Breeding goats on a personal compound is becoming increasingly popular among the population. These animals in the farm are always fresh milk, delicious kefir, snow-white and airy oil.
Why is it recommended to breed goats in the home yard?
This is a fairly inexpensive and recouped way to have fresh milk on the dining table every day, equal in value to mother's milk. There are many examples when mothers, in the absence of their own milk, fed their children just goat rich in mineral salts. The opinion of most people about its poor taste and specific smell is wrong. The fat content of goat milk, which can be stored for a long time even without a refrigerator, is higher than cow's milk and amounts to 4-6%. A significant content of biologically active potassium has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system and promotes the rejuvenation of the body.
Kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, butter are home-made products that will always be a useful addition to the usual family diet. Breeding goats on a personal farm as a business, in addition to the side income from the sale of dairy products, brings satisfaction and joy when dealing with these friendly, loyal animals.
How to choose a goat?
To do this, you only need to be able to choose the right goat, being guided by such criteria as physique, age and purpose of keeping the pet. If the goat on the farm is required to receive dairy products, then the choice should be stopped on dairy breed (Saanen, Nubian, Alpine, Toggenburg). Upon examination, special attention must be paid to the udder of the animal; it should be pear-shaped, voluminous and soft to the touch.
Short nipples are inconvenient during milking, so in this case, the choice of a pet should be continued. The main advantage of dairy goats is high milk yield (about 3 liters of milk per day).
Breeding goats on a personal compound for obtaining and selling meat can also be a very profitable business, in which it is advisable to stop the choice on meat breeds: Greek, Burgan, kiko. The meat from them is of high quality and reminds veal in taste.
A goat can also be kept for wool and fluff (a special type of wool raw material that has no analogues in quality and technological properties). In this case, such breeds as Angora, Orenburg, Gorno-Altai are most suitable, from the soft wool of which they produce a popular mohair. In comparison with other breeds, such goats produce less milk: only 0.5-1 liter per day.
A by-product of goat maintenance is manure - a high-quality fertilizer for vegetable gardens, personal plots and greenhouses.
The best choice is the local breeds, the most adapted to the climate of your region. Moreover, popular breeds without proper care and high-quality feed may not meet the relevant productivity indicators.
Signs of a Good Goat
A good goat should have a wide chest, a healthy skeleton, straight legs. It is worth paying attention to the jaw. They must close tightly with one another. Otherwise, the animal will not be able to grab the feed with its teeth and bite the grass, which will negatively affect its productivity.
When acquiring young goats, attention should be paid to the milk yield of their mother. It is advisable to take a winter brood, because it is stronger and more enduring. Animals are required to choose active, with clean eyes, glossy hair, even and symmetrical horns (if any). The shape of the hind legs should be in the form of the letter āPā, not āXā. If possible, it is worth observing how the goats run. Those who fall behind and often lie down are not worth taking.
Breeding goats is a cost-effective activity
Breeding goats on a personal farm is a very convenient and low-cost type of home business. These animals are unpretentious and optimally adapt to various conditions. Their valuable biological feature is early puberty; one goat usually brings one to two (sometimes three) cubs. Young grown up can be put on meat, tasty and non-greasy, it is very important not to overdo it, because an adult goat from the age of 1.5 years produces an unpleasant odor.
The arrangement of premises for goats
Goats on a personal compound are undemanding animals, so they can be raised in almost all climatic zones and, unlike cattle, can even be kept on small farmsteads with small outbuildings.
The animal welfare room must be warm, dry and clean with fresh air, equipped with a manger for hay and a feeder for food waste located below them. An important condition is the presence of litter on the floor; it can be straw, sawdust, foliage. Goats love freedom, so it is advisable to keep them in stalls without a leash. The goat should be kept in a separate room (with a
ventilation pipe installed
) in order to prevent milk from getting a specific unpleasant odor.
Goat Breeding in the Farm: Feeding
For feeding goats, fresh grass is considered optimal food, which is also the cheapest food, due to which there is a significant increase in milk yield. Therefore, in the summer, animals must be bred for grazing, where they independently get their own feed. In the evening, they should be fed with root crops, potatoes, vegetables, cereals, pre-harvested branches from shrubs or conifers.
Goat keeping in winter
You should also give mineral elements and vitamins during the period of pregnancy of the goat. Breeding in the courtyard of these pets requires the investment of their own labor, namely the preliminary preparation of hay, which is the main feed in the winter.
When harvesting hay, it is not recommended to use herbs that give bitterness and smell to milk (tansy, chamomile, horsetail, wormwood and mustard). Dried brooms from branches of trees and shrubs are given to animals as additional nutrition; it is useful to feed them needles in the cold period. Mixers are used as a swill, significantly increasing milk yield, for the preparation of which kitchen waste, dried bread, beetroot, carrot peeling, steamed oats or bran are mixed with warm water.
In winter, goats are required to walk in order to increase appetite, as well as reduce the risk of hoof disease.
Water for goats should always be available and have room temperature. It is recommended to add lick salt to the feeder, in case of its absence the swill needs to be simply salted.
We breed goats on a personal compound
It is advisable to acquire offspring of goats in early spring. Born in this period, the kids are the most developed and strong. For this, mating is required in September-October. Goats can happen after they reach 1.5 years; mating is allowed from 7 months of age, very desirable with an unrelated goat to obtain high-quality non-hybrid offspring. In households, mass offspring is mainly observed in March. Usually by autumn, the kids are already well developed. Females are sold to other farms or left as a replacement for old queens, goats are sold for meat or raised to replace the goat-producer. In order to avoid mating, it is preferable to exchange young animals with other farmers.
The first days of newborn kids need to be drunk with colostrum, then for a month feed 4 times a day with liquid oatmeal or semolina porridge (in milk) with the subsequent transition to three meals a day.
Gradually, kids should be accustomed to feed, hay and leaves; this leads to a faster development of the stomach.
7-9 years - the average duration of use of a goat on a personal compound.
Breeding goats on a private farm is economically viable due to the low costs and the peaceful nature of these clean and friendly animals.