How To Start Large Scale Goat Farming In South Africa:
Here in Nigeria, the goat milk is still not yet widely consumed because farmers are not yet taking advantage of the opportunity. Would you be the farmer to make this happen? The meat is believed to be the best animal meat available anywhere in the market for good reasons. Not only does the meat taste great, it is also lower in fat than chicken but contains higher protein than beef, that makes it better than chicken and beef.
Goat meat has a unique taste that is very difficult to describe but very appealing to the taste bud. There are other products that can be derived from Goat milk such as cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and butter. Anything that cow milk can offer, goat milk can also offer. These are the reasons goat farming is considered by wise farmers as a very lucrative business and it is increasingly becoming very popular among modern farmers in Nigeria.
Opportunities In Goat Farming All Over The World
In India and Nepal, goat farming is one of the major source of income for families and bigger farmers are producing larger quantity for export. China, India, and Pakistan are currently the largest producer of goat in the world with the opportunities still great there for any new farmer who would like to tap the gain. Nepal is said to still import about 1.3million live goat yearly from the neighboring countries such as India, meaning that the opportunity is very much huge in that country for any would be goat farmer.
Australia is the largest exporter of live goat and goat products in the world, yet they are still not meeting the demand of countries where they export. The opportunities in Australia for new farmers are equally great and increasing rapidly.
In United Kingdom, almost all the supermarkets sells goat meats and other goat products like the milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt. The demand is quite high and farmers there are not meeting those demands in full. There are plenty of money making opportunities for goat farmers in UK.
In Nigeria, goat meat is widely consumed locally and forms major part of the people’s delicacies. The popular goat meat pepper soup is so tasty that people come from far and wide to have a taste of it. Yet, few farmers are into goat rearing in the country, most of the goats consumed in Nigeria comes from the Niger Republic and the North. Nigerian Dwarf Goats is popular in the South and Eastern part of the country but only kept for family consumption and sold in the local markets occasionally despite the huge demand. Any serious farmer who would take goat farming to the next level will have serious money to make.
Goat farming is a big and profitable business Anywhere in the world. In this article, I will explain how anyone can start goat farming on a small scale and grow to any size he want within couple of years in any part of the globe. I want to make this article as comprehensive as possible and as people begin to share their ideas and understanding in Goat farming business through comments, I hope this will end up becoming great resource for small scale goat farmers much like the Poultry Farming post. Please read and participate by dropping a comment.
The Profit In Goat Farming Business
First, let’s look at the profit potential in goat farming business, I want to analyze the profit in dollar perspective because I am looking at a situation where some Nigerian farmer would take this goat farming to the next level and starts producing large enough to export even if it is to other African countries.
A fully mature goat weigh about 100 pound and in many places goat sale is measured in pound with each pound going for $1.5. Therefore, 100 pound weigh goat will bring it $150 minimum. If you produce just 500 goats yearly and each sold for $150 minimum, you will be making $75,000 per year. Take away $25,000 as the production cost, you will be left with $50,000 (₦8,000,000) from just 500 goats as pure profit. Isn’t that great?
Don’t forget that goats take between 2-3 years to mature, in the profit estimate above, I assumed you have passed through the first three years of establishment. The 500 is a big number but very achievable if you take your farming seriously, in all honesty 500 goats per annul after three years is a realistic goal for small scale farmers. You can start smaller and expand gradually depending on the resources available.
Now, how do you proceed to start your own goat farming business in easy and simple way that guarantees profit and sustainability? How do you start off in a cost effective way that ensures you don’t get your fingers burnt. Below are what you need and things you need to put in place to ensure you get started quick and simple.
How To Setup Your Goat Farm
1. Pasture – Acquire a good grazing ground that grows plenty of grass verities. Goats are relatively clean animals. They eat a wide variety of plants that are nutritious to them. They are foragers of weeds and leaves and could eat different types of plant at different season and even days. However, production animals feed on grass, silage, hay and grain just like cattle. Look for where land is cheap and acquire some acres depending on the number of animals you want to keep.
Goats need large expanse of land, they like moving and moving while eating plants that are not too close to the ground to avoid worm infested plants. They like keeping enough distance from each other, this way, they reduce contaminating each other. Goat don’t like over crowded condition, ensure you have enough acres of land for your goats to roam about free while grazing and feeding.
How many goats should be kept in an acre? On a good pasture ground, maximum of 10 goats should be kept in an acre of grazing land, if you intend to keep up to 500 goats, you will need 50 acres of pasturage. Understand that goat multiply very quickly – a pregnancy will always result to the birth of twins. Sometimes they can give birth to single kid or even triplet which is very rare.
