There are several different classifications of goat breeds, but a single, comprehensive to this day has not yet been invented. The most suitable of them for farmers is based on the type of animal productivity.
She divides all breeds of goats into three groups:
1. Dairy - such as Toggenburg, Saanen, Gorky, Russa, Mingrelian and many others.
2. Wool - Soviet wool, Angora.
3. Downy - Don, Orenburg, Altai Mountains, black down, Bashkir and others.
The breeds belonging to each of these groups give high productivity indicators in only one direction, and in the rest their level is average or even low. But such breeds that can boast of a combination of averages for 2-3 signs have been bred - they are called combined.
To obtain a good economic effect from any breed of goats, it is necessary to provide animals with comfortable conditions. The premises in which it is planned to contain them should be dry, bright and without drafts. In winter, the air temperature there should not be below six degrees. If, along with adult goats, small goats are also kept, then the temperature must be kept at a level not lower than eight to ten degrees of heat. But in the summer, when goats in the room spend only night, there, on the contrary, it should be cool, not stuffy. Before the goat farm it is necessary to arrange a small fenced yard, in which animals are kept during the day, even in winter, when the weather is favorable.
The windows in the room where the goats are kept are needed, but they must be located strictly on the south side, and the distance from the floor to the windowsill should be provided at least 1.5 - 1.75 meters so that the animals can not break the glass. The floor in the goat house should be plank, adobe or earthen, raised at least 20 centimeters above the ground. And in order for the resulting slurry to flow, it is necessary to make a slope of 2 centimeters for each meter of the floor.
If the farm contains several goats, it is recommended to divide the room into several separate stalls equipped with doors so that animals can be there without a leash. In the goat house, nurseries should be arranged to accommodate coarse food, as well as feeders for silage, root crops and concentrates. Regardless of the breed of goats, for them along the walls they need to equip shelves with a width of 50-60 centimeters at an altitude of 40-50 centimeters above the floor: animals like to climb on them at night and sleep there. Thanks to these shelves, their wool is less polluted and rolls.
The room should always be dry and clean; ventilate it, remove manure and change the litter as often as possible. It is also important after a while to whitewash the walls of the goat with lime mortar, for the preparation of which you need to take 1 kg of quicklime per bucket of water. It is important not to allow the keeping of the females with the male, since its smell can easily be transmitted to goats and, therefore, their milk. It is also impossible for hens to live in the same room with goats: they can contaminate food and infect animals with parasites, for example, lice.
In winter, in calm weather and frost not less than 12 degrees, goats should be walked and fed in the courtyard, which favorably affects their health and increases productivity. Wool that has become contaminated must be sheared, and its growing hooves must be trimmed according to certain rules. Shorthair goat breeds need to be cleaned every day with a stiff brush.
In our time, the transanental or Saanen breed of goats, which were bred in Switzerland, gained quite a lot of popularity. These animals - with a wide forehead and muzzle, thin ears, a full neck, a wide and voluminous chest, a well-developed and sloping croup, strong legs and strong hooves. They have no horns. The Saanen goats have a short coat, white color, the goats have longer hair, and the bottom of the neck is equipped with earrings. The growth of animals at the withers reaches 90 centimeters, the weight of males is 65 - 70 kilograms, and females are 50 - 55 kilograms.