The goats produce two very important products in goat farming - the milk
and the meat. In most of the large goat farms the goats are treated much like dairy cows
as their accommodations are indoors and they are milked twice a day. Large farmers have
more than 400-500 goats in their farms.
The breeding season for goats in farms is from August to March. The goat's pregnancy
lasts for four months and they are generally bred once a year, so their kids are born
between January and August. The female goats give birth to one to five kids and twins are
to be expected.
A female goat in a farm can start mating after the age of seven to nine months while it
can be milked when the goat reaches a year. Goats give birth easily, so no special help is
needed. However, the farmers need to make sure that the kids nurse from their mother, if
they don't, they should be fed from a bottle. This should be done right after the kid is
born as this is when it receives the critical first milk which is called colostrum. After
it is fed with colostrum containing minerals, vitamins and antibodies for a few days, the
kid could be fed with milk formula or could nurse from its mother.
Breeding goats in a farm is quite similar to breeding cows. The kids of goats should be
given a milk formula until they can be weaned; this is after they reach five to seven
weeks of age. This is the time when the goats are then milked.
In a goat farm the females are given a two month period before giving birth, they need
this time so that they could give nutrition to their kids after birth. As far as milking
goats in diary farms is concerned, goats are milked twice a day, usually in intervals of
12 hours. The milk can be extracted by machine or by hand depending on the kind of
techniques and work force the goat farm has. Another thing which makes breeding goats and
cows similar is that the both use up to date diary production which should meet certain
hygienic requirements.
If the farmer is interested more in meat production, then the kids of the goats should
be nursed from eight to ten weeks. After that they are to be fed hay, grain and pasture
until they gain enough weight, which can vary from 35 to 90 pounds.
When a farmer is breeding goats for their meat, he should consider the goats' breed and
then decide what optimal weight the goats should reach. Different breeds of goat reach
different weight. Goat farming might not be the first thing you considered when talking
about farming, but it is a profitable and enjoyable business activity.
