Goats are animals that are used to obtain healthy milk, wool and meat. When breeding goats at home, you need to be prepared for the costs associated with buying feed and keeping the animal. The material costs quickly pay off, thanks to the good productivity of the goats. With the right approach to business, the breeding of these animals will be within the power of everyone.

Breeding goats at home

When planning the breeding of goats, it is necessary to determine the direction - the goal for which it is planned to raise animals. There are four main types:

  • Meat goats. Animals grow large, gain weight quickly. Meat breeds include: Kiko, Boer, Spanish. When breeding meat breeds in large quantities, it is necessary to immediately determine where the meat will be sold;

    Goat

  • Dairy. Goats with a long lactation period. You can milk up to 8 liters of milk per day. Dairy include Alpine, Saanen, Toggenburg breeds. This is a variety of Swiss dairy breeds;
  • Woolen. Breeds like cashmere and angora are highly prized for their wool. It is believed that this species of goat, wool of high quality;
  • Decorative. Such breeds are bred only for an interesting appearance. For novice farmers, they are not suitable only if the breeding is done for the purpose of the subsequent sale of animals.

On a note. In the household, dairy goat breeds are usually chosen. Goat milk is highly prized and easy to market.

For good growth and increased productivity of goats, it is important to properly organize the conditions in which the goats will be kept. Animals are unpretentious, they can live in small structures:

  • In the barn;
  • In the stable;
  • Under a canopy in the yard during the warm season;
  • In the closet.

To keep domestic goats, you will need to prepare a place for them to live. Usually a barn is used for this. It must be clean, warm, dry and free of drafts. Goats adapt well to cold weather, but do not tolerate dampness and drafts. Therefore, you need to take care of ventilation in the room. A thick mat of straw, peat or sawdust is laid on the floor.

If the region has a long and cold winter, then a heating system must be considered in the room. The air temperature should not fall below 10 degrees, the recommended humidity level is not more than 70%.

Interesting. The Russian government allocates various loans and subsidies to support the development of agriculture, especially on an industrial scale.

Seasonal features of goat keeping

Before breeding animals, it is necessary to study all information about goats at home. In summer, the animals are walked or fed with freshly cut grass. Hooves grow quickly in goats. Walking helps to grind them; if the animal spends a lot of time in the barn, then the hooves must be ground by hand.

On a note. It is best to graze goats in a herd, under the supervision of a shepherd. If this is not possible, then the animals are tied to a peg.

In winter, use as feed:

  • Hay;
  • Roots;
  • Compound feed.

The pen, where the goats are kept, must be made reliable. Animals can find a way out and damage the vegetable beds in the garden or move to the garden of neighbors.

Breeding goats

Selection is recommended before mating. The strongest and healthiest goats and goats are chosen for reproduction. To assess the goat, they are guided by the following criteria:

  • Good health and constitution;
  • Descent from a productive goat (it will be a plus if the individual is from twins or triplets);
  • The manifestation of characteristic characteristics of the breed, the description can be obtained from experienced farmers;
  • High physical activity, sexual energy.

    Alpine goats

When choosing goats, at the stage of buying in a specialized farm, you need to find out about the productive ability of the mother. It is important that the goat is fed with breast milk after birth for at least 4 months. A healthy individual has a straight back, smooth coat, without bald spots. The jaws should be tightly clenched, if they are incorrectly positioned, then there will be problems with feeding the animal.

Healthy offspring are obtained in early spring. Mating is carried out in late summer or early autumn. The male is not taken from the related line of the goat (the genus must be different). If the first mating was not successful, then you can lead to a second mating in 2-3 weeks, when the animal is ready again.

Pregnancy with normal goat health lasts for 145-150 days. The goat should bear the kids for about 5 months. Recommendations on how to take the kids, the goat lambed, what to do next:

  • After the ovoz, it is necessary to wipe the newborn kid with a dry soft cloth, clean the nose and mouth of mucus;
  • The goat must "lick", additionally clean its child;
  • After the baby is applied to the udder and squeezed out a few drops of colostrum to develop a sucking reflex;
  • The room where the goat is with the kids should be warm, the temperature should not be lower than +15 degrees. If it is cold in the stable or shed, then the kids are taken to a warm room and the umbilical cord is processed there with iodine;
  • How many kids a goat gives birth depends on what breed the mother and father were. Sometimes there are twins and triplets, maybe one goat child.

On a note. To create a healthy herd, it is important to feed the kids with mother's milk for the first months. Therefore, the dairy goat at first will give all the milk to its babies.

If artificial feeding is used, then the kids are not brought to the mother. Feeding is done from the teat. After three months, the kid is considered an adult, the diet will need to be varied. The initial dose of compound feed is 50 g per day.

From five months young goats start hunting, they can become cat cats. But in order to get strong offspring from a young goat, she needs to get stronger. It is recommended to mate after 1.5 years.

Kozlov after the first mating is recommended to be noted. With poor offspring, unproductive individuals are castrated, then used for sale to another farm or for meat.

On a note. Novice farmers have a question about how many years a domestic goat lives. On average, with proper care of the animals, the life span of a goat is 15-18 years.

