Aufbau einer Zuchtwertschätzung bei Milchziegen

In Germany, the importance of goat cheese and goat-milk products raised continuously during the last years. Therewith increased the number of dairy goat farms and consistent breeding programs for dairy goat production are needed. Less developed breeding structures were a constraint for setting up breeding value estimation for dairy goats so far. In this study, a regional approach is applied to overcome the structural barriers. Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg are planning to cooperate within their breeding programs. They agreed upon a joint breeding objective of high lifetime dairy performance with high milk ingredients and good robustness. For breeding value estimation a total of 54,955 lactations of German Fawn (BDE) and German White (WDE) goats are used. Heritabilities of 0.33 for milk-, 0.39 for fat- and 0.35 for protein-kg as well as 0.48 for fat- und 0.52 for protein-% are within the expected medium to high range. Genetic trend for milk-kg is slightly positive in herdbook animals and slightly negative (BDE) to constant (WDE) in non-herdbook animals. Genetic trends for protein-% are slightly (WDE) to clearly positive (BDE) for all goats. Genetic trends are increasing stronger since 2015 which could be an indicator for selection based on the breeding values. Breeding values are published since 2013. Overall, the regional approach is useful for setting up a breeding value estimation for dairy goats. Nevertheless, a nationwide expansion is still desirable.