Goat In The Courtyard - 5 Tips For Beginners. How To Choose A Goat, A House And A First-aid Kit For Goats

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Goat In The Courtyard - 5 Tips For Beginners. How To Choose A Goat, A House And A First-aid Kit For Goats
Goat In The Courtyard - 5 Tips For Beginners. How To Choose A Goat, A House And A First-aid Kit For Goats

Video: Goat In The Courtyard - 5 Tips For Beginners. How To Choose A Goat, A House And A First-aid Kit For Goats

Video: Goat In The Courtyard - 5 Tips For Beginners. How To Choose A Goat, A House And A First-aid Kit For Goats
Video: Goat Emergency Medicine Kits | Goat Husbandry Series 2024, March
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Goats are small ruminants well suited for domestic use. They are unpretentious and hardy animals. Goats survive well in all climates and are ready to eat almost any plant food. They are very sociable and bring a lot of positive emotions to their owners. And most importantly: these animals are a source of quality milk, meat and wool on the farm. What you need to consider before you start a goat in the courtyard, we will tell you in this article.

Goat in the courtyard - 5 tips for beginners
Goat in the courtyard - 5 tips for beginners

1. There should be more than one goat

You cannot buy only one animal. If the goat is alone, it literally goes crazy. She is hyperactive, mischievous, tramples on the beds, climbs on fences. In fact, this is from loneliness, because goats are herd animals and their company is vital. Therefore, they are looking for a company persistently and ingeniously. However, in a herd, goats are calm, manageable and meek like sheep. 2-3 goats are already a small, but quite self-sufficient herd.

The question of whether a goat is needed in a herd is easy to solve. If you have dairy goats, and there is not a single goat nearby, then you need a goat. If your goats are meat goats (from which you do not need offspring and milk), or there is a breeding goat in the village, then it is easier to pay for the visit of the goat for mating.

By the way, when buying a goat and a goat at the same time, make sure that they are not relatives. You need to know who in your village keeps offspring from the local goat. And you can't buy goats for breeding from him or his sons. In any case, closely related crossbreeding is not allowed. Sometimes, it is easier to bring a goat from a neighboring area on a business trip than to risk from ignorance of local genetics.

2. Choose the "right" breed

Before getting goats, you need to decide on the purpose and desired product of this enterprise. And there are three of them:

  • Milk;
  • Down;
  • Meat.

The easiest way to keep goats is for residents of the suburbs or villages. This is especially true for dairy breeds. After all, a goat begins to give milk not earlier than one and a half years. And you need to keep it up to about 6-8 years. Previously, they part with it only when discarded. Thus, at the dacha it will not be possible to get something from a dairy goat in one summer. Only meat.

Meat goats can be fattened in one summer in the country. But the benefits and convenience begin only if there is a pasture nearby. Then all the work will be only in 2-time grazing for 2 hours a day. The cost will also be corresponding - only your labor. In the fall, goats can be slaughtered for meat.

If you take 70-90-day-old kids for fattening, then by the end of fattening they will give 15-30 kg of delicious, dietary meat, as well as 1-3 kg of internal fat. Goat meat is a delicacy! The main thing is that the goats are castrated. The meat of non-neutered goats smells unpleasant. And especially from older goats.

Having chosen the direction of their goat breeding, they begin to choose the breed.

The most popular are always dairy goats. Their choice is wide enough. It:

  • Toggenburg.
  • Megrelian.
  • Alpine.
  • Russian white.

Goat milk is the most valuable product, the best substitute for human milk. Goat's milk protein is digested five times faster than cow's milk protein. It is goat milk that is definitely worth keeping goats for.

Dairy goats can produce up to 4 liters of milk per day after the first lambing. And after the second and subsequent - up to 5 liters.

If you want mainly down from your goat, then it is better to choose from down breeds. A good downy goat produces valuable wool that is lighter, softer and warmer than sheep's. Rubbed with one goat from 400 gr. up to 800 gr. Goat skins are used for fashionable fur coats, while they also give milk, but 2 liters per day.

Downy goat can be selected from the following breeds:

  • Pridonskaya;
  • Orenburg;
  • Black down;
  • Gorno-Altai.

