Profit in Goat Farming and How to Set Up a Goat Farm

First, let’s look at the profit potential in the goat farming business.

A fully mature goat weighs about 100 pounds. And in many places, goat sale is measured in pounds with each pound going for $1.5. Therefore, a 100-pound goat will bring in $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 annum 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 an 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.

Goat Farming: How to Set Up Your Farm

1. Pasture – Acquire a good grazing ground that grows plenty of grass varieties. 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 plants in different seasons, even on different 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.

Diagram of Standard Goat House Design

Goats need a large expanse of land. They like 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. Goats don’t like overcrowded conditions. Ensure you have enough acres of land for your goats to roam about free while grazing.

How many goats should be kept in an acre? On a good pasture ground, a 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 goats multiply very quickly – a pregnancy will nearly always result in the birth of twins. Sometimes they can give birth to single kids or even triplets – although this is very rare.

2. Fencing – Construct a short perimeter fence round your pasture or barbwire fence, I prefer barbwire for obvious reasons – Barbwire is more protective and impossible for goats to scale, while keeping them 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 behaviour.

3. Housing – Build a suitable house for your goats. House is required to keep them safe from rain and other climate factors like cold.

Goats don’t like bad conditions. They like to stay indoors when it is raining, under a shade when the weather is hot, and to graze outside when the weather is perfect and enjoyable.

Goats like some measure of privacy when they are indoors, so it is required you build separate houses for a few goats or you construct it in such a way as to be spacious enough to give each animal some level of privacy. Moreover, goats like laying down and chewing the cord while resting in a quiet condition. Make sure the housing is made comfortable for them.

Some have even suggested building a dog house for each goat, though this is sure to be on the high end.

4. Species – There is a large number of goat breeds suitable for different purposes of rearing. Some breeds are very good for milk production, while others are good for meat. Yet some others are preferable for the fibre. However, there are some species that can combine all that. Some do well in certain areas than others as well.

You need to go for the one that is most popular in your locality. There could be important reasons why farmers prefer certain species in your environment. Be sure to find out. Also, check the list of available goat breeds in your country and choose according to what you need.

5. Veterinarians – You will need to have an appointment with a veterinary doctor near you for periodic check-ups and vaccination. This is very important if you hope to keep the mortality at the lowest or even completely eliminate it. You can use government agencies near you or appoint a private vet doctor. Having decided on the goat breeds to go for, look for healthy kid-goats. Any you buy should have a history of deworming and vaccination. Goats are susceptible to stomach worms and other internal parasites. Make sure you get the healthiest goats possible to start with.

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.

Source: www.wealthresult.com