these questions should remain for a second phase The variables contributing substantially to the clas sification of the farms coincided with those obtained in a study in one of the areas the Sierra Norte of C diz Castel et al 2000 In this study there were also two principal components the first showing a marked effect of the variables related to infrastructure and the type of business and the other dairy special ization and technology In the present study inclusion of the variable of area gave 1t great importance and occupied first place for effect in the establishment of the two principal components Here we agree again with Bourbouze 1995 on that zoning is the first differential factor This fact indicated that each area is fairly uniform regarding resources for the animals socio economic idiosyncrasy species farmed and level of technical and commercial services in great measure due to the presence of cooperatives and services they give to the farmers in their areas Alvarez Funes and Paz Motola 1997 in a similar work carried out in Argent
15. e person in charge being middle aged 45 years old and with considerable time in the business 24 years They have medium sized herds of goats 155 adults with little dairy specialization and various breeds and capacity They show considerable deficiencies in infrastructure and installations for milk production Olive branches are little used acorn trees somewhat more The breeding periods are long 7 months e Type 2 Sierra farms with diversified animal hus bandry in which goat farming may or may not be the main activity The grazing area is exten sive 294ha with a high percentage in owner ship The most frequent type of business is that of single worker although there are also companies The person in charge of the farm is middle aged 46 years old with a medium time in the activity The herd size is medium 216 adult goats per farm and the breeds are of mostly mixed purpose There is a medium frequency in the presence of infrastruc ture and installations for machine milking Olive branches are commonly used Breeding periods are long 7 months Type 3 Either Sierra or Coast farms with main activity dairy goat farming with highly specialized breeds and a medium sized grazing area 91 ha most of which is rented They are family farms Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the quantitative variables for each goat farming type Variable Manager s years of work with goats Age of manager years Grazing ar
16. ea in ownership ha Grazing area in ownership plus rented ha No of adult goats No of males Period of breeding months Yard area per goat m Covered area per goat m7 Cooperative membership years Cluster 1 n 23 M Min Max 239 1 50 45 2 25 70 241 O 1000 298 20 1000 155 36 450 T 23 7 3 12 7 0 80 14 0 2 7 5 112 0 68 CV 55 7 30 7 129 95 6 12l 86 4 41 4 246 107 120 Cluster 2 n 30 M Min Max 16 8 3 45 9 22 183 0 294 2 216 40 15 6 1 66 4 62 0 11 0 I2 3 54 13 1500 2700 800 60 11 66 7 8 30 M mean Min minimum Max maximum CV coefficient of variability Cluster 1 Bigger and more extensive farms with little dairy specialization and diversified farming activity Cluster 2 Also big size but medium extensive farms with medium dairy specialization and also diversified farming activity Cluster 3 Low extensive farms medium high herd and land size high dairy specialization and maximum presence of milking machine Cluster 4 Low extensive farms low medium herd and land size and also high dairy specialization Cluster 5 Small size and medium extensive farms dairy specialization and mixed breed herds Cluster 3 n 16 CV M 86 5 34 1 21 3 36 2 186 259 174 91 81 1 220 103 9 2 24 3 5 218 4 4 129 L7 71 8 1l Min Max CV 11 50 42 4 33 69 17 2 0 120 122 20 275 85 9 90 600 57 5 2 25 67 5 1 7 36 6 0 42 1 240 0 2 5 67 6 5 20
17. erds are medium sized 165 adult goats infrastructures are better than type 3 the frequency of machine milking is medium and most use artificial nursing Acorn tree and olive branches are commonly used Breeding periods are medium 5 months 140 J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 e Type 5 Sierra farms whose main activity is dairy goat farming but with mixed breeds The grazing area 1s small 32 ha most of which is self owned They are single worker farms the person in charge being middle aged 40 years old with a medium time in the activity 11 years Herd size is medium 129 adult goats the infrastructure is acceptable machine milking is used in only half of the cases and there is a medium use of artificial nursing Olive branches are commonly used Breeding peri ods are medium 7 months 4 Discussion Used methodology can be framed in what Bourbouze 1995 calls classifications of structures The variables used in the statistical program to construct the two principal components are structural variables as farms size or farm property characteris tics In the opinion of Bourbouze 1995 it is possible to do three types of classifications based on situation structure and operations The classification that we have used belongs to the second type The fact that the variables most related with animal management which could make a classification of operations were not useful in
