Four key points for daily goat management; only by doing these well can profits be guaranteed

    To get good profits from goats, the four daily management points cannot be ignored.

Goat

    1. Down collection and shearing.Dual-purpose meat and down goats should undergo down collection and shearing every spring. The sign that down can be collected is that the down around the goat's head, ear base, and eye rims begins to shed. About one week after down collection is finished, shear the goats. During down collection, first lay the goat down, tie the two front legs and one hind leg together with rope, then use a sparse comb to gently comb away the bits of grass and dung clumps from the goat's body from top to bottom along the direction of the hair, in the order of neck, shoulder, chest, back, loin, and thigh. Then use a fine comb to comb against the direction of the hair in the order of thigh, loin, back, chest, and shoulder. When collecting down, keep the comb close to the skin and apply even pressure to prevent tearing the skin.

    2. Disbudding.Lay a goat kid 5 to 7 days old on its side, gently feel the horn base with your fingers, then clip the hair from the hard, protruding area and apply petroleum jelly around it. Take one stick of caustic potash (soda), wrap one end in paper, moisten the other end with water, and rub it repeatedly on the protruding horn area of the goat until slight bleeding occurs. After rubbing, sprinkle on a layer of hemostatic and anti-inflammatory powder, separate the kid from the mother and keep it alone in a small pen to prevent the medicine from getting on the mother goat's udder during nursing and injuring the udder.

    3. Hoof trimming.Generally carried out after rain. When trimming hooves, seat the goat on the ground, stand behind the goat, let the goat half lie between your legs, and lift the goat's hind legs so it cannot get up. Begin trimming from the front limbs. First cut off the overgrown horn tips with fruit tree shears, then trim the edges of the hoof sole with a knife until they are level with the hoof sole, until the pale red blood vessels at the hoof sole are visible. If excessive hoof trimming causes bleeding, apply iodine tincture to reduce inflammation. If the bleeding does not stop, place the goat's hoof on an iron heated until slightly red and quickly cauterize it once. After shaping, the goat's hoof sole should be flat and square-round at the front end.

    4. Brushing.Dairy goats should be brushed every day. When brushing a goat, it is best to brush the whole body from top to bottom and from front to back with a stiff grass brush. If there is dung contamination on the goat's body, rinse it clean with water or gently comb it off with an iron brush.