Goat meat tastes great and is most like lamb. There are breeds for breeding meat goats:

  • Gorkovskaya (up to 80 kg);
  • Zaanenskaya (up to 110 kg);
  • Boer (up to 120 kg).

The Zaanen and Gorky breeds are rather meat and dairy. They give up to 4 liters of milk and grow up to 80-110 kg.

There are also outbred goats that give 2 liters of milk, grow up to 50-60 kg and give a little fluff. As a rule, such goats have good health and are completely unpretentious in keeping. It is easier to buy them and they are cheaper than thoroughbreds. But the effectiveness of such goat breeding will, of course, be much lower.

Dairy goats can produce up to 4 liters of milk per day after the first lambing
Dairy goats can produce up to 4 liters of milk per day after the first lambing

3. How to check a goat?

It is best to take a goat from a goat farm. There you will not be deceived with age, and the goat will not be a product of closely related crossbreeding. In addition, the animal will definitely be vaccinated.

When buying on your own in the market or from friends, you need to thoroughly prepare theoretically or take a more experienced goat breeder with you.

When buying a dairy goat, you need to take a close look at the udder. Milk veins should be visible on it from all sides. Udder shape - bowl or pear. The skin is thin, elastic, no hair. After milking, the udder should sag in folds. If the udder does not fall off, then the goat has a fatty udder and will not give much milk.

You also need to pay attention to the physique. The dairy goat, although thin, is strong and wide. The back, chest, pelvis, legs are all wide.

It is best to take a goat on a goat farm, there you will not be deceived with age, and the goat will not be a product of closely related crossbreeding
It is best to take a goat on a goat farm, there you will not be deceived with age, and the goat will not be a product of closely related crossbreeding

4. A house for keeping goats is serious

Now you have decided on the breed, but before buying an animal, you need to create a habitat for it. The goat's rue is a fairly serious structure.

Goats prefer fresh air. Ventilation should remove moisture and unpleasant odors. But no drafts. Too dry air is also harmful, it contains a lot of dust. Dust carries germs. If there are 2-3 animals in the pen, it is enough to ventilate the room through the windows.

Lack of light reduces milk production and impairs the appetite of animals. Therefore, the goat's rue must have windows. The more light the better. But windows cannot be done over a sunbed.

The temperature in the house should not drop below 12 ° C. Comfortable temperature - + 18 … + 20 ° C. For the winter, it is necessary to insulate the room by plugging the cracks in the walls and windows.

Separate rooms should be set aside for keeping goats, goats and kids, as well as for milking and mating.

For sleeping, they are equipped with beds 55 cm wide at a height of 0.5 meters. Sleeping on these beds is useful for preventing respiratory diseases.

The size of the living space for an individual animal is 3.5 square meters. The stall should not be too high, goats do not tolerate loneliness. If they do not see each other, then they lose their appetite and reduce milk yield. But they should not easily jump over the walls. 140-150 cm is the very thing.

The floor in the goat's house should absorb animal waste, be dry and warm. This simple requirement is not easy to fulfill. A concrete floor will not work. Boards rot quickly, deep litter on the ground requires annual replacement. But the litter option is cheaper. Therefore, earth + deep litter.

If possible, it is better to make a multi-layer bedding. Below is peat or fern for disinfection. Above - straw or sawdust. The top layer is added periodically. During the winter, the layer grows to 70-80 cm.

The walls of the pen should be disinfected regularly. Whitewashing with quicklime diluted in water (1 kg per 10 liters) will kill all germs.

The walking paddock should be next to the barn. The area for walking is not less than 3 to 4 square meters per animal. In winter, animals also need walking for at least 3 hours a day.

It is advisable to give animals to drink in winter and summer with warm water. This will save their energy for more important processes than heating water. There must be constant access to clean water and salt - lick.

For feeding, the stall should have a manger for hay or grass, as well as a feeder for compound feed. Hay should be located above the compound feed. Then the hay that the goats will drop when eaten will end up in the feed, and not on the floor.

The goat's rue must have windows - the more light, the better
The goat's rue must have windows - the more light, the better

5. Get a veterinary first aid kit immediately after buying goats

Any goat breeder living away from the veterinarian and pharmacy should have the necessary emergency supplies. Sometimes a call to the doctor is enough to then provide first aid to your pets according to his instructions.

