LIVESTOCK farmers who’ve participated in the Newport Mills genetic improvement programme are encouraging other farmers to try, but caution against high expectations.

Two farmers who spoke with the Jamaica Observer gave different perspectives based on their experience with the programme, which includes artificially inseminating (AI) their livestock to encourage better genetics and faster-growing animals.

“You have a lot of farmers that don’t have a proper buck — if you have a good semen programme like that to upgrade your herd, you should be okay, I encourage any young farmer going into the goat business you can go that way,” said Martin Griffiths, a livestock farmer in Clarendon, while speaking with the Observer.

AI is a method of breeding livestock using frozen straws of semen harvested from a selection of superior studs, such as Boer goats.

“You’re getting better quality animals, faster-growing animals, that the main thing for me with AI, you have these nice offspring by two, three months, they’re weighing this amount of pounds and the animal grow faster, then you can supply your market,” Griffiths assured.

Griffiths was, and is still, excited about the programme, but he has only got the opportunity to participate once, bringing forth three offspring from one mother. Unfortunately, two kids were lost due to injuries sustained on the farm, resulting in a loss of $80,000 each. Since then, Griffiths has been trying to get back on the programme but says it has been challenging.

“The whole business of the Nutramix team, I can tell you, is not an easy thing to call and get through — I’m just waiting and whenever them ready,” he said. Before Griffiths participated in the programme, he had been on a waiting list for a long time and he reapplied, and it has been a lengthy wait once again. While he has been trying to go the route of AI again, the lack of success in doing that has kept him relying on his traditional way of breeding his goats. “That’s why I always try to have my service buck,” Griffiths said with surety. “I have animals that I’d love to upgrade my herd, you know, get some faster-growing animal as long as when I call again, and they can come I’m always here I’m up for change, not a problem to experiment,” he added.

Another farmer, Cavell Clarke, who raises goats in Manchester, also participated once last year. He got five goats artificially inseminated, but was left a bit disappointed when all five did not get pregnant.

“I only got one goat pregnant from it, that’s the thing with the AI you will do all a hundred and a hundred don’t catch it very tricky — to me, I don’t think it’s feasible to that, because if I was supposed to pay for the five, it would cost me something like over 90-odd thousand if I was to pay, and for you get only one successful pregnancy from it, for some farmers it’s feasible, for some it’s not,” he told the Business Observer.

But he did benefit from getting three kids from the one pregnancy and encourages the technique because he guarantees farmers will see better genetics and better goats; however, for him, he says he’ll stick to his traditional way for now.

“The traditional way is easier in my opinion and has a higher possibility of insemination, but the idea of genetic improvement is better. When you use your buck, you can always leave the buck with the doe for days, assurity of the pregnancy is 90 out of 100 with AI; it is 50 out of 50,” he said.

In the meantime, Griffiths recommends that the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) have a follow-up programme to communicate with farmers and let them know what sections they intend to go to next, so they can get an idea of the wait time.