2. Fencing – Construct short perimeter fence round your pasture or barbwire fence, I prefer barbwire to short perimeter fence for obvious reasons – Barbwire is more protective and impossible for goats to scare through while keeping the animal safe from predators. “Goats need protection from coyotes, roving dogs, or even cougars & bears if they are kept on pasture. Some producers use protection dogs to keep predators at bay. Special 1.2m fencing may be required to keep goats in. As goats like to go around obstacles, electric fencing is sometimes used. Many producers provide ‘play areas’ with things to climb to amuse them and to prevent damaging behavior”
3. Housing – Build a suitable house for your goats, house is required to keep them safe from rain and other climate factors like cold. Goat don’t like bad conditions, they like to stay indoor when it is raining, they like to stay under share when the weather is hot, and like to stay outside and graze when the weather is perfect and enjoyable.
Goat likes some measure of privacy when they are indoors, so it is required you build separate houses for few number of goats or you construct it in a way that it will be spacious enough to give each animal some level of privacy. Goats like laying down and chew the cord while resting in a quiet condition. Make sure the housing is made comfortable for them. Some even suggested building dog house for each goat.
4. Species – There are large number of goat breeds suitable for different purposes of rearing. Some are very good for milk production, some are good for the meat, other are preferable for the fiber. However, there species that can combine all that. Some does well in certain area than the other, you need to go for the one that is most popular in your locality, they could be important reason why farmers prefer certain species in your environment. Check the list for available goat breeds in your country and choose according to what you need.
Having decided on the goat breeds to go for, source for healthy kids. It must have history of De-worming and Vaccination. Goat is susceptible to stomach worm and other internal parasites. Get the healthiest of goats possible to start with.
5. Veterinarians – You will need to have appointment with a veterinary Doctors near you for periodic check up and vaccination. This is very important if you hope to keep the mortality at the lowest or completely eliminated. You can use Government agencies near you or appoint a private vet doctor.
With all these in place, you are very good to go in your goat rearing business. Since goat does not necessarily feed on processed animal feeds, your cost of production will be highly reduced because they will be eating natural nutritious plants in their pasture that grows on their own.
Despite the increasing business ideas and opportunities in the country, livestock farming seems to be the most lucrative. There are many areas you could venture into when it comes to livestock farming one of which is goat farming.
Why you should consider goat farming;
- Goat farming requires relatively low capital but yields high profits.
- A lot of Nigerians consume goat meat daily as such it can be seen as an everyday commodity that is highly demanded.
- Shoes, bags, belts and other leather-base materials are made from goat skin which is a very good source of leather
- Goats are easy to feed and manage as they require minimal supervision
- They also reproduce a lot which means continuity for your business
- Aside from normal consumption, goat milk is used in the production of cosmetics
- Pharmacists also make use of goat offal for drug production
- Even goat faeces are a great source of manure.
What you need to get started
Know how
Don’t venture into goat farming blindly or you could fail for the smallest reason. Get as much knowledge as possible on the business and how its run. Learn about goats, their feeding, mating, reproduction, and overall care process. Learn how to diversify the business into milk production, leather production and manure distribution. The best training would be a hands-on practical training.
Breed
There are different breeds of goat available in the Nigerian market as such; you need to determine which breed would best suit your purpose. Figure out why you’re venturing into goat farming and consider which breed would give you the best results. Raising two breeds is an option that requires larger capital.
Location/housing
The most suitable place to consider for goat farming is an area closest to pasture. The land should be spacious and fenced. Also, you’ll need a shelter for the goats so they can be shielded from harsh weather like rain and sun.
Feeding
Pasture is the best form of food for goats but there are other healthy food options like specially formulated goat feeds. You can grow your own pasture or make arrangements for your goats to graze in a nearby land. You could also either buy feeds or manufacture them depending on how much you can afford.
Healthcare/medication
Goats need utmost care (the female more than the male) this care should be ready available. You could have a vet doctor look in on the goats from time to time. This is necessary to avoid the spread of diseases which could very easily end your farm.
Marketing strategy
You shouldn’t wait until you’ve started operations to have a marketing plan on strategy. Right now when you are still putting things in place, consider your marketing strategy. You can even start networking.
Legal permit
The best way to avoid run-in with the law is to pay all and as at when due. Find out all the legal processes you need to follow, certification, documentation and all. If you need to get registered get it done and out of the way.
Help
Consider employing a number of people to assist you depending on how big your farm is. it could be in form of permanent staffs or staffs that come in once or twice a week to assist you it all depends on what you can handle.
As you go, there are going to be other thing to put in place like inventory, bookkeeping, breeding and the likes but these listed above cover the basics you need to start up. don’t procrastinate; get started!
