A contribution to the improvement of milking and working conditions on Serrana goat farms in Northeastern Portugal
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abstract
This presentation is about milking and working conditions on Serrana goat farms in Trás-
os-Montes, a region of northeastern Portugal. The Serrana goat is an indigenous breed and
is generally raised to produce milk for cheese-making.
Goats are hand-milked inside their shelters. There are no places specifically for milking
nor special equipment or facilities to do this work.
In collaboration with ANCRAS (Portuguese Serrana breeders' association), we developed
a project with the aim of improving milking and working conditions on Serrana goat
farms, bearing in mind the socio-economic conditions of breeders. We propose the use of
a milking platform with a self-locking barrier in order to improve the posture of milkers
and the efficiency of milking.
Our study compared traditional manual milking with manual milking using such a
platform and barrrier. The use of this equipment can improve milking and working
conditions on the goat farms of the region.
