In many parts of the world where hunger is a major problem, goats are the primary livestock.
Ninety percent of the world's goats are actually in these nations with developing economies
where people usually don't have enough food.
So it's a very critical meat and milk source in these nations.
U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists with the Agricultural Research Service say
one of the problems is that in many rapidly developing and undeveloped countries the best
goat is eaten during celebrations or sold quickly to make money.
Thus that opportunity to improve the genetics is lost because the animal goes into food
immediately.
Sonstegard and ARS colleagues are studying the genetics of goats in Africa to figure
out which ones to keep in the herd.
And how they stack up against goats in countries, typically Europe, where they have done a lot
of advanced breeding for dairy production.
ARS leadership says research like that of Sonstegard and colleagues is important to
solving global food challenges.
Productivity in agriculture is critical to feeding the world's population, which we know
is going to grow from about six point six billion today to almost nine billion by 2050.
For more information go to USDA dot gov.
For the U.S. Department of Agriculture I'm Bob Ellison.