Growing goats. Where to keep goats and what to feed at home? Keeping goats without grazing at home

Before buying a goat, you need to decide on priority products. Among the breeds of goats, there are three main areas:

Dairy.
Meat.
Downy.

Owners of private households, most often, have goats for the sake of obtaining milk. Goat milk is very healthy, tasty and fatty (4-6%). For unpretentiousness and economy, goats in past centuries began to be called "cows of the poor."

There are about two hundred officially registered goat breeds in the world, and there are even more subspecies of them. In addition to the three main breeds, goat breeders distinguish several more types of goats:

park;
woolen;
hide;
dwarf;
mixed;
decorative.

Beginning goat breeders, as a rule, breed dairy goats.

dairy breeds

Choosing a dairy breed, inspect the exterior of the goat. External signs by which you can distinguish a female with good milk yield:

the head is small, light and graceful;
the skeleton is well formed;
the back is straight and the chest is wide;
legs are straight, set wide;
the udder is spherical or pear-shaped, with well-developed teats.

A large udder does not mean that a goat is high-milk. If the udder does not fall down after milking, then it has a lot of adipose tissue.

Among dairy breeds, in addition to high milk yields, they also value:

taste and nutritional characteristics of milk;
precocity of goats;
fertility.

The most popular dairy breeds in Russia are mixed breeds - milk-meat and milk-wool. Our goat breeders especially appreciate the following breeds:

Russian white;
Gorky;
toggenburg.

Downy breeds

Having gained experience with dairy goats, you can try to breed downy breeds. Exterior of downy breeds:

impressive dimensions - the larger the dimensions, the greater the downy productivity;
the line of the back and sacrum is even;
chest circumference is large;
legs are straight and powerful;
small head;
the body is evenly overgrown;
the hair on the head is not hard, the hanging of the hair over the eyes is welcome.

Buy downy goats before shearing and combing wool. Down goat breeders prefer the following breeds:

Orenburg;
near Don;
Kyrgyz;
mountain Altai;
black downy;
angora;
Soviet wool.

Somewhat less often, cashmere, Volgograd and Turkmen downy goats are bred.

During the season, one downy goat gives up to 700 g of down. In addition, breeders receive the skin, which is used to make gloves, shoes, and warm clothes.

meat breeds

Goat meat is similar in taste to lamb, but is considered healthier than it. In the countries of the Middle East, goat meat is used for medical nutrition - it is eaten for diseases of the circulatory, respiratory and cardiovascular systems, for diabetes and problems of the gastrointestinal tract. Popular meat breeds:

Anatolian;
Spanish;
kiko;
Greek.

In the Russian Federation, goat meat is not particularly valued, therefore meat goat breeding is not developed either. In Russia, these animals are bred mainly for milk and fluff.

Descriptions of popular dairy, downy and meat breeds are in table 1.

Table 1

	Direction	Description
Burskaya		Low milk production. High palatability of meat. It tastes like veal. No specific goat smell.
Gorky		Fat milk. The annual milk yield is small - 500 l. An adult female weighs about 50 kg, a male - 60 kg. Maximum - 75 kg.
Zaanensky	dairy	Famous Swiss breed. Color - white. Very large goats, males reach 100 kg, females - 90 kg. Annual milk yield - 1000 liters of milk. Record holders give up to 2000 liters. The milk is thick, with a delicate creamy taste. It makes excellent cheese, butter, cottage cheese.
Toggenburg	dairy	Released in Switzerland. Color - brown, on the muzzle - white stripes. Slightly smaller than the Saanen, males weigh 60 kg, females - 50 kg.
Orenburg		The annual milk yield is only 250 liters. The weight of males and females, respectively, is 60 and 45 kg. The down is gray, short, thin. Rarely white. Annual bouffant - 300 g. Record holders give up to 800 g. Light and elegant things are knitted from Orenburg fluff.
Pridonskiye		Medium sized goats. adapted to the steppe. Males give more fluff than females - up to 1000 g. The fluff combed out in winter and autumn is especially good.

Where does breeding start?

To start breeding goats, you need to purchase kids or a pregnant goat. When buying a female expecting offspring, specify when the mating took place. You need to know this in order to prepare for lambing. Goat breeders are advised to take kids or a goat from a uterus that has established itself as a high-yielding individual with high quality fleece - these features are inherited through the mother's line.

Kids of different sexes are kept apart. The first mating of goats is organized at the age of one and a half years. The optimal age of a goat is 2-5 years. There should not be close family ties between a goat and a goat. The mother of a goat should be a high-milk goat, then the future offspring will be productive in terms of milk.

Criteria for choosing and buying goats

If it is decided to buy kids for breeding, they take young animals aged 2-4 weeks. When choosing goats, you need to pay attention to the following points:

Motor abilities. The chances of becoming a productive goat are higher for moving kids. The development of muscles has a positive effect on the development of the respiratory system. This activates the metabolism, promotes rapid growth and development.
Leg position - back and front. The limbs should have a wide setting - this is the key to good development of the chest. Widely spaced hind legs will allow a large udder to fit.
Head. Should not be too narrow. Animals with narrow heads spend a lot of energy chewing roughage. Because of this, the development of narrow-headed kids will be inhibited.
Earrings. Some goat breeders claim that earrings are a sign of milk production. However, there is no scientific confirmation of this. But there are plenty of problems from earrings. If the kid damages the earrings by sticking his head somewhere, it will be very painful for him - there are so many nerve endings in them. Pain will interfere with nutrition and growth. In an adult goat that has damaged earrings, milk yield may fall from pain.
Back. The ideal option is a straight line. There should not be any hunchback or sagging. As you grow older, these shortcomings will become more pronounced.
Nose and eyes. There shouldn't be any highlights here. Otherwise, you need to find out their cause.
Movement mechanics. You need to look at the goat in motion. His legs should move freely, without stiffness. Legs should be free to bend at the joints. If the movements resemble an automatic robot, something is wrong.

Having evaluated the kid according to all the criteria described above, it remains to conduct a visual assessment of the entire exterior. Consider these points:

An animal with high milk production has an elongated body.
The short neck indicates the meat type of the breed. Short-necked goats tire quickly on pastures - it is difficult for them to tilt their heads for a long time to eat grass. This feature will negatively affect milk production in the future.

When buying a goat, ask the seller what and in what mode the animal is fed. Kids are fed in two ways - from a bowl or from a nipple. It is important to transfer the baby to a new diet gradually - so that there is no stress. Together with the goat, grab some milk, which he was fed - this will reduce stress and the risk that the baby will get sick due to the move.

Male goats develop faster than females. They are bigger, taller, heavier. But their character is more calm, they are not averse to lie down, eat more.

The age of kids is easy to determine by weight - if you know the dynamics of weight gain. Table 2 shows the dependence of the weight of Saanen goats on age.

table 2

Age, months

Goat house equipment

The goat's rue is equipped with stalls. Each animal has a separate stall. They are separated by wooden posts. The size of the "cell" is 2x1 m. Young goats can be placed two by two in one stall. But at the same time, the area is increased - 2x2 m. What else should be taken into account when equipping the goat's rue:

The goat is kept away from the goats - in a separate stall.
Goats are equipped with a separate room.
Drinkers are installed in the stall.

Goats are unpretentious and easily adapt to any climatic conditions. The optimal content, at which the greatest productivity is achieved, is stall-pasture. In summer, animals graze on pastures, and with the onset of cold weather they are transferred to the premises. Requirements for the premises in which goats are kept:

One animal should have 4 square meters. m.
Goats do not tolerate polluted air - it is necessary to equip high-quality ventilation in the goat house.
In the northern regions, goat houses are insulated, and in cold weather they are heated.
The floors in the room where the goats are kept are made with a slight slope.
Goats do not like high humidity. It is necessary to ensure a normal humidity regime.
The optimum temperature in the goat house is from +18 to +20°C. Minimum temperature +8°С. In the room for kids, the temperature should not fall below + 12 ° C.
Windows are made in the barn - for natural light. Milk production depends on the length of daylight hours.
A nursery filled with hay is installed in the room, and above them are feeders.
The floors are covered with dry straw, hay or sawdust. Thanks to the litter, additional heat is released, which reduces heating costs.
A paddock is being set up near the barn. They make a canopy and install combs.
Goats love to sleep on a small hill. Sleeping places are equipped for them - beds made of dice. You can do it easier - put boards on the floor, animals will be happy to sleep on them.