Goat Wet First Aid Kit:

  1. Antibiotics. Always have a bottle of "Farmazin-50" (aka "Tlozin", "Farmatil"). 1 ml per 10 kg of body weight intramuscularly (sometimes in the mouth) once a day for three days in a row (sometimes 1-2 days). A wide range, especially good for acute infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and coccidiosis, when it is impossible to hesitate. Also "Amoxil", "Tylosin", "Oflox".
  2. For the digestive tract. Activated carbon (for poisoning, overeating). Lactic acid (inhibiting microflora, including pathogenic). Vodka (anti-fermenting, antispasmodic, analgesic, improving digestion, etc.) For tympania: "Tympanol", "Agrobiobak", a set (lactic acid, hellebore tincture, ammonia, activated carbon).
  3. A bottle of oxytetracycline (not necessarily the most expensive, it can be simpler). Indispensable for anaplasmosis.
  4. "Azidin" (powder in a bottle) - indispensable for pyroplasmosis-babesiosis (infected from a tick bite). There are bottles of 2.4 g - for 800 kg of weight, and 0.24 g - for 80 kg of weight. Dilute with water for injection. If not available, you can dilute with boiled chilled water. Dilute a 0.24 g bottle in 8 ml of water - you get a solution that is used at the rate of 1 ml per 10 kg of weight. Subcutaneously. Once.
  5. Anthelmintics. Oral: emulsions "Albenol", "Combitrem", "Ivermectin", "Valbazen", "Fenbendazole", "Moxidectin".
  6. Disinsectics (against lice): birch tar, "Butoks", "Bars" (dog), "Neostamazan".
  7. Anti- scabies: "Creolina liniment" (1 - creolin / 1-turpentine / 18 - soap or 8 - vegetable oil). Can be replaced with 1-creolin / 1-kerosene / milk mixture - 4 parts.
  8. Vitamins, minerals: "Kalfostonik" (probably the best), "Forvit", "Tricalcium phosphate", sometimes feed yeast (B vitamins).
  9. For hoof treatment: copper sulphate, "Kubatol", "ASD Fraction".
  10. Pain relievers, antispasmodics, etc. "Analgin" - 1-2 ampoules on duty. "Noshpa" and its analogues. Xylazine (superficial anesthesia). You don't have to buy a bottle. It is enough to have 1-2 ml in a syringe in the refrigerator. Dosage - up to 0.15 ml per 10 kg of body weight.
  11. For wounds and scratches: Vishnevsky's ointment or liniment, Fitosept udder ointment (from cracks), hydrogen peroxide, Chlorhexidine, Levomekol ointment.
  12. For lamb. "Oxytocin", "Calcium gluconate", "Caffeine".
  13. Probiotics. "Agrobiobaki", they are both treatment, if necessary, and prevention, "Vitacell".
  14. Feed additives for those lagging behind in growth: "Dolfos", "Accelerat", "Catosal" and "Fraction ASD" - stimulate metabolism and resistance. In the Non-Black Earth Zone and Siberia, kids often have thyroid inflammation from iodine deficiency. Sometimes because of this, kids are born without a sucking reflex. For prevention, human or veterinary drugs are given. There are many of them, you can choose. Sugar goats are required.
  15. Laxative: Glauber's salt (sodium sulfate) if used in high doses, i.e. from 40 to 80 g per head in 5-10% solutions. Usually, adult goats are given 50-60 g orally, and kids 25 g. The solution is drunk by inserting a bottle over the goat's cheek. For the prevention of constipation, you need to walk the goats and not bring them to dehydration.
  16. Miscellaneous: milk catheter, castration forceps and elastic bands, syringes (various), bandage.

    The minimum set of surgical instruments: scalpel, needles, needle holder, clamp, forceps, silk, small trocar.

In addition, sometimes you just need to communicate with a veterinarian and do the prescribed vaccinations against:

  • Anthrax;
  • Brucellosis;
  • Foot and mouth disease;
  • Smallpox goats;
  • Rabies.

Dear Readers! We hope that our article has brought you practical benefits, and has not “dissuaded” you from the idea of breeding goats. Read in detail in our next materials about feeding these animals and keeping the succumbing (pregnant) goats.

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