18. goats legal situation the farmer s educational level and seniority in the cooperative or association rented area and cultivated area less than 10ha in all cases no significant differences were found between groups 2 Variables related to production level the two most important variables are the main activity of the farmer P lt 0 001 and the productive capacity of the goats on the farm P lt 0 001 There was a third variable the number of milkings per goat per day which also defined the level of produc tion although with a lower discriminating capac ity than the other two 3 Variables related to infrastructure and installa tions with regard to the supply of electricity and water on the farms there were in both cases dif ferences P lt 0 001 For access to the farm also there were differences P lt 0 001 With regard to the use or not of machine milking and artifi cial nursing on the farm there were differences P lt 0 05 and P lt 0 01 respectively between groups The other variables though with little im portance in the multiple correspondence analysis were the roofed or unroofed areas for goats the installations for kids and the presence of troughs on the farm 4 Variables related to feeding the consumption of olive and acorn tree branches present differ ences P lt 0 001 the other variables with little weight in the multiple correspondence analysis were those of some cultivation t
19. gy for the design of proposals for development of milk goat production Archivos de Zootecnia 46 211 224 Benz cri J P 1992 Correspondence Analysis Handbook Marcel Dekker New York 665 pp Bourbouze A 1995 Goat production system study methods In El Aich A Landau S Borbouze A Rubino R Morand Fehr P Eds Goat Production Systems in the Mediterranean vol 71 EAAP Publication Wageningen Pers Wageningen pp 6 19 Boza J Guerrero J E 1994 Estrategias para la alimentaci n de ovejas y cabras en zonas semi ridas maditerr neas Food strategies for sheep and goat in semi arid Mediterranean areas In Actas de las XVIII Jornadas de la SEOC Albacete pp 371 378 Castel J M Mena Y G mez E Caravaca F Delgado Perti ez M Alcalde M J Guzm n Guerrero J L 1999 Caracteri zaci n de explotaciones caprinas sistemas semiextensivos de la Sierra Norte de C diz Goat farms study of Sierra Norte of C diz county In Actas de la XXIV Jornadas Cient ficas de la SEOC Albacete pp 141 145 Castel J M Mena Y Delgado Perti ez M Caravaca F Alcalde M J Guzm n Guerrero J L 2000 Caracterisation sociologique et productive des systemes caprins semi extensif de la contr e Sierra Norte de Cadiz Espagne Sociological and productive characterization of semi extensive goat farms in the Sierra Norte of C diz Spain In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on
20. ias J J Herrera M Pe a F Martos J Acero R 1999 Caracterizaci n t cnico econ mica de los sistemas de producci n de caprino extensivo en la provincia de Ja n como base del desarrollo sostenible Technical and economic study of extensive goat systems in Jaen province as a base of sustainable development In Analistas Econ micos de Andaluc a M laga 124 pp Gibon A 1994 Dispositifs pour l tude des syst mes d levage en ferme Mechanisms for livestock farming systems study In Gibon A Flamant J C Eds The Study of Livestock J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 143 Farming Systems in a Research and Development Framework vol 63 EAAP Publication Wageningen Pers Wageningen pp 410 422 Gibon A Rubino R Sibbald A R Sorensen J T Flamant J C Lhoste P Revilla R 1996 A review of current approaches to livestock farming systems in Europe towards a common understanding In Dent J B McGregor M J Sibbald A R Eds Livestock Farming Systems Research Development Socio Economics and the Land Manager vol 79 EAAP Publication Wageningen Pers Wageningen pp 7 19 Gibon A Sibbald A R Flamant J C Lhoste P Revilla R Rubino R Sorensen J T 1999 Livestock farming systems research in Europe and its potential contribution for managing towards sustainability in livestock farming Livestock Prod Sci 61 121 137 Mena Y Castel J M
21. igher degree of extensification sim ilar to that in the other mountainous areas of western Andalusia In this area farming of goats is usually carried out together with other extensive species and the goat breeds are mixed milk and meat or just meat producing Zone 2 comprising farms of the Malaga province takes in the areas of Antequera Montes de Malaga Costa and Sierra del Torcal Goats J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 135 breeds are dairy in particular the Malague a breed and systems are less dependent on grazing Finally zone 3 situated in the Sierra Norte of Cadiz presents intermediate characteristics of intensification the breeds are mixed and milk producing Farms of zones 1 and 3 belong to local cooperatives and those of zone 2 belong to the Malaguefia Pure Breed Asso ciation Membership in any type of association was considered a priority when choosing the study areas because it guaranteed greater cooperation A questionnaire was designed based on the one used by Falagan 1988 This comprised 216 items grouped into the following sections socio economy line of production animal basis land basis infras tructure installations and machinery herd composi tion reproductive and feeding management hygiene production and commercialization The questionnaires were completed between Febru ary 1998 and March 1999 needing visits of approxi mately 2 3 h to each of the 89 goat far