In the following video you can see an example of conditions for keeping goats:

With the onset of heat, the goat's rue is cleaned with special care. While the room is being cleaned, the goats are moved under a canopy.

Works performed:

Replacement of straw bedding.
Washing walls, floors, stalls. Wash goat's rue with a warm soda solution. Laundry soap is also used. After washing - airing and drying the room.
Whitewashing the walls with lime.

In warm weather, while the weather is favorable, goats graze all day long in the pasture. The goats are driven out after the dew has dried. The grazing season begins when the grass cover is established. Before release to pasture:

goats cut the hair near the eyes - if necessary;
drink plenty of water - so as not to drink dirty water from puddles;
they give hay before pasture - so as not to overeat with grass.

When the goats get used to pasture grass, hay can be stopped. In the morning, the animals are sent to a worse pasture, and then transferred to areas with more juicy grass.

Goats don't like heat. The sun can even give them heat stroke. That is why the herd is driven to graze as early as possible - at dawn. When the heat comes, the animals should hide in the shade. It is recommended to pause in grazing at such intervals:

from 10 to 11 hours;
from 14 to 16 hours.

When the heat is gone, the animals return to the pasture, where they feed until dark. Young growth can also be grazed, but if it is cool outside, they should be looked after so that they do not lie on the ground.

With the onset of autumn coolness, goats are transferred to stalls. The transition occurs gradually - within 7-10 days. The rate of hay is gradually increased, and the time spent on the pasture is reduced.

With the onset of cold weather, goats are not only transferred to a winter diet, but also provide them with comfort. Goats spend the winter indoors. At night, the light is turned on in the goat's house - this helps to maintain high milk yields. The optimum temperature in the goat house is +18…+20°С. The minimum allowable is + 6 ... + 8 ° С.

In winter, cattle should be outside every day for 3-4 hours, no less. If goats are restricted in movement, their health worsens, milk yield drops, and reproductive function suffers. Walking is especially important for downy breeds - they are not afraid of cold, especially if the weather is not windy. Downy goats are walked longer than other breeds. Goats are fed and sung on the street - in a paddock, in a barn, feeding is arranged only in snowfall or rain.

Mode and diet of feeding

Goats are easy to feed, they are unpretentious animals in nutrition. They are happy to eat any food, so it is not difficult to keep them. In order for the milk yield to be at its best, and the offspring to be healthy, it is important to provide the goats with a complete diet. In summer, the main food of the goat tribe is green grass, in winter it is hay. Grass should be juicy, and hay should be of high quality. In order for a dairy goat to give 8 liters of milk per day, it must be fed generously and correctly.

Feeding schedule:

The first time food is given at 6-7 o'clock.
The second - at 12-13 hours.
Third - at 18-19 hours.

Dairy goats are fed more often. Water must be freely available.

It is forbidden to feed goats:

potatoes that have turned green in the sun;
sour silage;
rotten vegetables and fruits;
grain with insects.

Summer diet

Grazing on pastures, a goat eats about 7 kg of grass during the day. However, this is not enough for good milk yields. To get 8 liters of milk per day, you need to introduce concentrates into the diet of goats. This is especially important during the hot period, when the grass loses its juiciness and burns out.

Goats are given two types of concentrates - legumes and grains. Animals are given them in a crushed state. The daily norm for one goat is 500 g. Also in the summer diet should be present:

vegetables;
branches;
leftovers from the kitchen;
salt - give 15-20 g per day;
chalk - 12 g;
bone meal - 12 g.

Summer daily routine - in table 3.

Table 3

A dairy goat should receive 6 liters of water daily, a dry goat receives half as much - 3 liters.

Examples of a daily diet that will suit any type of goat:

meadow grass - 6-8 kg, alfalfa hay - 1 kg, haylage - 2.5 kg;
oats - 4 kg, meadow hay - 1 kg;
walking in the pasture - here the goats eat as much grass as they want, green oats - 4 kg.

Winter diet

In winter, the basis of nutrition is roughage - hay and straw. Hay is considered more nutritious, deciduous is especially valued. The approximate nutritional rate is 3 kg per goat.

To spend less hay, goats are given brooms prepared since summer. They use the calculation formula - instead of 1 kg of hay, they give about 2 kg of brooms. Also in winter they give juicy food:

Vegetables. You can give dried, raw, boiled. Before feeding, they are washed and ground.
Fruits. It is a delicacy and a vitamin supplement. It can be given in any form.
Silage. The main succulent food in winter. Harvested from the summer, storing garden tops. Has a positive effect on milk yield.
Food waste. They add mixed fodder, chalk and bone meal.

Compound feed is more profitable to buy ready-made. To cook it yourself, you also need to buy a grain crusher, and keep the proportions.

Goats are given lick salt. On the day of a dairy goat, 8 g of salt is enough, for a pregnant goat - 25 g.

Winter diet - in table 4.

Table 4

Feed is always given at the same time. Distribution of feed - three times a day. Feed delivery sequence:

First, feed is given. It is not given in its pure form, but as a thick porridge or swill.
Juicy food.
Roughage.

When preparing swill from feed, you can not use boiling water - it will destroy part of the nutritional components.

Examples of winter diets:

clover hay - 2 kg, crushed beets - 2 kg, ground oats - 400 g;
meadow hay - 2 kg, fodder cabbage - 3 kg;
alfalfa hay - 1.5 kg, meadow grass hay - 0.5 kg, a mixture of ground oats and carrots - 2.5 kg.

Feeding lactating goats

During pregnancy, goats require enhanced nutrition. From three months, the need for nutrients doubles. But you can’t overfeed the goat, otherwise there will be a threat of miscarriage. After lambing, the goat's digestive system is weakened - rehabilitation is needed. For a week, a lambing goat is fed only light, quickly digestible food.

Suitable products are:

mash;
finely chopped vegetables;
bean hay.

When a week has passed after lambing, the animal is transferred to the classic diet. During the feeding period, the goat is fed mainly with fresh hay and root crops - 3-4 kg of both.

Preparation of brooms

Brooms for the winter are harvested from June 5-10. Suitable trees for harvesting are birch, willow, maple, ash, mountain ash. At the cut, the thickness of the branches should not exceed 1.5 cm. The best time for cutting branches is in the evening and early morning, at which time they grow, therefore they are most nutritious.

Cut branches are placed on the ground and dried for several hours - so that vitamin D is formed under the influence of the sun. After drying the branches, they are tied with twine or twine. You can dry the brooms in the attic or in the shed. Brooms can also be harvested herbal - from nettles or corn stalks. While the brooms are drying, you need to turn them over, stir them, it is important that they do not get moldy.

goat watering

Drinking rules that must be followed:

The best option for keeping goats is stall-pasture. But the goat owner does not always have the opportunity to graze animals. This content is usually used in regions with a harsh climate. Keeping goats without grazing is similar to the stall period in the stall-pasture system.

Stall keeping does not mean that goats are constantly in stalls. They can go outside - a fenced corral is equipped for them. Walking time depends on the weather. Where the climate is harsh, goats are taken out for a walk in warm weather, and they are not released in severe frosts and rains. Also, goats are not recommended to be bred when the snow cover is more than 10-15 cm thick. If desired, the problem is solved - the paddock is cleared of snow.

