Livestock Science 104 (2006) 63 76

www.elsevier.com/locate/livsci

Using cluster analysis to characterize the goat farming

system in Sardinia
M.G. Usai *, Sara Casu, G. Molle, M. Decandia, S. Ligios, A. Carta
Istituto Zootecnico e Caseario per la Sardegna, Loc. Bonassai, Km 18.6 S.S. Sassari-Fertilia, 07040 Olmedo (SS), Italy
Received 4 October 2005; received in revised form 2 March 2006; accepted 13 March 2006

Abstract
This study is a large-scale survey based on interviews with owners of 151 Sardinian goat farms. The aim was to provide an
up to date description of the goat production chain on the island. A multivariate statistical approach was applied to exploit the
great number of available variables in the best way. The statistical analysis was carried out in two steps: principal component
analysis and successive cluster analysis. In general, Sardinian goat farming showed a remarkable backwardness compared to
dairy sheep farming. This is particularly true for farm facilities and productivity. Cluster analysis allowed us to identify five
clusters, which corresponded to three principal farming systems. Firstly, a traditional system with little infrastructure and low
management and productive levels was identified. Here the most frequent genotype was basically the native Sardinian breed.
Secondly, there is a group of farms mainly located in the southwest of Sardinia where the facilities and the management were
poor and production was on a low level than dairy sheep farming but generally better developed than the previous cluster.
Thirdly, there is a group of farms using a sort of semi-intensive farming system, which was more similar to that of dairy sheep,
with relatively high productive and reproductive performance.
In conclusion, this study identified different goat farming systems in Sardinia and emphasizes the need to develop strategies,
which are able to take this diversity into account.
D 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Sardinian goat; Cluster analysis; Farming systems; Development strategies

1. Introduction
The domestic goat (Capra hircus) has played a
crucial role in human history. Since it can adapt to
very different environmental conditions, the goat is
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 079387318; fax: +39
079389450.
E-mail address: usai_g@tiscali.it (M.G. Usai).
1871-1413/$ - see front matter D 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2006.03.013

the most geographically widespread livestock species

(Luikart et al., 2001). Today, goat farming is a very
important economic resource in several developing
countries. These countries own most of the global
goat stock (756 million head or 96% of the total world
stock; FAO, 2004). On the whole, the traditional role
of goats in these countries has been to satisfy the food
requirements of the family rather than for commercial
purpose (Morand-Fehr et al., 2004). In Europe, goats

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M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

are found mainly in Mediterranean countries (Greece,

Spain, France and Italy). Their most important
product is milk, which is used both for cheese making
and for direct consumption (Haenlein, 2001).
There are 850,000 head of goats in Italy, with 23%
of these being found in Sardinia (ISTAT, 2000).
Sardinia has a typical Mediterranean climate with
most rainfall concentrated between October and
March. The average annual rainfall is 756 mm with
large variations between years and areas depending on
the altitude. During the year, the average temperatures
range between 1 8C in winter and 26 8C in summer,
but in the marginal mountain areas the temperature in
winter is lower than the average. As a result of the
above-mentioned climatic conditions, there are usually two peaks of herbage growth. There is a minor peak
between October and December after the first autumn
rains but the main peak (about three-quarters of the
total herbage yield) occurs between March and June
when the herbage starts to mature and dry out
(Rivoira, 1976). In marginal mountain areas, the
pasture is mainly scrubland and consists of ligneous
species, and there is little herbage available, due to the
above-mentioned climatic and topographic constraints. Under these conditions, the goats mainly
browse on the leaves and twigs of ligneous species,
which often have high condensed tannin contents
(Decandia et al., 2000). The reproductive cycle of
goats is determined by the previously mentioned
environmental conditions. Adult goats kid mainly in
late autumn or early winter and primiparous goats in
early spring. Drying off occurs in early summer for
both adult and primiparous females (Macciotta et al.,
2005).
Sheep breeding has always been the most important livestock production system in Sardinia. However, goat farming has always been of some importance,
particularly in hilly or mountainous marginal areas.
This is because goats are considered to be the only
species able to exploit marginal areas covered by
ligneous vegetation and unsuitable for tillage or for
raising other domestic herbivore species (Brandano,
1980), as it is also the case in other Mediterranean
regions. Goats in Sardinia have often been raised in
conjunction with sheep or cattle. The other species
graze on the herbaceous vegetation while the goats
browse the leaves and twigs of bushes. In the last
century, social and economic changes, and the

