Goat Farming

       Agriculture and allied activities support livelihoods of nearly 70 percent of India’s rural population. In recent years, land based livelihoods of small and marginal farmers are increasingly becoming unsustainable, since their land has not been able to support the family’s food requirements. As a result, rural households are forced to look at alternative means for supplementing their livelihoods.
Apart from farm activities, farm community needs extra income from other occupations. From this they can earn much more income compared to other sectors. They are engaged with these activities when they are in adverse conditions.i.e time not suitable for farming like more drought and flood conditions. That time, this income will save their family needs and savings.

There are many non farm occupations are there like goat farming, mushroom cultivation, emu farming, silkworm culture, poultry farming, vermi compost making etc..,

Goat farming:
          Goat is known as ‘Poor man’s cow’ in India and is a very important occupation in dry land farming system. Suitable for small and marginal  and landless laborers. It needs less grazing lands and initial investment is low.Risk of goat farming is less compared to other livestocks species. It is a economically viable sector to the rural people. They are resistant to diseases. In a short period we can get more revenue.

 

Semi intensive method

Breeds:

        Sirohi, Jamnapari, Surti, Tellicherry, Beetal, Malabari, Barbari and Gujarati. These are popular breeds in india.

Breeding:
       For a profitable goat farming there should be 3 kidding for 2 years.
Goats with faster growth rate and larger size should be used for breeding.

• Does of one year of age should be used for breeding
• Does should bred after 3 months of kidding then only there will be 3 kidding for 2 years.

Shed formation:
      It can be raised either intensive or semi intensive methods. In intensive method goats can be raised in sheds or raised platforms with deep bedding materials. No grazing for goats in this method. In semi intensive method they can be grown in ordinary sheds with light litter materials. They can go for the grazing lands also. A small shed with good cross ventilation is enough to keep a small herd. Litter height should be around 6cms. Litter material may be paddy straw,husk, groundnut shell. It should be changed every 6 months interval. Periodically we have to turn the bedding materials for avoiding bad odor. Care  should be need for reducing parasitical infections. Each goat requires around 15 sq.ft area. If  we use raised platform system means, we can reduce infection level. Around the shed should be wooden plates or wire meshed.


Feeding habits:
    Goats consumes wide varieties of feeds and vegetation than either sheep or cattle. Goats are fond of leguminous fodders. They do not take fodders like sorghum and maize silage or straw. They like to eat hay prepared from forest grasses, if cut in early stages, but very much fond with hay prepared from leguminous crops.They also need grains like wheat, maize corns and some pulses. Apart from they need high mineral compositions. So we can prepare the mineral mixture in the following propositions.

Composition of Mineral Mixture Added at a 2%

a.	Sterilized bone meal	35 Parts
b.	Finely ground high grade limestone	45 Parts
c.	Iodized salt	20 Parts
d.	Copper sulphate	22 gms/ton mineral mixture
e.	Zinc Oxide	11 gms/ton ''
f	Ferrous Carbonate	11 gms/ton ''

     Feeding protein rich green fodder such as acacia, leucerne  and cassava and are important sources of dietary nitrogen. Farmers can cultivate agathi, subabul(subabool) and glaricidia trees along the border of the farm and used as green fodder. Oil cakes is the good supplement for goats. One acre of fodder is enough to feed 35 goats.

Seasonal fodder : Fodder sorghum, Maize, Cumbu

Perennial fodder : Co1, Napier Hybrid, Guinea grass, Para grass, Kolukattai grass

Fodder legumes : Stylo, hedge Lucerne, Fodder ground nut

Tree fodders: Subabul(Subabool), Agathi etc

Subabul(Leucaena leucocephala)

Guinea Grass(Panicum maximum)

Fodder cutting machine

Deworming and vaccinations: 
           They need to be vaccinated against foot and mouth disease, rinder pest and tetanus regularly. The animals need to be dewormed at least twice a year to keep in good health. Before breeding the goat should be dewormed. Kids should be dewormed every month interval.


Returns:
            It is a economical and viable enterprise for farmers. Capital Investment of purchase of Goats is very low. For a price of 1 cross-bred Cow, one can purchase 10 quality goats. Goats & their kids can be sold and encashed anytime. Goat has shorter Gestation period(150 days). Their population in the country is continuously increasing, though 60% of the goats are slaughtered every year. Products available from Goats are mutton, milk, manure, skin and fine hair.
Total life of Goats = 15 years. Productive — 7 years. Pregnancy Period =150 days. Manure available from 1 adult goat in 24 hours is 1 kg
Indian meat is preferred in the world. The rich goat manure is ideal for fertilizing fishponds and all other crops. It is also a good base material for vermi-composting.


Loans:
        NABARD  is arranging loans for goat growers in a large scale. The loans will be repaid in suitable half yearly/annual installments usually within a period of about 5-6 years with a grace period of one year. The minimum down payment collected from small farmers are only 5% of the total investment. Marginal and large farmers 10, 15% respectively.