Goats deprived of grazing are fed with hay, grass and concentrated feed. Vitamin supplements must be added to the diet. Bean hay is recommended - it has a lot of protein. The most important thing when keeping goats without grazing is a balanced diet.

Breeding and lambing

Goats live 10 years or more. Their reproductive period depends on the conditions of detention. If the goats are well looked after, they bring 2-5 kids annually. Sexual maturity occurs at 6 months. Females are ready to mate at 8-9 months. Hunting for goats does not depend on the season and can come at any time. But more often insemination occurs in the fall. Then lambing takes place in February-March - this offspring is the strongest and healthiest.

In order to milk the goats in the winter, many goat breeders mate the animals in the spring.

There are several ways of mating, from which the optimal one is chosen. Experienced goat breeders use 3 mating options:

manual;
free;
harem.

The most reliable way of fertilization is to have a sire goat. Confirmation of pregnancy can be obtained after 2 months. The goat grows fat, the udder increases slightly, the animal itself becomes more calm and prudent.

Inbreeding - closely related mating is not allowed. It worsens breed characteristics, reduces productivity, and leads to a high incidence of young animals.

The duration of pregnancy in goats is 145-155 days. Sukozny females are intensively nourished by adding legumes to the diet. Milk yields during the formation of the fetus fall. If this does not happen, the goats are released - they reduce the frequency of milking, and also reduce the amount of green and succulent feed. When lactation stops, the normal diet is resumed. The main thing is to maintain a balance - the goat should fully eat, but not get fat. Obesity leads to heavy lambing.

2 weeks before the birth, goat's rue is cleaned, windows and doors are insulated. If the goat is healthy, the birth will last 1-3 hours. Human intervention is not required. The afterbirth departs 2 hours after lambing.

When the goat in labor licks the newborn goat, you can feed it. The baby is fed directly from the udder or from a bottle with a nipple - having previously expressed milk from a goat.

The room where the kids are kept should be warm, the minimum temperature is +15°C. If the barn is not heated, the kids need to be taken into the house.

There are two ways to raise young animals:

Under the uterus. Kids fed by a goat mother become stronger and healthier. If a goat breeder breeds a full-fledged herd, he refuses milk in favor of young offspring.
No uterus. Kids eat from a nipple - they are given milk for 10 days. Then they begin to feed with hay and green grass.

Weaning from milk is carried out at three months. Young growth is transferred completely to an adult diet.

How to milk a goat?

To be able to quickly milk a goat, their holders are equipped with a special device. A platform is being built - a goat is placed there, the head is placed in a retainer. A feeder is placed at the latter - so that during milking the goat has something to do.

Useful Goat Milking Facts:

After lambing, lactation in dairy goats lasts a little less than a year, in other breeds - about six months.
You can milk the animal immediately after lambing. The frequency of milking is twice a day. You need to milk at the same time.
During milking, you need to be quiet, do not scream at the animal. Goats lose their milk from screaming.
It is necessary to completely milk milk - so that mastitis does not appear.

How to milk a goat by hand:

You need to sit on the side of the goat.
The udder is washed and wiped dry.
Massage the udder and nipples.
Grasping the nipple with fingers - thumb and forefinger, squeeze it, pushing milk.
The first portion should be drained into a separate bowl - they do not drink it.
After milking the goat, massage the udder and wipe it with a towel.

Diseases and prevention

Table 5

Name of the disease

Symptoms

Treatment

Note

Diseases in goats are different, but the symptoms are about the same. If your pet shows any of the following symptoms, contact your veterinarian immediately:

the temperature rose to 41-42°C;
behavioral changes - depression, rapid heart rate, rapid breathing;
discharge from the ears, nose, eyes;

Publications: 234

Igor Nikolaev

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Livestock farming is one of the most profitable and attractive types of small private business. However, keeping livestock requires certain skills. Therefore, novice farmers should pay attention to domestic animals such as goats. Unpretentiousness in maintenance and feeding makes them attractive for breeding at home. In addition, if pig breeding and cattle breeding in our country are highly competitive industries, then the goat breeding niche is practically free.

Before choosing a specific goat breed, you need to decide what exactly you want to get from a goat. These animals provide milk, meat, down, wool and skins.

The choice of the type of animal depends on the choice of the direction of goat breeding.

Dairy and down areas in our country are the most popular.

Dairy goats

The dairy direction of this industry is the most profitable, since goat's milk is a valuable dietary and even healing product.

Profitability is ensured by high purchase prices for these products at a relatively low cost.

The main dairy goat varieties include:

zaanenskaya;
alpine;
toggenburg;
Gorky;
megrelian;
Russian white.

Depending on the breed, one dairy goat can produce from five to eight liters of milk per day. Maximum milk production occurs after the second or fourth birth and then remains at a consistently high level.

The milking period lasts for 7-11 months, and each individual is able to produce up to a ton (and sometimes more) of valuable raw milk.

Downy goat breeds

Some types of goats have a valuable coat, which, compared to sheep wool, is much lighter, softer, and in terms of thermal insulation it is not inferior in anything.

The most popular among downy goats in our country are:

Orenburg;
black downy;
mountain Altai;
near Don.

From one animal, you can comb from 350 to 700 tons of valuable down.

The skins of young goats and goats are used for sewing warm winter clothes, and their meat is quite suitable for eating. In addition, under good housing and feeding conditions, such goats can produce up to three hundred liters of milk per year (per goat).

Meat goat breeds

Goat meat in its taste characteristics is no worse than lamb. If you decide to breed these domestic animals for meat, then special attention should be paid to such breeds that are able to quickly gain significant live weight.

Breeds with such qualities include:

It should be said that in goat breeding, the meat direction is considered to be concomitant, and not the main one. For example, Saanen goats are still bred for the purpose of obtaining milk, and mostly unnecessary animals are sent for meat - young goats with low reproductive qualities, old males and goats with low milk yields. And, due to established traditions, in most of Russia, goat meat is in much less demand than other types of meat.

In general, goats of any variety produce several products suitable for subsequent sale. It is this fact that attracts entrepreneurs, since it allows them to quickly recoup relatively small initial costs and start earning income.

Goats of any breed directions are kept in a pasture-stall mode. On pastures, goats are in a warm period, when there is enough green vegetation on pastures (in our country this period lasts about 185 days). The rest of the time the animals are kept indoors around the clock (called a goat house) and fed with pre-prepared feed.

The two main principles for the proper keeping of goats are as follows:

creation of a comfortable living environment for animals (primarily in the part of the premises);
the correct selection of the diet, which should take into account the age and current condition of the animal.

Requirements for a goat

The premises for keeping goats must meet the following basic requirements, which must be observed regardless of the current period of detention (pasture or stall):

it should have good ventilation, since goats do not react well to damp and polluted air;
the goat's rue should be kept clean and dry;
a good level of illumination is needed, since this directly affects milk yield;
young and pregnant or just giving birth females should be kept separately from the main herd. The same applies to goats-producers;
keeping goats in winter requires compliance with a certain temperature regime. The most comfortable temperatures are 18-20 degrees, but this is not always possible to achieve. The main thing is that in the place where adult animals are kept it should not be colder than +10 degrees, and where young animals are kept - not lower than +12. In summer, such a climate should also be observed, since overheating is no less dangerous than hypothermia.

It is important to remember that for any type of content, goats need freedom of movement. Therefore, it is not recommended to tie them indoors or in any other way limit this freedom.

Without proper nutrition, neither breeding nor keeping goats will give the desired result. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the nutritional diet. Its composition directly depends on the current state of health and age of the animal.

For example, feeding goats and pregnant queens, as well as goats-producers, differs from the diet of the main herd.

During stall keeping, goats are fed up to four times a day, and during grazing - up to two times.

