Dairy Goat Research Facility: Revealing Process & Provoking Interactions
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Date
2021-09-22
Authors
Maki, Rain
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
The dairy goat industry in Ontario is in need of benchmarking data on the raising
and caring for goats resulting in better welfare and production. The power of collective
data cannot be overstated to benefit and advance the industry as seen in Ontario’s dairy,
swine and poultry industries. The goal of this thesis is to create a framework for the design
behind a research facility dedicated to dairy goats with the animals as the main priority.
As a dairy goat farmer and an architecture graduate student, I believe my experiences
and knowledge in agriculture and architecture have given me the tools to understand the
particularities of goats and how their environment may affect them. The research studies
on goat behaviour and welfare analyzed in this thesis, encompass a range of aspects from
understanding social needs, and evaluating adaptable behaviour, to assessing the performance
characteristics of materials and housing components. The emerging designs for the Dairy Goat
Research Facility embody an integration of goat behaviour research, farm culture and
industrialization, and sustainability.
Description
Keywords
goat, research facility, animal architecture, animal design, farm design, agritecture, barn design