How Are Goats Raised? A Detailed Explanation of Key Goat Farming Techniques

At present, the market acceptance and demand for mutton and goat milk are growing higher and higher, and the sheep farming industry has gradually become a sunrise industry. However, traditional rearing models can no longer meet market demand. To improve the productivity of meat goats, there is much work to be done in many areas, among which scientific feeding and management is especially important. In terms of feeding and management, one should do a good job in the feeding and management of meat goats at each stage as well as their daily management, achieving careful management, scientific feeding, and good hygiene and disease prevention, so that on the basis of selecting superior breed individuals, the production potential of meat goats can be brought into full play, improving economic returns and increasing income.

Selecting Goat Breeds

Choose superior breeds that are large and fast-growing.

Goats' Living Habits

Goats love dryness and dislike dampness; they love cleanliness and are averse to filth and odors; they like climbing slopes and heights, are lively and active, strongly gregarious, and like to eat twigs, tender leaves, and small bamboo leaves; they have strong disease resistance and reproduce quickly, and illness does not show obvious symptoms, so one should always carefully observe the goats' behavior.

Scientific Pen Construction

For the pen, it is best to choose a stilted pen built against a slope, facing south, warm in winter and cool in summer. Generally, the pen floor is 1-1.5m above the ground, and the bottom of the pen is laid with bamboo or wooden sticks forming a flat surface with gaps 1-1.5cm wide. Each pen compartment is 15-20 sq m in area, and supporting birthing pens and nursery pens must also be built, along with corresponding heat-protection and warmth-keeping facilities.

Commonly Used Forage and Feed

1. Forage. This includes the straw of major crops (such as corn, peanut vines, sweet potato vines, bean stalks and pods, wheat straw, etc.), green grass, hay, leaf feed, and forage prepared by ensiling, semi-dry storage, microbial storage, ammoniation, alkalization, fermentation, and other methods; as well as the diverse edible grasses on natural pastures and artificial grasslands. All of these are basic roughage that Small-tailed Han sheep like to eat.

2. Concentrate feed. Mainly including corn, beans, rye, barley, oats, etc.

3. Feed from processing by-products. Mainly such as wheat bran, bean (oil) cake, rice bran, corn husk, distiller's grains and residues, etc.

4. Succulent feed. Including root tubers, stem tubers, and melons, etc.

5. Mineral feed. Such as salt, bone meal, stone powder, shell powder, eggshell powder, chalk powder, defluorinated calcium phosphate, etc.