In the summer, goats get their main food on pasture lands. It is at this time that the peak of milk production in females occurs, since juicy green food contributes to good milk production. However, this does not mean that animals do not need to be fed at this time. Every day they need to give:

concentrated feed - up to 200 grams;
root crops and vegetables - up to 1 kilogram;
dry hay - a small amount at night.

Diet should be diversified during stall keeping to compensate for the lack of green fodder.

The daily rates are given below:

hay - up to 3 kilograms;
grain additives - up to 1 kilogram;
vegetables and root crops - up to 2 kilograms;
fresh high-quality silage - up to one and a half kg.

In addition to the listed feeds, which are given out in portions, the stalls should always have:

hanging brooms (from harvested tree branches with leaves);
salt crystals - licks.

With the onset of the second half of pregnancy, the proportion of concentrates in females must be increased. This will help the intrauterine development of future offspring. Approximately two to three weeks before birth, the proportion of light foods is gradually increased in the diet.

Do not forget about the watering of animals, which must also be subject to a certain regime. On pastures, animals need to be watered three times a day: twice (in the morning and after grazing) - in stalls, once - in a pasture. Goats should be watered twice a day during 24-hour winter housing.

Proper design of feeders and drinkers is also very important. This, firstly, facilitates the distribution of feed; secondly, it does not allow animals to climb into the feeder and scatter or pollute it. Basic requirements for the feeding area:

feeders should be raised half a meter from the floor level;
the sizes of drinkers and feeders are selected depending on the age of the animals and the types of feed:
the feeder for silage and roughage should be of the nursery type, 65 cm wide and 75 cm high. The length is selected depending on the age and number of animals - for each adult you need 30 centimeters of feeding front, for young animals - 20;
for concentrated feed and root crops, the width of the feeder should be 40 cm, and the height - 30; feeding front - the same as in the first case;
combined type feeders for roughage and silage: width - 60, height - 75 cm; feeding front - no change;
combined feeders for concentrates: both width and height - 25 centimeters with the same feeding front;
special feeders for young animals: width - 20 cm, height - 10; front length per animal - 15 centimeters;
drinkers: width - 40 cm, height - 25 cm; feeding front - 30 and 20 centimeters for adults and juveniles, respectively.

It is important to keep the feeders clean at all times, promptly removing uneaten food from them after the last distribution. Water should always be fresh and not very cold.

Care

No less important is the constant daily care of goats.

You need to take care of them in compliance with the following requirements:

maintaining cleanliness and dryness in the goat's rue. Manure should not accumulate, so at least once a day it must be carefully cleaned. This is especially important if goats are kept together with other animals. To ensure dryness on the floor, a litter is organized from: straw, if the floor is wooden; mixtures of peat with sawdust, if the floor is concreted;
indoors along the walls you need to equip wooden beds. Goats like to sleep on a raised platform, so raised benches or shelves should be provided in the stalls. Bedding on such beds is not needed, only a little straw is placed on the goats;
the condition of the hooves must be carefully monitored and, if necessary, trimmed. This is especially true when animals are kept in stalls, since hooves are usually worn down naturally on pastures. When pruning, care must be taken not to injure the limb of the animal.

Goats require the most attention.

They need a warmer room, fenced off (or better, completely separate) from the adult herd. If necessary, you need to change the litter for the kids (usually two or even three times a day). In general, rearing young animals is the most difficult not only in goat breeding, but also in other livestock industries.

If the care and maintenance of these animals, although troublesome, is not difficult, then the work of breeding goats requires increased attention and certain skills. There are many nuances here: the initial purchase of animals, the preparation of a stud goat, the mating of goats, the care and feeding of pregnant queens, the rearing of newborns, and so on.

Breeding goats can be started in various ways: either to buy young animals, or a pregnant uterus, or immediately purchase a parent flock.

The latter method is the most costly, however, if the breeder aims to quickly increase the livestock, then it is the most effective.

To obtain offspring, the female during the hunting period is brought together with the male producer.

The time of the onset of such a hunt can be determined by the restless behavior of the goat, its decrease in appetite and swelling of the genitals. If three weeks after mating, the hunt does not recur, it means that the fertilization was successful. If hunting resumes after the specified period, the goat should be covered again.

September is considered the best start of the mating season. If insemination occurred at this time, then kids are born in the period from late February to early March. This will allow the kids to have time to get stronger before the start of the grazing period.

You can grow offspring in two ways:

breastfeeding by the mother. Newborn kids in the first months of life feed on mother's milk and are constantly in the uterus;
artificial feeding. The cubs are weaned from the female immediately after their birth, and then fed from the bottle either with mixtures or milked mother's milk.

The second method is usually used when raising dairy goats, since it allows the female to return to the prenatal level of milk production more quickly.

Immediately before mating, the nutrition of both goats and queens should be increased, since the animals must be sufficiently well-fed for successful fertilization.

In one day, an adult goat-producer can cover two or three females with a break of four to five hours. Goats bear offspring for about five months (the average period is 150 days).

Despite the early puberty of females (at five to seven months), it is impossible to have them at this age.

The optimal age of a goat for the first coating is one and a half years. Approximately two weeks before the expected birth, preparations for the "maternity ward" should begin. The room should be thoroughly cleaned, all manure removed, whitewashed with lime milk, bedding changed to clean and dry, and doors and windows insulated (to avoid drafts).

Before the birth itself, the uterus must be observed in order to have time to either help her in an emergency or call a veterinarian.

A healthy and well-fed female does not need outside help during childbirth.

The process itself lasts from 20 to 40 minutes. If there are several cubs in the offspring, then they are born with an interval of 10-15 minutes.

The afterbirth comes out an hour or two after the end of childbirth.

If it does not separate within four to five hours, call your veterinarian immediately.
Wet litter, along with the placenta, must be immediately removed and buried. The newborn should be freed from mucus eyes, mouth and nostrils. If the umbilical cord does not break, it is carefully cut off with disinfected scissors at a distance of seven to ten centimeters from the abdomen. Be sure to disinfect the umbilical cord with tincture of iodine or with a solution of potassium permanganate. After this, the cub is allowed to be licked by the mother (so she remembers his smell), then he is wiped with a dry and clean cloth and placed in a warm, dry place.
Special attention should be paid to the absence of family ties between the goat-producer and the females covered by him.

Otherwise, the risk of degeneration of the breeding core and deterioration in the quality of offspring increases. To avoid this, it is best to buy females and males from different breeders and, if possible, be interested in the related composition of their herds.

Goats have been one of the most popular pets for hundreds of years. Many people know about the benefits of their milk, so they are increasingly wondering how to properly maintain and breed them in a personal compound. Let's say right away that breeding goats is not difficult, but it still requires certain knowledge. We will share them with you!

All about goat breeding

Breeding goats at home begins either with the purchase of young animals, or with the acquisition of a pregnant female or parent herd. It is very important to take into account the "pedigree" of animals, because milk productivity is largely determined by breed and heredity. It is impossible to cross closely related animals, as they give weak, unproductive offspring.

It is best to take a goat from a high-milk breeding female, since productivity is determined by the manufacturer. A female should be selected for breeding with a good constitution, with a correct udder.

Experts recommend that goats be shed at the end of summer - at the beginning of autumn, so that offspring appear in February-March. As practice shows, kids born during this period are the most viable and well developed. Also, by the time the first greenery appears and the grazing period, the kids will already get stronger and will be able to switch to green food.

For the appearance of healthy kids, it is also necessary to correctly case the animals. For this, it is necessary that the female be in the hunt. This period lasts about 24-48 hours and is easy to determine by obvious signs. For example, goats become restless, they eat poorly, meck, the outer parts of the vagina swell. If fertilization did not occur during the first hunt, the process must be repeated during the second hunt.

The period of hunting occurs in females every 15-22 days until the moment of pregnancy. If you have several animals on your farm, you can use this period to your advantage. For example, to have them at different times in order to receive milk all year round. The first hunt in young females occurs at 5-8 months, but it can happen no earlier than 1.5 years.