consequent decline in agriculture, led to the progressive abandonment of the areas used for goat farming
(Brandano and Piras, 1978). In addition, Sardinian
sheep dairy products supported by EU subsidies were
successfully marketed, in particular the dPecorino
RomanoT cheese, which was exported in massive
quantities to the USA. This success, combined with
the lack of marketable goat products, led local
farmers, advisers, scientists and politicians to focus
on the dairy sheep production chain. Today, partly
because of cuts in EU subsidies, the market for dairy
sheep products is in decline and as a result there is
now more interest in alternative livestock species.
Goats are still of economic relevance in Sardinia. It is
the region with the highest goat population in Italy
(209,000 head; ISTAT, 2000). The current population
is a crossbreed of autochthonous animals with
improved Mediterranean goats, mainly of the Maltese
breed (Ligios et al., 2004; Usai et al., 2004). The
Sardinian goats are very variable in their morphological (Macciotta et al., 2002), productive and genetic
characteristics. The main product is milk, which is
mostly used to make cheese. Traditional homemade
cheeses are produced directly in the farms, and are
mainly destined to domestic consumption or small
local markets (Scintu et al., 1998). Most of the milk is
delivered to cheese making factories where it is
usually mixed with sheep milk and used to make
sheepgoat cheeses (Pirisi et al., 1995). Suckling kids
are used for meat, a seasonal product that is locally
much appreciated (Carta et al., 2001).
The objective of this study was to characterize
precisely the Sardinian goat farming system by
applying a multivariate statistical approach to analyse
data coming from interviews with farmers. Discussion
of the results will focus on possible strategies for
developing goat-based enterprises within the framework of new CAP objectives.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Data collection
The survey was carried out in the main Sardinian
goat farming areas (Nuorese, Ogliastra, SarrabusGerrei and Sulcis-Iglesiente; Fig. 1). Representative
farms of the regions were chosen. The number of

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

65

Nuorese
23 farms
4,574 head

Ogliastra
59 farms
9,288 head

Sulcis-Iglesiente
53 farms
13,311 head

SarrabusGerrei
16 farms
6,104 head

Total
151 farms
33,277 head
Fig. 1. Number of farms and head of goats.

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M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

farms and number of head sampled in each area were

approximately proportional to the totals for each area.
Each farmer was asked about the basic farm characteristics, farm facilities, herd management, feeding
techniques, breeding management and its history,
total stock and association with other animal species
and productive and reproductive performances. The
answers were recorded on forms. The main aspects
considered in the interviews are shown in Table 1. The
descriptive variables used for the multivariate analysis
are listed in Table 3. The tilled surfaces the total
surface of the farm that was cultivated. The time
outdoor in winter, spring and dry season (summer and
early autumn) represents the daily hours devoted to

outdoor feeding-related activities. The fertility was

calculated as the ratio between the number of kidded
goats and the number of mated goats. The prolificacy
was the number of kids per kidded goat. The
fecundity was calculated as the number of kids per
mated goat. The Sardinian blood is an estimate by
the farmer of the percent of original Sardinian blood.
The milk yield in winter, spring and summer was the
average daily milk yield per goat measured by the
farmer. Some variables were not directly included in
the forms but resulted from calculation based on the
original variables. The total private land of each herdowner (TPL) was calculated as the sum of owned and
rented land surfaces. For farms using public lands,

Table 1
Main aspects considered in the interview form
Basic farm characteristics
Altitude (m)
Total land (ha)
Owned land (ha)

Rented land (ha)

Total private land (ha)
Public land (ha)

Tilled surface (ha)

Facilities
Road connection (yes/no)
Water availability (yes/no)
Potable water (yes/no)
Electrification (yes/no)

Generator (yes/no)
Sheds (yes/no)
Housing facilities (yes/no)
Storehouse (yes/no)

Milking machine (yes/no)

Milk tank (yes/no)
Facility score

Feeding management
Time outdoor in winter (h/day)
Time outdoor in spring (h/day)
Time outdoor in dry season (h/day)

Cereal grain (yes/no)

Leguminous seeds (yes/no)
Commercial concentrate (yes/no)

Homemade hay (yes/no)

Purchased hay (yes/no)

Size of the goat herd and association with other species

Total goats (n)
Adult goats (n)
Males (n)
Primiparous (n)
Replacement males (n)
Replacement females (n)

Total sheep (n)

Total cattle (n)
Conventional stocking rate (LU/ha)a

Breeding management
Main breed of the herd
Pure breed (yes/no)
Crossbreed (yes/no)

Sardinia blood (%)

Other pure bred
Other crossbreed

Breed-crossbreed in the past

Type of males (internal/external)
Choice of the breed for the future

Reproduction
Artificial insemination (yes/no)
Estrus synchronization (yes/no)
Males used (n)

Adult kidding period

Primiparous kidding period
Adult fertility rate

Primiparous fertility rate

Adult prolificacy rate
Primiparous prolificacy rate

Milk and meat production

Milk yield in winter (l/day/head)
Milk yield in spring (l/day/head)
Milk yield in summer (l/day/head)

Weight of milk on the income (%)

Weight of meat on the income (%)
Kid slaughtering age (days)

Kid slaughtering weight (kg/head)

Kid weaning age (days)
Kid weaning weight (kg/head)

LU: livestock units.

