Goats are vital to improving livelihoods and food security, most notably in developing countries. Research and development programs play a pivotal role in enhancing livestock productivity globally, but were lacking for goats in Lao PDR. Our program consisted of regular farm visits, a mix of formal and informal training, and subsided or incentivised adoption of forage growing, veterinary treatments, mineral blocks, improved goat housing, and supplementary concentrate feeding - and achieved beneficial practice change and enhanced financial security for smallholder households.

This article belongs to the collection: Sustainable Animal Agriculture for Developing Countries 2023.

Determining the birth date of lambs is important for breeding lambs with superior growth. We used sheep-attached proximity sensors to measure the interactions between 300 ewes and three rams over the mating period to predict the date of lambing. We found that 80% of ewes had a predicted lambing date ±3 days of the measured lambing date. This tool can be used by farmers to improve the management of ewes by grouping them together by gestational age.