The entire period of pregnancy lasts an average of 147-150 days or 5 months. Deviations from the norm within 5 days are considered normal.

Growing goats

There are two ways to raise kids in a personal plot: under the uterus and separately. But we recommend raising babies separately. The first method is acceptable for growing only downy goats. So, after birth, we leave the babies with their mother until they dry out, then we transfer them to a separate stall. If the temperature in the barn is below 12 degrees, we take it to the house or to the heated veranda.

Not later than an hour after birth, the goats are given the first portion of milked colostrum. For about 10 days, babies need to be bottle-fed through a nipple. After that, we teach the kids to drink from a bowl. During the first month, the feeding regimen is four times a day, after - three times a day.

Starting from the 10th day, in addition to milk, you can give babies porridge (oatmeal or semolina). Gradually it is necessary to accustom to hay and dry leaves. From the 20th day, compound feed is introduced into the diet in small doses.

Do not forget that little kids are very active and mobile. For their full development, they need space for games. Let the goats go outside in good weather in a paddock. With the onset of greenery, the grown young growth is brought out to pasture. Proper goat care is the foundation of your successful animal husbandry. See also the video for this.

All about content

The main rules for keeping goats in a personal backyard are the right diet and care. In order for young animals to grow and develop well, and adults to have good productivity, they need certain conditions. So, for example, the stall-pasture method of keeping is considered the most successful. As a rule, the stall period lasts about 180 days a year, the grazing period - 185 days.

In winter, goats are kept in dry, warm rooms on deep litter, as well as in walking yards. In summer, most of the time the animals spend on pasture or under a canopy in a private courtyard. During the stall period, goats are kept either on a leash or without in a separate stall. A large livestock is grown in one room without the use of a stall.

Separately, in any case, only the goat should be kept. This is due not only to the control of animal reproduction, but also to the fact that females can acquire the smell of a male. This will negatively affect the quality of the milk. Also, goats are kept separately from the main herd.

Conditions of detention

A prerequisite for keeping goats is good ventilation, a lot of light, dryness of the room. These animals like to sleep on dry boards on high ground and rarely prefer bedding. Therefore, if possible, it is better to build small wooden beds for goats. A regular board that rests on the main floor of the stall will also do.

It is advisable not to tie goats in the stalls, as we can see in the video. Due to the constraint of movement, they often reduce milk yield. Nursery feeders should always have fresh hay. In a separate container salt lick. Animals need to be fed three times a day with stall keeping and twice with grazing, provided that the animals are pastured for at least 3-4 hours.

room

Goats can easily be housed in the main barn along with cattle and other pets. However, the room must be clean, bright and dry. Goats do not tolerate air pollution well, so good ventilation is one of the important requirements for a goat house. In the northern regions, the goats' premises should be either insulated or heated.

Temperature

The minimum allowable temperature for keeping goats is about 8-10 degrees, for kids - at least 12 degrees. The most comfortable temperature is considered to be in the aisles of 18-20 degrees. Under such conditions, animals have the highest milk production.

6-9 hours - giving roughage (hay, straw);
9-11 - giving silage;
11-12 - watering place;
12-13 - daily rate of concentrated feed;
16-18 - giving roughage.

In winter, animals are fed and watered indoors. If necessary, the swill is heated to room temperature. If the room is not heated, it must be insulated in the fall with improvised means. To do this, coniferous branches are laid out along the walls, a deep bedding is laid on the floor of the barn, the windows are insulated with foil, and the doors are tightened with burlap stuffed with straw.

For example, tops of garden vegetables, peeling potatoes, trimming fruits are suitable. In addition to the main food for the night, a dairy goat needs to put hay in a manger and hang branches.

If the goats are not grazing, their daily requirement for green fodder must be provided on their own. For this, freshly cut grass and fresh branches are used. In addition, the daily dose of feeding is supplemented with concentrates, succulent feed, hay and bran mash. Even in the absence of grazing, pets should walk in a paddock. Learn about the basic care of goats from the video.

Video "Goats in a personal subsidiary plot"

In this video you will learn all the details about breeding and keeping dairy goats in the household. How to properly care for, feed and what conditions animals need, the owner of the goats will tell.

The room for goats should be dry, bright, with good ventilation, but without drafts. To ventilate the goat’s house, they arrange an exhaust pipe with a valve at the bottom, which is opened as needed.

For better air draft, the pipe from the ceiling to the roof is insulated with sheathing of straw mats coated with clay mortar on the outside, and above the roof the pipe is made with double walls with insulating backfill. Above the upper edge of the pipe, a shield is arranged to prevent rain and snow from entering the pipe.

The air temperature in the goat house should be 6-7 degrees Celsius in winter; if, along with the goats, there are also young kids, then 8-10 degrees.

In summer, when goats are driven into the room only for the night, it should be cool and not stuffy in the goat house.

In front of the goat house (or barnyard) it is necessary to arrange a small courtyard with a fence, where in winter, in favorable weather, goats can be kept during the day.

Windows in the goat house are arranged on the south side, at a height of at least 1.50-1.75 meters from the floor, so that the goats cannot break the glass.

Fig 6. Goat's rue with a manger (not clogging eyes and wool),
feeder-box for concentrates and root crops and a bucket for drinking

The floor can be plank, adobe or earth, raised above ground level by about 20 centimeters. To drain the slurry, it is made with a slope of 2 centimeters for every meter of the floor.

In the goat's house, a nursery for roughage and feeders for concentrates, silage and root crops are arranged (Fig. 6).

Goats love to climb on these shelves and sleep; in this case, they catch cold less, and the wool is less polluted.

The room for goats must be ventilated more often, remove manure from it and change the litter. From time to time, the walls in the goat's house must be whitewashed with a solution of lime (1 kilogram of quicklime per bucket of water).

In winter, in good weather (with frost up to 12 degrees, without wind), goats should definitely be driven out into the courtyard and fed here: this improves health and increases productivity. Indoors, goats are fed only in inclement weather and during severe frosts.

In the spring, as soon as the soil dries out and the grass grows enough, the goats begin to graze. Goats make good use of all types of pastures, with the exception of damp and marshy ones; when grazing on damp pastures, which are usually infected with worms, goats get sick and often die.

In order to avoid indigestion, it is necessary to transfer goats from stall keeping to grazing gradually, within 7-10 days.

On the first day, goats are let out on the pasture for no more than 1 hour, on the second day - for 1-2 hours, and so the duration of grazing is gradually increased.

In the first days, goats are given a previously established feed supply. Then, as the time spent on grazing increases, in the morning before pasture and in the evening upon returning from the pasture, they are given 0.5 kilograms of hay.

After the grass has grown enough and the pasture will provide for the needs of animals in pasture, feeding the animals with hay is stopped.

With a good herbage, a goat eats 7-8 kilograms of grass in the pasture; this amount of grass provides a milk yield of 2.5-3 liters.

With a higher milk yield, the goat must be fed in the morning, before pasture, and in the evening, upon returning from the pasture, with other feeds: concentrates, root crops, silage, kitchen waste, etc.

When grazing near the farm, goats must be leashed to avoid injury (Fig. 7).

Rice. 7. Goat leash and leash stake

To protect the trees from damage, it is recommended to gird the goat with a chest belt, which passes between the front legs and is attached to the halter at one end, and to a special belt covering the body behind the shoulder blades at the other (Fig. 8).

Rice. 8. Goat with chest strap.
Such a belt prevents the goat from standing on its hind legs and eating tree branches.

Such a belt allows you to move freely, but prevents the goat from standing on its hind legs and eating tree branches.

It is best to drink well water or water from rivers, streams and springs; before drinking, the water should be warmed up by pouring it into a wooden barrel in advance.

Puddles, swamps and ponds with stagnant water are a source of infection of goats with worms and other diseases, therefore they are unsuitable for watering.