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

TPL corresponded only to the private property. The

facility score, ranged from 0 to 10, was calculated as
the total number of farm facilities (road connection,
water availability, potable water, electrification,
generator, sheds, housing facilities, storehouse, milking machine and milk tank). The stocking rate was
estimated as the ratio between the total livestock
units (LU), inclusive of cattle and sheep, and TPL.
For farms based on public land, it was not possible
to estimate the actual surface exploited by animals,
which was anyway very large; thus, a conventional
stocking rate (CSR), obtained by setting to zero
farms based on common land, was used in the
analysis.
2.2. Statistical analysis
Means and standard deviations (continuous variables) or frequencies (categorical variables) were
calculated for the most informative variables. A
multivariate approach was used in order to exploit
the large amount of recorded variables in the most
efficient way. Statistical analysis was carried out in
two steps: principal component analysis (PCA) and
successive cluster analysis (CA). PCA extracts linear
combinations (PC) of the original variables whose
weights correspond to the eigenvectors of the correlation matrix. Similar approaches were used by
Weigel and Rekaya (2000) and Zwald et al. (2003)
to cluster cattle herds. Only the PC with eigenvalues
greater than 0.5 were considered (Weigel and Rekaya,
2000). This approach allows a large part of the total
variation to be concentrated in a small number of
standardized uncorrelated variables. The PCA was
performed using the SAS PRINCOMP procedure
(SAS, 1989). The process used for the CA was based
on the nearest centroid sorting method (Anderberg,
1973). This performs a disjoint cluster analysis based
on Euclidean distance and guarantees that distances
among observations in the same cluster are less than
the distances between observations in different clusters. The analysis was performed using the SAS
FASTCLUS procedure (SAS, 1989). The optimal
number of clusters was chosen on the basis of the
cubic clustering criterion (CCC) statistic (Zwald et al.,
2003). In order to characterize and compare the
identified clusters, the main descriptive statistics were
calculated for each of them.

67

3. Results
A preliminary check of the forms led to the
information for six farms being eliminated because
data was missing. The data for further 14 farms with
less than 25 head of goats were also removed, as these
were considered to be farms kept as a hobby rather
than for commercial ones.
The variables used for PCA are reported in Table 3.
Twelve PC had eigenvalues greater than 0.5 and were
retained for the successive CA. The eigenvalues of
these PC ranged from 0.52 to 5.19 and on the whole
they explained 87.5% of the total original variation
(Table 2). The eigenvectors of weights of original
variables on the new standardized variables are
reported in Table 3. The cluster analysis was carried
out from 1 to 15 clusters and maximization of CCC
was obtained with 11 clusters (Fig. 2).
Statistics of CA are summarized in Table 4. The
number of farms by cluster ranged from 1 to 51. Some
of the identified clusters showed a small number of
farms (less than five). Generally, they were characterized by very specific features such as a very large
goat stock, private land or tilled surface or a
completely absent time outdoor and relatively high
production levels. In order to limit the discussion to
Table 2
Eigenvalues corresponding to each principal component (PC) and
relative proportion of variation
PC

Eigenvalues

Proportion of variation

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

5.191
2.503
1.747
1.393
1.173
1.136
0.948
0.884
0.741
0.660
0.610
0.516
0.472
0.432
0.379
0.317
0.300
0.228
0.224
0.147

0.260
0.125
0.087
0.070
0.059
0.057
0.047
0.044
0.037
0.033
0.031
0.026
0.024
0.022
0.019
0.016
0.015
0.011
0.011
0.007

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M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

Table 3
Eigenvectors (weights) for each of the 20 descriptive variables according to the 12 principal component (PC) retained for the cluster analysis
PC1
Altitude (m)
Total private land (ha)
Tilled surface (ha)
Facility score
Time outdoor winter (h/day)
Time outdoor spring (h/day)
Time outdoor dry season (h/day)
Total goats (n)
Total sheep (n)
Total cattle (n)
Conventional stocking rate (LUa/ha)
Adult fertility rate
Adult prolificacy rate
Sardinian blood (%)
Milk yield in winter (l/day/head)
Milk yield in spring (l/day/head)
Milk yield in summer (l/day/head)
Kid weaning age (days)
Kid slaughtering age (days)
Kid slaughtering weight (kg/h)
a

PC2

0.258
0.265
0.234
0.291
0.066
0.184
0.250
0.174
0.205
0.002
0.226
0.153
0.297
0.278
0.336
0.286
0.309
0.123
0.009
0.071

0.167
0.247
0.166
0.215
0.401
0.438
0.366
0.235
0.260
0.061
0.029
0.027
0.105
0.046
0.146
0.244
0.166
0.020
0.085
0.306

PC3

PC4

0.171
0.316
0.279
0.230
0.334
0.051
0.064
0.286
0.233
0.200
0.148
0.117
0.174
0.312
0.023
0.029
0.201
0.112
0.363
0.312

0.310
0.024
0.118
0.029
0.042
0.072
0.145
0.055
0.224
0.636
0.052
0.124
0.107
0.008
0.125
0.086
0.059
0.415
0.412
0.070

PC5
0.145
0.000
0.272
0.090
0.047
0.222
0.217
0.382
0.218
0.081
0.520
0.037
0.128
0.253
0.270
0.295
0.162
0.068
0.237
0.004

PC6
0.240
0.099
0.029
0.110
0.065
0.150
0.072
0.152
0.132
0.092
0.104
0.690
0.156
0.072
0.144
0.038
0.119
0.195
0.325
0.377

