Goat keeping and breeding

Goats are perhaps the most profitable animals for keeping on a personal compound. Their breeding should be done at least because of their phenomenal unpretentiousness and very good productivity.

Goats: breeding, keeping, care

In order for a goat-growing enterprise to be successful, you should:

• Provide animals with a comfortable place to sleep in the summer and winter.
• Correctly develop a diet.
• Know how to get healthy offspring and grow them.

Next, we consider how to achieve the highest productivity from animals, in more detail.

What should be a barn

So, the successful maintenance of goats at home in terms of productivity is possible only if they arrange a comfortable home for them. These unpretentious animals do not require too large areas. However, in cramped conditions they can drastically reduce productivity. When designing a barn, it should be borne in mind that at least 1.2 m ^{2 of} area should go to one goat, 2 m ² to an adult goat-producer, 0.70-0.80 m ² depending on age . If these parameters are met, the animals will feel good, which will certainly affect the amount of milk and the quality of the coat.

The premises for keeping goats must be insulated. The fact is that these animals do not tolerate too severe frosts and heat very well. The air temperature in the shed in winter should not fall below +8 ... + 10 degrees, and in summer rise above +20 degrees. The floor in the room for goats is usually arranged in a boardwalk and made inclined towards the entrance for the flow of urine. Near the shed, you need to fence off a place for walking at the rate of 2-4 m ² per head. The fence should have a height of about 2 m. In a small shed, designed for a couple of goats, one window will be enough for good lighting and ventilation. In large rooms arrange supply and exhaust ventilation.

Feeders and a place to sleep

Live goats (breeding, keeping, care for which procedures are not particularly difficult) should in good conditions. It is important not only to build a fairly spacious barn for them, but also to properly equip it. The feeders should be placed at a certain height - 15-50 cm from the floor. In addition, it will be necessary to arrange special shelves for recreation. They are stuffed at a height of 30-40 cm from the floor level along the entire length of the wall. The width of the shelves is 60-70 cm. In a large barn, you can even arrange a large platform, designed specifically for sleeping goats.

It is advisable for each animal to set up a separate enclosed corral, in which, in addition to a drinking bowl and feeder, to establish large nurseries for hay. They don’t throw his goats to the floor, as these animals are very active and hay lying under their feet quickly trample.

Manufacturers selection

So, what should be the conditions for keeping goats, we have found out. Now let's figure out how to choose the right manufacturers. Experienced farmers are not advised to purchase a goat or a goat in the bazaar. It is better to look in the area for someone who is seriously involved in these animals, or contact the nearest licensed nursery. If the purchase is made for some reason, nevertheless on the market, to choose a good dairy goat you will need:

• First of all, carefully examine her udder. It should be large with medium length nipples. Goats with a udder of the correct round or pear-shaped form, not divided into two halves, not saggy and not flabby, are distinguished by better milkiness.

• In order to make sure that the animal will give tasty, odorless milk, you should scratch the fingers between its horns with your fingers. If there is no smell from the hand after this, then everything is in order.
• The age of the goat can be determined by giving her a cracker. The young animal will gladly accept the treat and eat it right there. An old goat will roll a cracker in his mouth for a long time, waiting for it to get wet.

When buying kids, you should carefully examine their mother. The degree of productivity of these animals is very well inherited. You should also ask the seller about the conditions of keeping and feeding the kid. Abruptly changing his diet is highly discouraged. Single goat maintenance on the farm is practiced quite often. But since these animals are unusually sociable, it is worth acquiring not one kid, but at least a couple.

When can I do a mating?

Successful keeping of goats at home is possible only if the rules for mating are followed. Goat puberty comes very early - at 6-7 months. However, up to a year, mating is highly not recommended. If you hurry with this, after giving birth, an immature goat will develop much worse. The same goes for offspring. It is best for the first time to goats in a year and a half.

Breeding

Goats, the maintenance and breeding of which must be carried out according to certain rules, are very active animals, problems with obtaining offspring from them usually do not arise. Sexual hunting usually occurs in the fall. During this period, they most often carry out mating. The uterus bears kids for about five months. Therefore, at conception in autumn they will be born closer to spring. And this means that the owner does not have to additionally insulate the barn. In May-June, on the green pastures, the kids will quickly gain weight. Sometimes mating is carried out in the spring. In this case, the owners of the animals will have milk in the fall.

Newborn Care

Born kids will need to cut the umbilical cord at a distance of 6-8 cm from the tummy. The remaining tip is smeared with iodine. You should also remove newborn mucus from the mouth, nose and eyes with a clean cloth and place them under the goat so that it licks them. Milk the uterus should be no later than 4 hours after birth. Colostrum fed to kids from a bottle with a rubber teat. In the early days, feeding is thus done at least 4 times a day. After a week, they switch to a three-time diet (700 g of milk per day). At the age of one month, the dose should already be 1500 g, and in the two-month-old - 2000. At this time, the kids can be fed no more than twice a day. By the age of three months, the amount of milk consumed is reduced to 500 g per day. Next, the kids can be transferred to an adult diet.

Milking

Successful keeping of goats at home in terms of obtaining large quantities of milk is possible only if certain recommendations are followed. To increase the productivity of animals you will need:

• Follow the feeding schedule punctually.
• Give goats only fresh, high-quality feed.
• Water animals at a temperature of 10 degrees in sufficient quantities.
• Refuse milking to feed.

The content of domestic goats in winter

In the cold season, adult animals should receive coarse, concentrated and succulent feed. The approximate feeding schedule is as follows:

• In the morning they give concentrates (crushed grains), succulent feeds (carrots, beets - raw, boiled potatoes). Next, the goat will need to be milked and put hay in her nursery.
• At noon, animals are fed with succulent feed - root crops or silage. After that, they again milk and plant hay.
• In the evening, feed the crusher and milk it.
• At night, they put hay and one dried broom from the branches of deciduous trees in the feeder. You can also give spruce paws. They have a lot of vitamins.

Goats are watered twice a day, 4 liters per head.

The amount of feed should be as follows:

In addition, goats must be given feed additives, salt and chalk. Hay can be replaced with brooms in a double dose. Also, sometimes goats are fed foliage collected in the fall in winter. But giving it too much is not recommended. Limit should be the number of fed birch brooms. From them, goats sometimes have inflammation of the kidneys.

How much hay is needed

Mowing grass for harvesting for the winter in June, during flowering or before. About 380-420 kg of hay will need to be prepared per head. You can mow and dry 200-250 kg, and make up for the lack with brooms. They in this case will need about 400 kg.

Keeping goats in the winter in a warm barn with proper feeding will allow you to get quite a lot of milk during this period of the year.

Pasture

Goats are driven out to pasture in early spring. Transfer animals to a new diet should be gradual. To do this, at first, before the pasture, goats are fed a small amount of hay and concentrated feed.

Grazing animals is better in elevated, fairly dry areas. They love the odorous, stiff grass species more than the watery, tasteless grasses that grow in the lowlands. Goats are driven twice a day to a watering place. In the heat of the holiday. The pasture itself is divided into several sections. First goats are grazed on one, and then transferred to another.

A special recreation area is arranged on the pasture. From time to time, its location changes because it is quickly contaminated with manure. Animals are driven home in a stall late in the evening. Thus, both woolen and dairy milk goats are fed in the summer. Keeping them in the warm season is not at all difficult. Many owners do not even feed goats additionally, completely transferring them to a pasture diet.

Thus, keeping goats at home is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. The main thing is to choose the right producers, develop a high-quality diet and follow the feeding and milking schedule.