In the summer, milking and lactating queens with kids should be watered twice: in the morning before the onset of heat and at 4-5 o'clock in the afternoon.

In spring and autumn, if the pasture is rich in grass and not hot, goats can be watered once in the afternoon or in the evening, after returning from the pasture.

Excited goats should not be allowed near water. This can lead to disease in animals.

During the entire period of grazing, goats should be given salt daily in troughs at a watering place or in a goat's house.

Goat milking and udder care

Goat milk production largely depends on proper milking and skillful udder care. During milking, the goat is best placed in the pen. In the machine, it stands quietly and does not interfere with milking.

When grazing in a public herd, goats are milked in the morning and evening in the pens, and in the afternoon on the pasture.

Goats should always be milked at the same time. When growing kids without a uterus in the first days after lambing, the goat is milked four times a day, then they gradually switch to three times milking, and as the milk yield decreases, to two times.

With triple milking, the first milking is carried out at 4-5 am, the second - at 12 noon, the third - at 7-8 pm, with double milking - at 5 am and 7 pm.

Before milking, thoroughly wash the udder with warm water and wipe it dry with a clean towel. The best way to milk is with your fist.

Before and at the end of milking, the udder is massaged. Massage increases milk yield.

It is better to massage each half of the udder alternately. To do this, they grab one half of the udder with both hands and rub it from all sides, while lifting the udder slightly up and slightly squeezing it; then, continuing to massage, lower the udder down.

Such massage techniques are repeated 4-5 times with each half of the udder, and then milk is milked out.

The first streams of milk are not put into the sump, as they are usually contaminated. It is necessary to milk a goat as carefully as possible - the last milk is the fattest. Milking should be done quickly, without interruption.

At the end of milking, the udder should be wiped with a dry towel, and the nipples should be greased with petroleum jelly.

After use, milk utensils must be thoroughly washed with hot water, then rinsed with clean water and dried.

Combing down and shearing wool in goats

In the pre-spring period, the fluff begins to crawl out of the goat, and if it is not combed out in time, he will be confused. Therefore, goats should be combed out as soon as the molting of down on the sides begins.

This work is carried out in the European part of the USSR at the end of February and in March, in Central Asia and Transcaucasia in February, in Siberia and the northern regions in April.

The fluff is combed out twice: the first time at the beginning of the molt, the second after 2-3 weeks, at the end of the molt.

Combing the fluff in goats that are in the last period of pregnancy, in order to avoid miscarriage, is carried out after lambing.

To prevent losses, fluff should be combed out in a bright, wind-protected room. For the time of combing, the goat is tied by its horns to a hook against the wall or placed on a low table, tying its legs.

The fluff is combed out with a comb shaped like a small spatula with a wooden handle (Fig. 9).

In the expanded part of the spatula there are 7-8 teeth, in more frequent combs - 12-14 teeth. The teeth are made of steel wire with a diameter of 3 mm; the upper part of the teeth is bent in a semicircle, the ends are slightly blunt.

Rice. 9. a - a rare comb for combing down;
b - frequent comb for combing down

At the beginning, the fleece is combed with a rare comb, while vegetable litter, manure is removed from it and only a small part of the fluff is combed out, and then they start combing the fluff with frequent combs.

The fluff is combed out from the back to the belly, without pressing on the comb, so as not to injure the skin.

Depending on the breed, as well as the conditions of feeding, maintenance and care, the pile of fluff from one goat is from 80 to 200 grams, sometimes more.

After combing out the fluff, as soon as warm weather sets in, they start cutting the wool. The wool sheared from one goat averages 300-500 grams.

Combing down and cutting hair is possible only in goats with dry wool and after exposure for 10-12 hours without food and water.

Fed and watered animals do not tolerate combing and haircuts, there may even be cases of death from intestinal volvulus.

Only completely dry wool and dry fluff are suitable for long-term storage.

goat care

Goat breeding is a very profitable branch of household farming. A variety of valuable products are obtained from goats - milk, fluff, wool, meat, skins.

Dairy goat selection

When choosing (purchasing) a goat, the main attention should be paid to the health and physique of the animal, its milk production and age.

Goat feeding

Proper nutrition is the most important condition for high milk productivity of a goat.

Approximate daily feed allowances (in kilograms) for goats with a live weight of 40 to 50 kilograms

Goat Feeding Routine

Only fresh food is suitable for feeding. Spoiled feed harms the health of animals, reduces milk yield, and deteriorates the quality of milk.

Rules for breeding goats on the farm

It is impossible to mate animals that are closely related, since in this case less viable offspring with less productivity is born.

Rearing of young animals

There are two ways to raise kids: under the uterus and without them.

Goat house device

Breeding goats on a personal farmstead has two directions: dairy and downy. Dairy goats are kept to obtain highly nutritious milk, butter, fat, cottage cheese, and goats are kept to obtain tender tasty meat.

Meat and down are obtained from downy breeds. The best dairy breeds: Zaanenskaya, Gorky, Russian Dairy, Megrelskaya. Perhaps the most unpretentious to growing conditions are representatives Zaanenskaya breeds.

They are distinguished by precocity, good health, high fertility and longevity. Zaanensky often used to improve other breeds. Goat fresh milk has healing properties.

Even Hippocrates claimed that if you constantly drink goat milk you can easily live up to 100 years. It digested 5 times faster than cow's.

There are many examples when babies deprived of mother's milk were fed goat. The best downy breeds: Orenburg And Pridonskaya. Orenburg the breed is distinguished by its large size, precocity and high fecundity.

Often twins and even four babies are born. This trait is inherited.

How to choose goats?

Choosing a goat

It is better to take a thoroughbred animal in a specialized farm, where proper care is taken. For milk, choose an adult animal. It is advisable to immediately see how much the uterus will give for milking, since a large udder is not an indicator of high milk yield.

If you take a local yamanuha, it is best to observe the animal in advance and evaluate the yield of milk. It should be borne in mind that the highest milk yield of 5-6 liters of milk per day of the uterus is given after 2-3 lambing. After the sixth lambing, milk yield decreases.

When choosing a goat of a dairy breed, you should definitely find out about the productivity of the mother. It is also necessary to ask how long she was drinking mother's milk. In order for a goat to subsequently give a lot of milk, it must be fed with goat milk for at least 4 months.

The same should be borne in mind when the young are left to the tribe. Downy ones are bought before combing or shearing, otherwise there is no way to determine the quality of the down. When buying an animal carefully inspect.

A healthy one has a wide chest, a straight back, a shiny coat without bald spots. Closely set legs indicate a narrow chest, which is undesirable. The jaws must close, otherwise the animal will not be able to properly capture food and eat fully.

To determine the age, you need to carefully examine the teeth. The old one has worn teeth, gaps form between them.

Where is the best place to keep a goat?

Goat milking

One of the corners of the barn, where they keep cows with calves, a firewood shed, will do. Goat's rue should be warm, dry and light. It would be nice if an open corral was attached to it, where the animals could walk.

The total area of the walking yard is calculated on the basis of 2-4 m2 for each animal. The goat's rue is insulated, all the cracks are plugged. The window is cut at a distance of one and a half meters from the floor, otherwise it can be broken by horns. If the shed is small, a window is made in the door.

For one goat you need 1.5 m2, for a goat with kids - 2.5 m2, for one goat - about 2 m2. Planks are laid on the floor. For each animal, a separate machine with a feeder (crèche) is made. The walls of the goat’s house for disinfection must be whitewashed with lime.

In winter, the temperature in the goat's rue should not fall below +10 0C. In summer, animals are driven into the goat's house only for the night. It should not be stuffy in it. If your frolics live together with other animals, then at a distance of 60 cm from the floor, shelves-beds are nailed to the wall.

They like to climb up and sleep higher, where it is cleaner and drier. Goats are kept separate from dairy goats so that their smell does not indulge in milk.