PC7

PC8

0.231
0.071
0.408
0.109
0.285
0.168
0.187
0.394
0.056
0.255
0.148
0.037
0.220
0.229
0.115
0.140
0.055
0.261
0.146
0.383

PC9

0.022
0.052
0.016
0.064
0.019
0.159
0.258
0.273
0.174
0.247
0.149
0.112
0.030
0.126
0.128
0.220
0.298
0.724
0.061
0.047

PC10

0.025
0.333
0.054
0.101
0.069
0.042
0.007
0.083
0.287
0.286
0.215
0.487
0.204
0.261
0.034
0.172
0.054
0.103
0.510
0.000

PC11

0.192
0.040
0.313
0.095
0.510
0.106
0.036
0.176
0.015
0.032
0.075
0.237
0.348
0.114
0.326
0.326
0.078
0.199
0.023
0.309

PC12

0.371
0.087
0.166
0.353
0.076
0.337
0.177
0.004
0.069
0.335
0.497
0.022
0.087
0.049
0.022
0.088
0.122
0.162
0.007
0.357

0.058
0.129
0.073
0.095
0.126
0.026
0.097
0.148
0.457
0.262
0.430
0.175
0.163
0.264
0.048
0.151
0.035
0.093
0.401
0.365

LU: livestock units.

the most representative farming systems, results will

be showed only for the five clusters with more than
five farms. The root mean square (RMS) of standard
deviations, which measures the degree of dispersion
within each cluster, ranged from 0.715 to 1.141. Some
overlapping between clusters can be deduced by
comparing the maximum distance between a seed
and the observations of its cluster, with the distance
between the two centroids of two close clusters. This
is shown in Fig. 3, where the distribution of farms
with respect to the two first PC, which explain 38.5%
of the total variance, is reported.

3.1. Average goat farm

The results of the survey showed that goat-based
enterprises were sited at different altitudes with about
40% at more than 500 m (Table 5). Although most
Table 4
Main statistics of the cluster analysis (CA)
Cluster Number RMSa Max distance
Nearest Distance
of farms of S.D. seed-observation cluster between
cluster
centroids

Cubic Clustering Criterion

Tables 58 show descriptive statistics of original

variables with reference to the database as a whole
(average results in the first column) and to each
retained cluster (following columns).

1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6
-7
1

10 11 12 13 14 15

Number of Clusters
Fig. 2. Cubic clustering criterion according to number of clusters.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

51
3
1
4
3
2
4
9
25
24
5

0.849
0.877

0.821
0.997
0.727
1.055
0.954
0.715
0.774
1.141

4.372
3.457
0.000
3.926
4.791
1.782
4.565
4.542
3.854
4.532
5.626

9
10
11
10
8
11
10
9
10
9
10

2.714
5.477
8.898
5.539
5.895
5.909
3.865
3.070
2.405
2.405
5.537

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

69

4
3
2

PC 2 (13%)

1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-4

-3

-2

-1

PC 1 (26%)
cluster 1: extensive system (ES)

cluster 8: mixed grazing cluster (MGC)

cluster 10: semi-exstensive system (SES)

cluster 11: semi-intensive system (SIS)

cluster 9: intermediate cluster (IC)

Fig. 3. Distribution of farms according to the two first principal components (PC).

used public land and tillage was not frequent, the

average TPL and tilled surfaces for the involved farms
were high, albeit with great variability from farm to
farm. Most of the farms did not have basic facilities
such as electricity, milking machine or housing
facilities, and so the facility score was generally low
(Table 5). The feeding system and herd management
(Table 6) were based on traditional techniques. Most
of the day was devoted to outdoor feeding-related
activities. The goats were housed for more time in
winter than the other seasons (approximately 10 h/
day). Diet supplementation with concentrates was
common, in particular with leguminous grains,
whereas hay was less widely used. General statistics
on the breeding, herd size and association with other
species are reported in Table 7. The average herd size
was 224 goats, with the flocks ranging from 55 to 900
head. In about half of the sample the goats were raised
in conjunction with dairy sheep and/or suckling cows.
In these conditions, there were generally many more
sheep and cattle than goats. On the other hand, on
some farms, only a few dairy sheep or suckling cows
were kept and these were purely used to meet the
familys needs. The average percentage of Sardinian

blood estimated by the farmer was higher than one

half with 43 farmers claiming that they bred pure
Sardinian goats. Three farmers raised pure exotic
breeds. The age and weight of kids at slaughtering
were quite homogeneous across the farms (Table 8).
The reproductive and productive performances were
generally low, with an average fertility of 83% and a
milk yield of 1.1 l/head in spring. The weight of meat
production on the gross income was relatively high
(Table 8).
3.2. Retained clusters and identified goat farming
systems
3.2.1. Cluster 1: bOgliastraQ traditional extensive
system (ES)
Cluster 1 was the largest, with 51 farms located
mainly in the Ogliastra region (Table 9). This area is at
a high altitude and has harsh environmental conditions. The farms exploit public land. Private plots
were rarely added and in such cases these plots were
not always cultivated. The facility score was relatively
low because of the absence of the main facilities, and
especially electricity, milking machines and water