22. ina using variables related to farm size area and animal number and the pro duction resources involved all structural variables proposed three components the first related to the production structure the second related to the farm ing system species farmed and number of animals of each one and the third related to manpower The characterization carried out by Di Silvestre et al 1996 in Chile also includes farm resources area manpower installations and animals in one of the components although those authors add numerous economic variables Reviewed literature about production goat systems in Andalusia and the results of this study are contrary to El Aich et al 1995 who point out that goat farm ing systems in Spain are intensive with the exception of some marginal zones It is confirmed that in most mountain areas goat systems are semi extensive how ever the tendency is to intensification Falag n et al 1995 Related to the farm types established those of types 1 and 2 the former situated in the Sierra Norte of Seville and the latter in that area and in the Sierra Norte of Cadiz are the most extensive above all those of the former In comparison with the remaining types they show the following characteristics they have the greatest grazing area the emphasis of produc tion of the goats is meat producing or mixed in type 1 there is also a considerable mixture of breeds and capacities the main activi
23. mers Surveyed farmers were chosen at random 28 for the first zone 21 for the second and 40 for the third representing 20 of the farmers for each zone 2 2 Information treatment and statistical processing The field data were introduced into an Excel matrix after checking for missing and abnormal data Sub sequent statistical treatment was performed using the programs Excel and SPSS SPSS 1999 2 2 1 Variable review and selection for type analysis and classification Of the total items only 73 were used The selection was made taking into account previous works Castel et al 1999 2000 Mena et al 1999 and removing variables which were not answered in all cases those presenting little variability in their response and those not supplying relevant zootechnical information 2 2 2 Multivariate statistical technique application Multiple correspondence analysis was applied to the set of 73 variables This is a technique of in terdependence used for dimension reduction in the case of qualitative variables Benz cri 1992 similar to principal component analysis between quantita tive variables and which enables the visualization of perceptual maps The quantitative variables were first converted into qualitative ones introducing cuts in them Taking the 73 variables as qualitative their corresponding modalities were quantified those most separated from the others being the ones that discrim inate most between the uni
24. ng without recourse to other animal species and the herds are wholly of dairy ca pacity Malague a breed The infrastructures and in stallations for machine milking are in general good Type 3 farms show more machine milking use than those of type 4 however these have better infrastruc tures It should be due to the greater herd size in type 3 These type farms are similar to those of the Murcia region in southeast of Spain Falagan 1988 Falagan et al 1995 although the latter since the date of char acterization have considerably improved installations and management being more specialized in milk pro duction Falag n et al 1995 Regarding the main activity of the farmer goat farming wholly or in part the farms of type 5 are similar to those of types 3 and 4 but have numerous aspects in common with those of type 2 like geograph ical area capacity of the goats and the frequency of water and electricity supplies Nonetheless in certain aspects the farms of type 5 are different from those of the other types the grazing area 1s considerably smaller the access roads are bad the farmers are the youngest and with least time in the activity The main relationships between variables as a result of the characteristics established are the following e The farms with greatest area usually have more ex tensive farming systems either with goats of little or medium dairy capacity or with animals of other species cattle