Goats - birth and care

Getting offspring For the first time, a goat is covered at 1.5 years, although the hunt may come earlier, at the age of 6-7 months. To get offspring in April-March, animals happen in October-November. A month before mating, they are well fed and walked to the pasture. The goat is covered once a year.

A milk lady is brought together only with a milk goat. The beginning of the hunt is determined by the following signs: frequent bleating, lack of appetite, swelling of the genitals, mucus secretion. How long does a pregnant goat walk? Sukoznost lasts about 5 months.

The day of mating is recorded in order to prepare for the offspring. Pregnancy of a goat is not difficult to determine. There are several easy ways.

If after 19-20 days after being covered by a goat, the goat does not come into hunting, then it is considered that it has wandered. To make sure that she is definitely pregnant, she is brought to the goat. The sucrose uterus will begin to kick back. By the age of 3 months, milk yields in the sucrose uterus are halved, the stomach increases on the right. If you feel the lower abdomen under the ribs on the right, you can feel a lump - the fetus. The most reliable way is to take a urine test at a veterinary clinic.

Before goating, the animal is worried, rarely lies down, does not eat, and rakes manure away from itself. Although the birth of a goat is easy and quick, but a caring owner should keep an eye on their progress.

It is necessary to prepare scissors for cutting the umbilical cord and iodine. The baby comes forward with the head lying on the outstretched front legs. May appear head first with legs pressed to the body. The appearance of the baby forward with its hind legs is considered normal.

If the fetus is large and the mother cannot cope with childbirth, then you need to carefully pull it towards the udder, and not the tail. Hands are pre-washed and lubricated with Vaseline. If the birth is delayed, then you need to call the veterinarian. Immediately after lambing, the mother is very thirsty.

She is given sweetish water. They start milking an hour and a half after giving birth, otherwise the udder will harden and mastitis may begin. The first few days they milk up to 6 times, then 3 times: in the morning, at lunchtime and in the evening. Most often, two cubs are born, but sometimes one or three.

First of all, he needs to free his mouth and nose from mucus, cut the umbilical cord at a distance of 7-8 cm and smear it with iodine. Often the roe gnaws on the umbilical cord itself.

The babies are placed next to their mother so that she licks them. An hour after the last baby appears, the afterbirth comes out. It is quickly removed. If the goat is barely breathing, then they wipe the muzzle from the mucus and inhale air into the mouth.

You can put it on the back and alternately bend and unbend the legs. This usually helps. Goat care If the babies are downy, then they are left with the mother for suction.

If they are of a dairy breed, then they will have to be fed through the nipple with goat's milk. Colostrum is given for about 10 days, then they are taught to drink from a bowl. The first month they are given milk 4, then 3 times a day.

After that, liquid semolina or oatmeal, mashed potatoes diluted with warm goat's milk are introduced into the diet. Gradually, the kids begin to eat hay, imitating their mother. At the age of 20 days, kids are taught to feed.

If we are talking about goats that are grown for milk, then they are fed with goat's milk for 3-4 months. For the first few days, cubs are brought into a warm room: a house or a heated temporary hut. If it is warm in the barn, then the kids are left with their mother.

How to feed goats

Videos goat birth

In winter, it is useful to feed needles to animals. Give kitchen waste and mash. Vegetable peelings are washed, boiled, salted and sprinkled with mixed fodder.

You can add steamed oats or oatmeal, carrot and beet peels, slices of stale bread to the mixers. Fresh bread should not be given to avoid indigestion. Mixers have a positive effect on milk yield. If you stocked up on root crops, then feeding can be organized according to the scheme:

in the morning - 0.2 kg of grain, 0.5 kg of various root crops; in the afternoon - up to 2 kg of hay; in the evening - 0.15 kg of grain, 0.1 kg of oilcake.

At night they are given hay. The animals are given water at room temperature. Lick salt is placed in the feeders or swill is added with salt. You can’t drink from a galvanized bucket, as zinc can cause poisoning. Dairy ladies are also given beet pulp and sugar beets, but it should be borne in mind that the combination of starch contained in potatoes and sugar is negative affects digestion.

The complete replacement of hay with silage negatively affects the quality of down. In summer, animals are usually grazing all day. If the uterus is with kids, then it is kept on a leash, and the young run around. It is necessary to ensure that the kids do not go into someone else's yard, and even more so a garden.

If they go far from their mother, then they are also tied up. When the yamanukha eats the grass around him, she is transferred to another place. During the day, a dairy goat is fed with grain, vegetables, apples, and warm swill is given. If you have a small herd, then it is advisable to graze the animals in the meadow. Goats and the most obstinate goats are always kept on a leash with stakes.

All about goat breeding

It is impossible to cross closely related animals, as they give weak, unproductive offspring. It is best to take a goat from a high-milk breeding female, since productivity is determined by the manufacturer.

A female should be chosen for breeding with a good physique, with the right udder. Experts recommend the case of goats in late summer - early autumn, so that offspring appear in February-March. As practice shows, kids born during this period are the most viable and well developed.

Also, by the time the first greens appear and the grazing period, the kids will already get stronger and will be able to switch to green food. For the appearance of healthy kids, animals must also be properly treated. For this, it is necessary that the female be in the hunt.

This period lasts about 24-48 hours and is easy to determine by obvious signs. For example, goats become restless, they eat poorly, meck, the outer parts of the vagina swell.

If fertilization did not occur during the first hunt, you need to repeat the process during the second hunt. The hunting period occurs in females every 15-22 days until the moment of pregnancy. If you have several animals on your farm, you can use this period to your advantage.

For example, to have them at different times in order to receive milk all year round. The first hunt in young females occurs at 5-8 months, but it can happen no earlier than 1.5 years. The entire period of pregnancy lasts an average of 147-150 days or 5 months. Deviations from the norm within 5 days are considered normal.

Green alternative. The film is the third. Goat feeding. Goat farm.

Growing goats

There are two ways to raise kids in a personal plot: under the uterus and separately. But we recommend raising babies separately. The first method is acceptable for growing only downy goats.

So, after birth, we leave the babies with their mother until they dry out, then we transfer them to a separate stall. If the temperature in the barn is below 12 degrees, we take it to the house or to the heated veranda. Not later than an hour after birth, we give the goats the first portion of milked colostrum.

For about 10 days, babies need to be bottle-fed through a nipple. After that, we teach the kids to drink from a bowl. During the first month, the feeding regimen is four times a day, after that it is three times a day. Starting from the 10th day, in addition to milk, you can give babies porridge (oatmeal or semolina).

Gradually it is necessary to accustom to hay and dry leaves. From the 20th day, compound feed is introduced into the diet in small doses. Do not forget that little kids are very active and mobile. For their full development, they need space for games.

Let the goats go outside in good weather in a paddock. With the onset of greenery, the grown young growth is brought out to pasture. Proper care of goats is again your successful animal husbandry.

room

Goats can easily be housed in the main barn along with cattle and other pets. However, the room must be clean, bright and dry.

Goats do not tolerate air pollution well, so good ventilation is one of the important requirements for a goat house. In the northern regions, the goats' premises should be either insulated or heated.

Temperature

6-9 hours - giving roughage (hay, straw); 9-11 - giving silage; 12-13 - the daily rate of concentrated feed; 16-18 - giving roughage.

In winter, animals are fed and watered indoors. If necessary, the swill is heated to room temperature. If the room is not heated, it must be insulated in the fall with improvised means.

To do this, coniferous branches are laid out along the walls, a deep bedding is laid on the floor of the barn, the windows are insulated with foil, and the doors are tightened with burlap stuffed with straw.

It is very good for milking animals to feed food waste and concentrated feed. For example, tops of garden vegetables, peeling potatoes, trimming fruits are suitable. In addition to the main food for the night, a dairy goat needs to put hay in a manger and hang branches.