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M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

Table 5
Basic farm characteristics and facilities: mean F S.D. for the continuous variables and frequencies (%) for the categorical variables
Total

N farms
Altitude (m)
Tillage (%)
Tilled area (ha)
Public land (%)
Private land (%)
Total private land (ha)
Road connection (%)
Water availability (%)
Potable water (%)
Electrification (%)
Generator (%)
Sheds (%)
Housing facilities (%)
Storehouse (%)
Milking machine (%)
Milk tank (%)
Facility score
a
b
c
d
e

Clusters

131
424 F 318
21
20.8 F 19.6
70.2
37
164.1 F171.4
68
83
19
40
23
97
11
50
27
26
4.3 F 2.1

10

11

ESa

SESb

ICc

MGCd

SISe

51
682 F 230
4
4.5 F 2.1
100.0
4
42.5 F 53.0
86
67
25
14
14
94
2
22
12
12
3.4 F 1.5

24
140 F 150
33
19.0 F 16.5
41.7
63
171.5 F 97.8
46
100
8
83
38
100
8
75
42
38
5.2 F 1.4

25
390 F 281
20
8.1 F 7.2
88.0
32
37.3 F 40.4
40
84
16
20
8
96
4
36
4
12
3.2 F 1.5

5
322 F 345
40
30 F 0.0
40.0
60
40.0 F 10.0
80
100
20
60
40
100
40
80
40
0
5.4 F 2.1

200 F 179
22
25.0 F 21.2
11.1
89
115.0 F 78.7
89
100
11
56
22
100
11
89
44
44
5.7 F 2.1

ES: extensive system.

SES: semi-extensive system.
IC: intermediate cluster.
MGC: mixed grazing cluster.
SIS : semi-intensive system.

(Table 5). The herds were kept indoors for long

periods during the cold winter, although often in
rudimentary sheds. They spent the dry seasons of

summer and early autumn outdoors. Grain and

leguminous seed feed supplements were widely used,
but hay supplements were only used on about 50% of

Table 6
Feeding management: mean F S.D. for the continuous variables and frequencies (%) for the categorical variables
Total

N farms
Time outdoor winter (h/day)
Time outdoor spring (h/day)
Time outdoor dry season (h/day)
Cereal grain (%)
Leguminous seeds (%)
Commercial concentrate (%)
Total concentrate (%)
Homemade hay (%)
Purchased hay (%)
Hay supplementation (%)
a
b
c
d
e

ES: extensive system.

SES: semi-extensive system.
IC: intermediate cluster.
MGC: mixed grazing cluster.
SIS: semi-intensive system.

131
14.4 F 6.3
21.2 F 5.4
22.0 F 4.5
72
85
9
93
10
67
71

Clusters
1

10

11

ESa

SESb

ICc

MGCd

SISe

51
12.1 F 5.7
21.8 F 4.7
23.6 F 1.9
76
94
2
100
2
55
55

24
16.5 F 4.0
21.2 F 4.1
20.9 F 4.5
71
75
4
83
4
79
79

25
18.1 F 5.6
23.7 F 0.9
23.7 F 0.9
60
84
8
88
4
68
72

9
22.2 F 3.5
24.0 F 0.0
24.0 F 0.0
67
89
22
89
11
78
78

5
10.4 F 3.1
13.0 F 6.2
13.0 F 6.2
60
80
20
100
40
60
100

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

71

Table 7
Size of the herd, associations with other species and prevalent genotype of the goats: mean F S.D. for the continuous variables and frequencies
(%) for the categorical variables
Total

Clusters
1

10
a

N farms
Only goat (%)
Total goat (n)
Sheep (%)
Total sheep (n)
Cattle (%)
Total cattle (n)
Conventional stocking rate (LU/ha)*
Sardinian blood (%)
Preference for Sardinian bucks**

131
51.1
224.2 F 136.1
27.5
199.1 F184.4
29.8
29.6 F 30.6
0.51 F 0.42
63 F 25
56

9
b

8
c

11
d

SISe

ES

SES

IC

MGC

51
58.8
178.4 F 106.6
5.9
36.7 F 15.3
37.3
22.6 F 23.7
0
84 F 21
83

24
54.2
295.9 F 121.1
37.5
182.2 F 162.4
12.5
12.3 F 15.3
0.33 F 0.10
52 F 12
42

25
60.0
181.7 F 71.9
28.0
86.6 F 82.8
20.0
11.8 F 9.2
0.23 F 0.01
48 F 13
40

9
33.3
228.7 F 87.2
44.4
225.0 F 125.8
55.6
43.6 F 26.4
0.80 F 0.48
58 F 10
44

5
40.0
166.6 F 170.8
40.0
85.0 F 106.1
20.0
1.0 F 0.0
0.74 F 0.62
32 F 20
20

ES: extensive system.

