Wanneer is een geitennavel heel (BO-20-008-013)

This project aims to accurately assess the state of navels of goat kids from birth until the age of at least 14 days on three commercial farms (50 animals per farm) in addition to a brief literature scan. Pictures of the navels will be taken in a standardized way to obtain graphical material to support assessments in the field. This is important because employees of the Dutch competent authority have the impression that currently it occurs that too young goat kids that should be considered unfit for transport are actually transported, but tools for objective assessment are lacking. Willingness and cooperation of commercial farmers (e.g. providing access to the stalls, identification of animals and not removing kids that have been assessed but which are not yet 14 days old) is crucial for performing the study.  Moreover, on their farms  a sufficiently large number of lambs should be born in a limited time frame. For a representative picture it is important that the care of the young lambs is similar to the normal course of events on the farm.