25. o feed the goats and supplementing those of higher production 3 2 About production system and the farm types established Classification of the farms by the two components established five well defined types clusters Fig 1 Table 1 includes for each of the five clusters the descriptive statistics of the quantitative variables of greatest zootechnical interest Table 2 shows also by types the frequencies for each response of the quali tative variables of greatest zootechnical interest The five farm types present a series of general char acteristics that are the following e The indicators of the possibilities for continuing farming activity such as age of the farmer and the number of years in activity present high values with few farmers coming into goat farming in recent years e The most common type of business is the family type followed by single worker type e The herd size is medium with a range between 129 and 220 goats e The use of machine milking and above all of ar tificial nursing was not very generalized when the study was carried out although this is a constantly changing aspect e The consumption of olive and acorn tree branches is traditional on the semi extensive farms of Andalu sia depending much on the type of tree present in the area e Animal feeding is greatly dependent on grazing land is cultivated to produce feed for the animals with a medium or high frequency although the area is
26. too small Little distinction is given to sup plementing the goats according to productivity al though all goats are supplemented part of the time e The breeding periods are relatively long although with slight differences between farms types e Health care vaccination and parasite control is very generalized although this study gathered no information on its results J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 137 0 15 0 10 0 05 wee ee eee we E l ee eS 0 00 0 05 Second component E 0 10 ii 0 15 Type e s e 4 ma A 2 o First component First component Lower values mean lower dairy specialization farms and more diversified farming activity worst infrastructures and largest grazing land Second component Lower values mean farm location in Sierra Norte of C diz mixed goat breeds predominance and worst accessibility to farm Fig 1 Spatial localization of the farms according to the two principal components obtained from the multivariate analysis e Farmers go into associations basically for feedstuff purchasing but being rare in commercialization or breed associations Five established farm types are described as follows Type 1 Sierra farms with diversified farming ac tivity in which the goat is not usually the main element These have an extensive grazing area 298 ha they are practically all in ownership with single worker or family management th
27. ts under study Using the first 2 components those with the greatest correlation and the largest number of variables 34 of the initial 73 variables were selected 11 of them are quantitative and the other 23 qualitative A hierarchical cluster analysis by the method of Ward using the squared Euclidean distance classifies the farms into five different types 2 2 3 Analysis of variance and contingency tables Comparison between the five types of different quantitative variables was performed using ANOVA In the case of analysis of degree and sense of the relationship between qualitative variables the cor responding contingency tables were constructed and the statistics calculated were used as basis for the Chi squared distribution 3 Results 3 1 About the nature of variables and their influence on different farm type establishments The multiple correspondence analysis yielded two principal components The first corresponding to the abscissa includes a large number of variables which in order of importance the squared corre lation coefficients range between 73 and 21 are the following study area Sierra Norte of Seville Sierra Norte of Cadiz and Malaga province main activity the main activity is or is in part or is not goat farming the supply of electricity and water productive capacity of the goats dairy Malague a and Murciana Granadina breeds mixed Payoya and Florida and meat producing Serrana an
28. ty of the farmers either is not goat farming or it is in part with farming always extensive of other animal species and infrastructures and milking machine installations are in general poor The more meat producing farms present above all in type 1 are framed following El Aich et al 1995 classification within type 1 called range goat pro duction system and are similar to the goat farms in the Sierras of Jaen southeast of Spain Garcia et al 1999 where infrastructures and installations are also poor One important difference of the Jaen farms is the type of ownership here most are communal and J M Castel et al Small Ruminant Research 47 2003 133 143 141 rented with hardly any land being proprietary The rest of studied farms included in most established types belong to El Aich et al 1995 type 2 classification called mixed range and concentrate feeding system The goat farming systems of the mixed type present in types and 2 are comparable to those in the And valo district and the Sierra of Huelva Porras et al 1997 and in the Serrania of Ronda De los Riscos et al 1999 both in southwest of Spain Here the goat farming is complemented with other agricultural or animal husbandry activities sheep cattle and pigs The farms of types 3 and 4 share numerous char acteristics almost all belong to the area of M laga southeast of Spain are medium sized in area main activity is goat farmi
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