SES: semi-extensive system.
c
IC: intermediate cluster.
d
MGC: mixed grazing cluster.
e
SIS: semi-intensive system.
* LU: livestock units.
** Percentage of farmers who declare their will to use Sardinian bucks in the future.
b

the farms (Table 6). This cluster included small and

medium sized herds (from 55 to 466 head). They were
frequently raised in conjunction with suckling cows
but rarely with sheep (Table 7). CSR was zero because
large portions of public land were generally used. The

farmer claimed that their goats had very high levels of

original Sardinian blood. In almost all cases, they said
that they intended to maintain or increase this high
proportion in the future. Reproductive performances
were low, particularly the fertility rate (Table 8). This

Table 8
Reproductive and productive performances: mean F S.D. for the continuous variables and frequencies (%) for the categorical variables
Total

Clusters
1

10
a

N farms
Adult fertility rate
Adult prolificacy rate
Adult fecundity rate
Milk yield in winter (l/day/head)
Milk yield in spring (l/day/head)
Milk yield in summer (l/day/head)
Kid weaning age (days)
Kid slaughtering age (days)
Kid slaughtering weight (kg/head)
Weight of milk on the income (%)
Weight of meat on the income (%)
a
b
c
d
e

ES: extensive system.

SES: semi-extensive system.
IC: intermediate cluster.
MGC: mixed grazing cluster.
SIS: semi-intensive system.

131
0.83 F 0.15
1.43 F 0.29
1.19 F 0.36
0.9 F 0.5
1.1 F 0.5
0.6 F 0.4
116 F 29
37 F 6
6.7 F 0.8
58 F 12
42 F 12

9
b

8
c

ES

SES

IC

51
0.76 F 0.18
1.21 F 0.18
0.93 F 0.30
0.6 F 0.4
1.0 F 0.3
0.4 F 0.1
124 F 25
38 F 6
6.9 F 0.7
54 F 13
46 F 13

24
0.83 F 0.11
1.65 F 0.23
1.36 F 0.24
0.9 F 0.2
1.0 F 0.2
0.6 F 0.2
128 F 17
40 F 3
6.6 F 0.5
63 F 9
37 F 9

25
0.87 F 0.11
1.45 F 0.25
1.26 F 0.28
0.9 F 0.3
1.1 F 0.2
0.6 F 0.4
111 F 32
34 F 4
6.3 F 0.6
55 F 11
45 F 11

MGC

11
d

9
0.86 F 0.16
1.47 F 0.20
1.28 F 0.32
0.7 F 0.3
1.1 F 0.2
0.6 F 0.3
102 F 30
32 F 4
6.2 F 0.3
62 F 11
38 F 11

SISe
5
0.96 F 0.06
1.90 F 0.09
1.82 F 0.17
2.0 F 0.4
2.7 F 0.6
1.2 F 0.4
82 F 44
33 F 5
6.5 F 0.5
58 F 11
42 F 11

72

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

Table 9
Number of farms for each region according to each cluster
Region

Clusters
1

10

Total
9

11

Outliers

ESa SESb ICc MGCd SISe

Nuorese
5
Ogliastra
45
Sarrabus-Gerrei
1
Sulcis-Iglesiente 0
Total
51
a
b
c
d
e

1
0
5
18
24

9
4
1
11
25

1
0
1
7
9

1
2
1
1
5

3
2
4
8
17

20
53
13
45
131

ES: extensive system.

SES: semi-extensive system.
IC: intermediate cluster.
MGC: mixed grazing cluster.
SIS: semi-intensive system.

indicates that there are management, nutritional and

probably also health problems. The milk yield was
also low, especially in winter and summer. The kids
for replacement were traditionally weaned at around
four months and the age of kids at slaughtering of kids
was similar to that of the overall goat population. The
percent of income from meat production was slightly
higher than in other clusters. On the basis of the above
results, we defined this cluster as extensive system
(ES).
3.2.2. Cluster 10: semi-extensive goatsheep system
(SES)
Cluster 10 was composed of 24 farms sited at low
altitudes (Table 5), mainly in the hills of the southwest
Sardinia (Sulcis-Iglesiente; Table 9). 62.5% of farms
had private property and tillage of quite large surfaces
was relatively frequent. Farms had a good facility
score and 42% of them owned milking machines.
Herd management appeared to be less traditional than
in ES: the time spent outdoor in the dry season was
shorter and hay supplements were more widely used
(Table 6). The average herd was larger than in ES.
One third of farms also had dairy sheep flocks. In
some cases, these were quite large (Table 7). The
genetic type of goats corresponded to a cross level of
about 50% but a high percentage of farmers said that
they intended to use pure Sardinian bucks in the future
to return to the original Sardinian genetic type (Table
7). The reproductive performances were undoubtedly
better, milk yield was higher and weaning was earlier
than in ES (Table 8). However, the farmers said that
they obtained a higher percentage of their income

from milk than did farmers in the previous cluster.

