**5. Characteristics of goat production systems**

China has the largest number of goats in the world, but they are bred mainly for meat production. Milk production by milk breed occupies the third place, behind France and Spain. According to China's official statistics, there are between 1.4 and 5.8 million dairy goats producing about 0.3 million tons of milk [13, 15]. The statistics on these goats can be questioned because they are not based on actual censuses, and knowledge of the number of dairy

At the global level, interest in dairy goats has steadily increased, and in less than two decades, milk production has grown from around 10 million tons in 1990 to about 15.2 million tons in 2008. In developing countries, goat milk production has continued to grow partly due to a trend toward self‐sufficiency of rural populations, where goat milk is the nutrition basis of millions of people. In these regions, milk is largely consumed raw but can also be processed into a wide variety of products for better preservation and commercialization. We can say that the global marketing of goat's milk is still at a very early stage, and so far, there has been no large‐scale effort to professionalize this industry, exception for some developed countries. According to Refs. [15, 16], the marketing rate of goat's milk at the global level does not

There are still many obstacles to achieve the professional level of production and sale of goat's milk. Access to productive data to enable the development of breeding programs is very scarce, and on the other hand, reproductive and productive seasonality, which is very marked in some breeds, prevents a constant supply of milk demanded by markets [17]. In sum, there are consumers for goat dairy products and there is enough production to meet this demand, but there is a lack of bridges between both sides in order to enhance this market in

Goat meat is widely consumed in developing countries. Of the approximately 280 million total tonnes of meat consumed per year, goat meat accounts for only 2% of this total, about 4.9 million tonnes [13]. Developing countries produced approximately 97% of this amount, reflecting the great importance of goat meat to feed these populations. China leads the world production of goat meat, representing 38% of the total. As we could see in milk production, also in goat meat production the Asian and African continents are leading. As in milk production, the increase was also notable in the same 18 years of comparative production and raised from the 2.65 million tonnes of goat meat produced in 1990 to 4.93 million in 2008. Most of this

The goat meat business is not already become profitable on an industrial basis. It is not enough to know the proper management techniques, but nowadays it is also essential to control the market and the economic limiting factors for farming success, as well as the financial management and marketing techniques. In addition, there are an increasing number of challenges associated with meat production, including knowledge of regional preferences and consumer education for consumption. In the production and processing sector, producers have to undergo training programs, and slaughter and processing facilities have to be modernized.

terms of an efficient marketing of the product toward profitable industry [3].

meat is not commercialized but is produced and consumed locally [3].

goats is even more difficult [15].

exceed 5%.

358 Goat Science

**4.2. Meat production**

Goat production systems, like other production systems, are not just a combination of crops and animals with the aim of achieving short‐term results. They represent a set of interacting elements, managed by the farmer, according to their objectives. The farmer will define the objectives influenced by the social environment in which he is inserted, his degree of technical knowledge, and the available production factors [20, 21].

Several authors consider that the general and strategic management approaches are applicable to agricultural enterprises and those who apply them are more successful [22, 23]. The application of strategic management concepts helps to design the way the farmer will achieve the objectives, and it is convenient to know the strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities and the threats [24, 25].

A caprine production system has production subsystems, whose performance influences the overall results, for example, the forage system; if there are nutrient deficiencies in the soil, its production is lower, and then, the animals may not have adequate feed to their needs.

The increase in the meat and milk ruminant production has been much greater than the increase in the pasture area, mainly because this increase was due to the increase of mixed or landless production systems (intensive systems) than to the pastoral or extensive systems [26].

Increasing livestock production to provide food to the growing human population has increased the potential to cause environmental problems, and the balance between the environment and livestock production is now a concern. It is important to avoid an increase of grazing land and arable land for crops production to feed the animals, with the consequent reduction of areas of natural vegetation, soil and air contamination. Overgrazing also leads to several bad consequences like high amounts of animal excretions and overuse of natural pastures with low productivity and with high risk of soil degradation, especially in the arid and semiarid regions of the tropics and subtopics [26–28].

The terms equilibrium, disequilibrium, and nonequilibrium are commonly used and can be understood by equilibrium when the animal population and forage resources are under stable climatic conditions. Otherwise, climatic variations disturb the system, causing disequilibrium, which differs from nonequilibrium, represented by modifications in vegetation due to changes in the proportion in the plant species or where the dynamics of the animal population is disassociated with key factors that determine their survival, and their survival is maintained through feeding supplementation [29–31].