Even in the absence of grazing, pets should walk in a paddock. Learn about the basic care of goats from the video.

Video "Goats in a personal subsidiary plot"

Feeding care and rearing of dairy goats

Find out more

How to breed goats

Goats are versatile animals that make a good addition to a farm with the right space and facilities. You can keep them for milk, meat, wool, or just as pets.

If you are interested in raising goats, here are some basic information to help you get started. Do you want to have animals for milk production? Meat or wool? Or do you just want to see a cute pet in the yard?

The motivation behind your decision will influence your choice of breed and rearing methods. Raising goats comes with a big commitment - you'll have to feed them every day, pay for food and veterinary care, and create good living conditions - so make sure you're prepared to take on that responsibility. Take the time to read a few books or talk to someone who knows more about goats.

baby goats,too cute videos,cute baby with dog,

Breed selection

Choose a breed according to your needs. As mentioned above, the choice will depend on whether you want to keep them for milk, meat, or wool. In addition, size, temperament, and content requirements will need to be considered. Some of the more popular breeds are:

Dairy goats: Alpine, Saanen, Sable, LaMancha, Nubia, Oberhasli, and Toggenburg. Meat breeds of goats: Boer, Kiko, Spanish, Savannah, Texmaster, Genemaster. Goats with good wool: Angora (which produce mohair), Cashmere, Pygora and Nigora. Ornamental breeds: Nigerian gnome, Kinder.

Where to keep goats

Consider how much space you have. Ideally, you should have a large outdoor enclosure where your goats can frolic. Goats should also have a place with a roof to rest and hide. A general rule of thumb is to allow 10 to 15 feet of space for each standard size adult goat. Decorative ones will require a little less space. It is important not to keep animals in confined spaces. This will cause them to get sick.

How to choose goats

Don't buy a goat that doesn't suit your needs. Look for clear-eyed and nimble goats that move quickly and easily, with a clear gait. Place your arms around the goat's body to check for swelling or bumps - this may indicate an abscess. Check the goat's litter to make sure it is solid, not runny. Look for goats with deep, rounded bellies, wide-set hips, and large, downward-pointing udders. If possible, you should also try to milk the goat to make sure it has a good temperament and that milk comes in easily. If you buy dairy goats, make sure they are friendly and not shy, as you will have to milk them.

How to choose a goat

Goats can be aggressive and start to smell when they get older. Pheromones can affect the taste of milk if the goat lives in close proximity. If you do not want to raise a large herd of goats, it is best to simply take the goat when you need it for breeding, rather than buying it. as pets).

What age to buy goats

You have several options when it comes to buying - which option you choose will depend on your budget and how soon you want your goats to produce milk or calve.

Buy a kid. A goatling may be 8 weeks old, as at this time it can already be weaned from its mother. Kids are relatively cheap to buy, but you have to wait about a year and a half before the animals grow up and can be bred, and another five months before they start producing milk. Buy a pullet. This is a young female who has not yet been pregnant. Pullets are more expensive than goats, but you don't have to wait to breed them and start producing milk. You can buy a young goat that is already pregnant, in which case you have to wait 5 months before it starts producing milk. Buy an adult goat. Finally, you can buy a goat that already gives milk. This is faster and cheaper than the previous options, however there is a risk that the female may be in trouble as breeders usually try to sell the weakest animals in their herd.

What to look out for

Goats are herd animals, which means they prefer to live in groups. Thus, you will need to buy at least two goats to start breeding them. Many people make the mistake of buying only one goat. Lonely goats bleat loudly in search of company. If possible, try to buy two goats from the same herd (. This will help them adjust to their new surroundings much faster. Under certain circumstances, goats will associate with other ungulates such as sheep, cows and horses, so this is an option if you already own some of these animals.

As mentioned in the previous section, goats require a sheltered area to sleep, feed and hide from the weather and at night from predators. The barn doesn't have to be very complex, there should be plenty of open space around to roam around during the day.

The room does not have to be very large - goats love to sleep together in small groups. You just need to make sure the housing stays dry and draft-free. It's also a good idea to have a small cubbyhole where you can house sick, injured or pregnant goats.

The floor in the shelter should be covered with a thick layer of bedding consisting of wood shavings (except cedar), straw or waste hay.

goat grazing

Goats can climb trees, jump over fences, and chew rope, so it's important that you put a good fence around your pasture. Your fence should be at least four feet high, or five feet for more active goat breeds.

You can use a smooth electrified wire fence. You also need to trace the absence of poles inside the fence and the presence of exits to the roof. Goats prefer to eat twigs, leaves, and weeds rather than plain grass.

This makes it possible to keep them together with sheep, cows and horses, as they do not compete for food. Goats can be used to clear the land and get rid of unwanted vegetation.

Goat feeding

Goats do not get all the food in the field, they need a large supply of good quality hay (or other forage crop). Goats that are pregnant or for milk production have additional protein requirements, so they need to be given grain every day. You should also add a mineral mix, which is available at most feed stores. You can give your goats fruits and vegetables, including apples, pears, peaches, watermelons, bananas, carrots, celery, and spinach. It is important that your goats have a constant supply of fresh water, especially during very hot, dry weather. If you have a stream or pond, this is a handy way to ensure you don't get dehydrated.

Goats that have reached puberty

When a goat reaches maturity, at about 6 months old, it is ready to breed. Annual breeding cycles begin around August or September.

If you are not the owner of the goat, you can take the female to the farm for mating, in which case you will have to pay for mating. It is possible to determine that the female is pregnant by milky-white discharge from the genitals (this is one of the best signs of successful mating).

Pregnancy lasts 150 days, or five months. In most pregnancies, two kids are born, although sometimes there can be more, three or four.

Young Animal Care

Immediately after birth, the kids are carefully wiped with a cloth to remove blood and birth secretions. Next, you need to decide on the method of feeding.

Some goat breeders choose to immediately separate the kids from their mother in order to feed them with their mother's milk. The point of this is that it can be difficult for the kids to stop suckling later on and you will get less milk. It is also believed that bottle-fed goats will be more obedient and friendly. Others believe that separating a goat and kids is a cruel and unnecessary act. They allow the mother to feed the kids and separate them when the babies are ready to wean, at 8 to 12 weeks of age.

Which way you decide to go is a matter of personal preference and will depend on how important it is to you to increase your milk production.

What to do with goats

If you are not interested in increasing the size of your herd, you will have to decide what to do with the kids.

Young kids from good sires are usually easy to sell, as the demand for milk-producing goats of good breeds is very high. Kids can be sold immediately after weaning from a goat. If you want to keep offspring from the best dairy goats, keep in mind that you will begin to receive milk in about a couple of years. Goats are a little more difficult to deal with. Most young goats should be castrated before three weeks of age, as they will eventually be sold for meat.

Goat lactation cycle, milking

After a goat has produced its first offspring, it will start producing milk and will continue to do so for about 305 days after giving birth. Milk yields are usually high in the first 2-3 months after birth, then the milk declines, stopping towards the end of the lactation cycle.

Then the goat requires two months of a "dry period", this period is needed for the final formation of the fetus and for preparing the body for new births. If you have never milked an animal before, it is important to learn how to properly milk.

You can not pull the nipple; You need to close your fingers around the nipple, stopping the supply of milk from above with the help of your thumb and forefinger. Next, you need to squeeze the nipple with your other fingers and extract the milk. At first, you can start milking slowly and clumsily, milking a goat can take you up to 30 minutes, but once you get used to it, the whole process will take no more than 5 minutes. You should milk the goats once in the morning and once in the evening. If you do everything right, observing the feeding regime, at the peak of production from dairy goats of good breeds you can get up to 7 liters of milk per day.

Signs of disease in goats

Sooner or later, one inevitably has to deal with sick animals, so it is very important to be able to see the signs of illness. Some of the most common and visible symptoms of goat disease are:

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