Although this seems to indicate a less traditional
farming system, the age at weaning was similar to ES.
This cluster included the farms with a more developed
farming system and we defined it as semi-extensive
system (SES).
3.2.3. Cluster 9: goatsheep intermediate cluster (IC)
Cluster 9 shared several common features either
with ES or SES. The 25 farms of this cluster were
spread over different regions (Table 9) and found at
medium altitudes (Table 5). TPL was low with tillage
only slightly more common than in ES. More basic
facilities were found here than in ES, with the
exception of milking machines. In general, the herd
management was similar to ES, whereas hay supplements were used as frequently as they were in SES
(Table 6). The average herd size was almost the same
in ES but association with dairy sheep was much more
frequent. The cross level and the percentage of
farmers who intended to use pure Sardinian bucks in
the future was similar than SES (Table 7). Reproductive performances were similar to those of SES, with
the exception of prolificacy that was lower. Milk yield
was almost the same as in SES (Table 8). Given the
better animal management than in ES, particularly the
feeding management and productive and reproductive
performances, this group of farms was defined as an
intermediate cluster (IC).
3.2.4. Cluster 8: semi-extensive with mixed grazing
(goatsheepcattle) cluster (MGC)
The nine farms of this cluster were sited mainly in
the Sulcis-Iglesiente region as SES. The cluster could
not be precisely characterized except for the fact that a
large percentage of farms raised cattle, sheep and
goats simultaneously. The presence of often substantial sheep flocks and cattle herds meant that the
structural level of these farms was good. They
generally had the same level of facilities as those of
the SES and often possessed private land. However,
the levels of Sardinian blood in the flocks were higher
than in SES and the production performances were
lower and more similar to IC.
3.2.5. Cluster 11: semi-intensive goat system (SIS)
Cluster 11, even though it only contained five
farms, was very different from the others. There were

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

large areas of tilled surfaces, little outdoor time for the

goats, general use of hay, high cross levels with
improved breeds and higher reproductive and productive performances (Tables 58). This cluster was a
more evolved goat farming system, which, in some
respects, was similar to that of specialized dairy sheep
flocks. As a result, we defined it as the semi-intensive
system (SIS).

4. Discussion and conclusion

PC analysis results (Table 3) underline the relationships existing between variables. Some variables are
important for discriminating the farms according to
their intensification level. PC1 eigenvectors show
positive values for variables such as total private land,
tilled surface, facility score, total sheep and negative
values for altitude, time outdoor in the dry season and
percent of Sardinian blood. This gradient of intensification, shown also in Fig. 3 (PC1 axis), is positively
related, as expected, to the productive and reproductive performances.
On the basis of this study, the goat farming system
in Sardinia is, as a whole, remarkably backward in
terms of structural level and productivity. Many farms
do not have basic facilities and, even though 27% of
goat farms own a milking machine, this is rarely used
for goats, as the majority of such farms also have large
sheep flocks. The low proportion of well-equipped
farms is basically in line with expectations and
previous general reports (Ligios et al., 2004). The
traditional management is based on extensive exploitation of natural pasture from bushland. The average
CSR is low and highly variable. The use of supplements with single concentrates is widespread, due to
the lack of available hay. Moreover, there is not a
planned genetic management of the goat population:
there is no well-organized pure breed selection
scheme in place and unplanned crossbreeding occurs.
These conditions mean that productive performances
are very low as it is clearly shown by the low milk
yield, the high average age at weaning and the
relatively low economic weight of milk with respect
to meat, compared to intensive or semi-intensive
farming systems (Rubino, 1996; Amaral et al., 2005).
This situation is even clearer when one compares the
situation for goats with that of the Sardinian dairy

73

sheep production chain. Sheep farms are usually on

private property on plains or low hills. They have
good structural levels with sheep housing facilities
and also milking machines (Natale et al., 2000).
Tilling the land to grow winter forage crops for
grazing and to produce hay and supplements to
pasture is also common. Furthermore, the sheep farms
raise only the Sardinian breed, and this has been
improved by selection with a well-managed breeding
scheme (Carta et al., 2004). There are many reasons
for these differences between goat and sheep farming.
The dairy products market did not encourage or
justify the use of goats in the most favourable farming
areas where dairy ewes are usually present. Given
this, there was little incentive for goat farms to invest
in technological developments. This has only happened, indeed, on a few farms, not included in this
survey, where highly productive continental breeds
(Saanen and, to a lesser extent, Alpine) are raised
under a stall-feeding regime (Dampne, pers. comm.,
2005).
The multivariate approach, combining principal
components with cluster analysis, allowed us to detect
large differences in the goat farming systems in
Sardinia. This will help us to envisage different
scenarios with different development pathways.
To be precise, we found that there were three
principal farming systems. There was a more traditional extensive system with low structural, management and productive levels, based on the exploitation
of public land in the mountainous bOgliastraQ region.
Here, the most frequent genotype is basically the
native Sardinian breed. This can be considered as
the basis of the goat farming on the island (bottom of
Fig. 4).
The second group (SES) was mainly located in
Sulcis-Iglesiente region. Once again the structural,
management and productive levels were lower than
those of dairy sheep but the goat farming is generally
better developed than the previous cluster. A third
group of farms used a sort of semi-intensive farming
system (SIS) with high productive and reproductive
performances. IC and MGC shared some common
features with ES and SES (Fig. 4). In particular, IC
presented structural and management aspects similar
to ES whereas productive, reproductive and breeding
traits were comparable to SES. Finally, we detected a
group of farms showing a sort of semi-intensive