However, the sale of the kid goat is the main reason for this production. In the Southern Mediterranean, this product is very appreciated and valued, mainly in the Easter and

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Usually, the number of animals produced is low and they are usually raised under climate adversities, where probably there are no shelters, no food supplementation and also often

It turns out that the use of natural pastures can be done in two ways, a mobile grazing system and a sedentary grazing system. The first is characterized by annual or seasonal movements of the animals with the shepherd to new places in search for feed, and while sedentary grazing, the animals are driven freely to pastures near the farm, usually keeping the animals at night in the stable. In the mountains, they can practice transhumance, which consists of seasonal movement of animals regularly between two or more areas of seasonal pasture, through established paths (called "canadas" in Portugal and Spain), conducted by shepherds in the summer to the mountain to take advantage of the still fresh pastures and return to the valley in early autumn. This modality is currently disappearing due to sanitary issues and also because of the greater

Although the extensive production is not very productive, it is of great importance regarding the maintenance of the rural landscape and with the aim of the biomass management that avoids the occurrence of forest fires, and where the goats are well adapted to take advantage

The use of goats in extensive systems can be valued by the quality products. In Europe, many of them have protected designation of origin (PDO) and the protected geographical indication (PGI) which are certified to attest the traditions and specific product qualities, strongly linked to a certain region. The awareness of society about the damaging effects of intensive livestock systems has changed the methods and aims of researchers and even research centers, trying to

Intensification is often associated with a decrease in grazing dependence and an increase in the use of concentrated feeds, mainly cereals, to supplement natural feeds. At the same time, improved and balanced feeding practices together with improved breeds in ruminant systems enabled more efficient feed ratio conversion to meat and milk production rather than to

The intensive system implies a high density or animal concentration per area unit, under reproductive and sanitary control, and the feeding process includes advanced technologies. Sometimes, some farms seasonally require higher feed and labor resources such as through the calving season and milk production, so the supplementing of animals with concentrated

In order to meet the feed requirements of animals in an intensive system, pastures must have high dry matter yields per hectare, good growth throughout the year, in both regions with regular rainfall or holdings with irrigation systems, without extremes of heat or cold temperatures.

these animals have hygienic sanitary problems, which leads to poor economic results.

easiness to feed the animals through the purchase of commercial feeds.

focus on improving system sustainability instead of increasing productivity [45].

feed may be needed at this point, but the remaining year is mainly grazing.

Christmas seasons.

of these feed resources.

**6.2. Intensive goat production systems**

maintenance of the animals [28].

Goats are the best adapted ruminants to highly antinutrifibrous low‐protein forages, often in conditions of poor availability of water [32, 33]. Goats are opportunistic feeders, the time they spend on grazing species depends generally on the relative frequency of encounters, but this relationship depends on species of vegetation and habitat visited [34].

Compared to other domestic ruminants, namely bovine and sheep, raised in regions of poor agricultural resources, goats' advantage is clear. These animals combine the advantage of being able to feed on a variety of low‐quality fodder and shrubs, they also manage to walk long distances, with short breeding intervals with high reproductive rates, they provide high rates of investment return and, consequently, low investment risk. Goats also have high energetic efficiency in milk production, excellent utilization of marginal lands, a very strong flocking instinct and a docile behavior, which enables herding by children and elders [35, 36].

Farmers tend to have mixed herds of sheep and goats as a strategy to maximize the use of environmental resources [37]. Small ruminants in many traditional systems in the Mediterranean basin are the main source of red meat for human consumption [38], while in Northern Europe, in addition to meat, the milk, wool, and skin were also the main products [39]. However, with development for a market agriculture, meat has become the main product in the sheep sector, while in the goat sector milk has been, and still is, the main product while meat is secondary in most cases followed by skins and hair [40]. There are, however, local variations where a particular product can be valued such as sheep's milk for the production of traditional cheeses and the production of goats in the southern Mediterranean. These products are mainly consumed regionally, constituting market niches with low international visibility.

Often, small ruminants, especially goats, are extensively produced using the poorest land, shrubland, and forest areas where other species cannot survive [41]. This helps to fix the rural population, reduces the risk of depopulation of marginal or less‐favored areas [42–44], and contributes to the maintenance of good agro‐environmental practices and landscape preservation.
