Fatty acid composition of goat milk produced under different feeding regimens and the impact on Goat Cheese

Ruminants and their great ability to live and produce on a diet rich in fibre have a great potential to contribute to a healthy and sustainable human nutrition (Hofmann 1989). Sadly, only in times of rising energy prices the following question is asked: How much food can we afford to feed to animals? Taking this aspect into account considerably more research is necessary on the topic "Feed no Food in ruminant nutrition". In 2009 the Thuenen-Institute of Organic Farming in Trenthorst, Germany, started the project "Feed less Food" with the dairy goats on the organic experimental station in Trenthorst, Holstein, Northern Germany. The main questions focused on the impact of reduced concentrate use on animal welfare, milk yield and quality. In 2012, the focus was laid on lactation performance and the occurrence of fatty acids in milk essential to humans. In 2012 two feeding groups were formed and dairy goats received either an estimated 10% or 40% of the total feed intake (dry matter basis) as concentrates (KF 10 and KF 40). Goats in group KF 40 showed a significantly higher lactation performance (P< 0.05) regarding milk kg, fat kg and protein kg. No significant difference between groups was found for fat and protein content. Furthermore, no significant difference occurred in fatty acid pattern of milk. Short and medium chain fatty acids turned out to be significantly increased in cheese from group KF 40...