74

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

Cluster and farm number

Envisaged development strategies

Extra survey

Semi-Intensive System (SIS) Supplement + grazing

Cross-bred 75% Cheese making in factories

blo

od

Cl. 11 (SIS) n=5

Intensive System Stall feeding of high merit continental

breeds Milk for direct consumption

of

nat

Semi-Extensive System (SES)

Grazing/browsing + Supplement
Cross-bred 50% Cheese making in factories

n
atio
ific
ens
int
of
vel

Cl. 9 (IC) n=25;

Cl. 8 (MGC) n=9

Le

ive

Cl. 10 (SES) n=24

Cl. 1 (ES) n=51

Intermediate Cluster (IC) +

Mixed Grazing Cluster (MGC)
Extensive System (ES)
Browsing + Supplement
Native goat population
Meat (kids) + farm-made cheese
+ nature conservation

+ Percentage of goat farm Fig. 4. Structure of goat farming systems in Sardinia and envisaged development strategies.

farming system (SIS) with high productive and

reproductive performances.
Beyond this level of intensification, there are a
few farms, not surveyed in this study, which can be
regarded as being the top level of goat farming in
Sardinia. These basically use the housing system
typical of northern Europe (top of Fig. 4). The
differences between the two main clusters (ES and
SES) in terms of altitude, private ownership, tilled
surface areas and association with dairy sheep
suggest that they are suitable for different types of
sustainable development. The bOgliastraQ system
(bottom of Fig. 4) is located in an area of great
interest for environmental conservation with great
possibilities for developing for nature and archeology
based tourism. It does, however, suffer from certain
shortcomings, such as its distance from the main
cities (Cagliari and Sassari) and insufficiently
upgraded electricity, road networks and infrastructure. Considering the climatic and topographic
conditions and the constraints related to the public
owning of land, it is difficult to envisage an
improvement of management techniques and productive and reproductive performances. The development of this system should be based on traditional

products such as meat (suckling kids) and farm-made

dairy products, combined with a strategy aimed at
conserving not only the native Sardinian goat and its
traditional herd management techniques, but also the
rural culture as a whole. However, some prerequisites have to be satisfied in order to establish a
sustainable development strategy for ES: (i) using an
integrated approach, including molecular genetics, to
characterize the native Sardinian breed (Sechi et al.,
2005) and to organize a breeding scheme aimed at
preserving its genetic distinctiveness and variability;
(ii) the adoption of a well-designed policy aimed at
an adequate management of the Mediterranean
forests and bushland; (iii) the characterization,
labeling and traceability of the traditional goat
products. Given the new CAP objectives, a decoupling approach with cross-compliance premiums
related to environmental targets seems the most
sensible system to adopt. This is fully in line with
EU policy guidelines, which are designed to support
biodiversity and the conservation of autochthonous
breeds.
The Sulcis-Iglesiente and partially the SarrabusGerrei regions where the SES and SIS are located
are different from Ogliastra where ES is prevalent.

M.G. Usai et al. / Livestock Science 104 (2006) 6376

They are closer to the main regional city (Cagliari)

and have, on the whole, better infrastructure. These
areas are more suitable for the development of a goat
farming system, which is more similar to that of
dairy sheep, i.e. based on well-organized farms,
which deliver their milk to medium or hightechnology cheese factories. In this type of system,
breeding improved animals through large-scale adoption of artificial insemination, combined with a semiintensive farming system, would justify some cheese
factories specializing in the production of highquality, standardized goat cheese for internal and
external markets.
In order to sustain such development, a semicoupled scheme used in conjunction with the adoption
of premium schemes aimed at improving hygiene and
milk technology can be envisaged. Pasteurized milk
from intensive farms based on improved-milk breeds is
putatively free of off-flavors, and in particular the
gouty flavor, if the goats are fed with hay and
concentrates (Delacroix-Buchet and Lamberet, 2000;
Landau and Molle, 2004; Coulon et al., 2005; Decandia
et al., in press).
There could also be a non production-driven
system outside the outline shown in Fig. 4. In
Sardinia, as it is probably also the case in other
European Mediterranean regions, goats are not raised
only for production. In 14 goat enterprises with less
than 25 goats, they were also raised as bpetsQ by
enthusiasts. They were part of small zoos of domesticated animals and farm-house educational programs
or agricultural tourism. This shows how this species
could easily be integrated into multi-functional
agricultural schemes.
In conclusion, this study clearly demonstrates how
varied goat farming is in Sardinia and emphasizes the
need for development strategies which can take this
diversity into account as well as economic and social
aspects that warrant further research.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Mr. Salvatore Masala, Mr.
Costantino Saccu and Mr. Sebastiano Porcu for their
help with the survey and all interviewed farmers for
their kind collaboration. This work was supported by
the Italian Ministry of Agriculture (MiPAF) and the

75

Regional Government of Sardinia (RAS), inside the

framework of the dBiodiversity and Genetic ResourcesT
program.

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