The overall aim of the 'Lactodouce' project is to improve animal and farmer welfare by estab-lishing the necessary scientific basis to produce goat milk with a 'half-pregnant herd'. To achieve this goal, the conditions for lactation in non-pregnant goats are achieved by monitoring udder development, hormonal changes and the resulting lactation. The general conditions are keeping the non-pregnant goats together with pregnant animals and mechanical stimulation of the teats. Our hypothesis is based on the pos-sibility of a hormonal mimicry effect between pregnant and non-pregnant animals.