Goat care

Breeding goats and caring for goats at home will not cause much trouble even for novice farmers. How to properly care for goats:

  • The main thing is to ensure optimal conditions. The room where the goats will be kept should be warm and dry;
  • A feeder for hay for goats must be installed in the barn;

    Goat feeding

  • It is recommended to make the floor in the room wooden. There must be a litter. Cleaning is done every week. For the goats, it is necessary to equip loungers in the stall on which they will sleep;
  • The weak point in goats is the hooves. The farmer needs to monitor the condition of the hooves, trim them as needed. As soon as the goat is uncomfortable to walk, it is necessary to trim the hooves;
  • The goats grow thick hair. Goats are combed with a special rigid comb two to three times a week. It is recommended to cut the wool near the udder;
  • Because of the wool on the goats, lice or fleas can parasitize, therefore, several times a month the goats are treated with a solution of soda;
  • In the summer, when walking goats, you need to choose the right pasture. In the place where it is planned to walk the goats, trees, grass and access to water must grow. If there are no trees, then you can build a small canopy yourself, which will serve as a shelter from the sun or rain.

On a note. With insufficient nutrition and a regular lack of water in the summer, you can not expect good milk yield from a goat.

In winter, it is important to maintain a comfortable temperature in the stall. Lighting should be at least 12 hours. The goat can be taken out for several hours in fresh air. The exceptions are days when there is a strong drop in temperature.

Milking and udder care

To inexperienced farmers, milking may seem like a routine and requires little skill. Rules for preparing goats for milking:

  • Remove all jewelry from your hands, wash them thoroughly with soap;
  • Put on clean clothes, in which the farmer will constantly milk the goat;
  • It is recommended to put the animal in the pen and give it compound feed so that it is distracted by it;
  • Prepare a bucket of warm clean water for washing the udder of the animal;
  • Wash the udder of the goat with light massage movements. If the animal is calm, then washing does not cause discomfort;
  • After that, dry the udder with a soft, clean cloth or paper towel;
  • If the udder is overgrown with wool, then it must be removed;
  • To make milk easy to come out, the udder is massaged before milking. A nourishing cream for goats is applied to the hands;
  • In turn, each udder lobe is massaged with cream. After preparation, you can start milking;
  • The first trickles are taken into a separate bowl, since they are not used for food.

    Milking goats

Features of milking in goats:

  • The goat is milked only after the first lambing. You should not expect a large volume of milk in a young goat, only after 2-3 lambing the amount of milk will increase significantly;
  • It is forbidden to shout or beat the animal during milking, even if the goat butts, runs away. The goat may have a damaged udder;
  • Stress makes milk less;
  • It is necessary to milk according to a clear schedule, at the same time, every day;
  • Milking is done with rhythmic and quick movements;
  • Milk must be dispensed completely. The last milk is the fattest. If you do not completely remove the milk, then the volume will gradually decrease;
  • Do not pull the nipples down. This provokes the formation of microcracks, mastitis;
  • In summer, goats are milked 3 times a day, in winter - 2.

Goat room

The room is equipped to maintain a certain temperature, humidity level, and illumination in it.

In the barn, you need to install feeders for hay and feed. If you put the bowls on the floor, the goats will turn them over with the food. Drinking bowls and feeders should be placed at the level of the animal's chest.

The floor in the goat room should slope towards the gutters. If the floor is earthen or earthen, then removable wooden boards are installed on it. A cement floor is not suitable for a goat area as it is damp and cold.

On a note. At elevated temperatures and humidity in the room, goats' appetite worsens, metabolism is disturbed, and productivity decreases. Excessive humidity levels can spread skin diseases.

Goat feeding

All feeds used for feeding goats can be roughly divided into three categories:

  • Concentrated (mixed feed, bran, cake, meal, wheat);
  • Dry (rough - hay, straw, brooms);
  • Juicy (grass, vegetable tops, silage, fruits, vegetables).

Each species plays a role in the development of the animal, has a certain effect on the digestive system. The general development of the animal will depend on what the goat eats daily.

In the summer, goats eat pasture green food (grass and tree leaves). As an additional feed, you can give animals grain crops, root crops, vegetables, compound feed.

Farmers need to prepare hay for the winter. It is eaten and used as bedding.

A domestic goat drinks up to 5 liters of water every day. The daily diet of goats should include mineral salt and chalk. Recommended diet for adult goats:

  • Compound feed;
  • Birch twigs;
  • Hay, straw;
  • Green grass, tree leaves;
  • Vitamins and minerals;
  • Crushed grain.

It is important to consider! Depending on the breed of goat, the diet will be adjusted.Meat breeds require more feed. Dairy goats need a lot of protein. In winter, a large amount of fat should be present on the menu. A goat must eat a certain portion of feed per day, according to the age and requirements of the breed. Fasting, overeating negatively affect the general condition and productive activity of the animal. How much the goat will weigh depends on the species. An adult can weigh between 20 and 140 kg.

Breeding goats at home will require a responsible approach from the farmer. With the right actions, learning everything about goats, you can independently learn how to keep these animals. An attentive attitude to animals will allow you to grow a herd of healthy goats in a few years.