Key Technical Points and Management Methods for Confined Raising of Boer Goats

Traditionally, goats are mainly raised by grazing, but in the flat agricultural areas, the limited availability of grazing land has hindered the development of goat farming. Agricultural areas have abundant crop straw and by-products and other resource advantages, so if certain techniques are mastered, developing confined goat raising is entirely feasible.

Requirements and Design of the Goat Shed

The pen should be built in a dry, well-ventilated place with good drainage, facing south, with the area calculated according to the planned production scale; each goat (breeding ewes and stud rams) requires 1.2-1.5 sq m. The goat bed should be 1 m above the ground, made into a slatted floor with wooden strips or bamboo strips. Inside the shed, along the wall, a hay rack should be set up with bamboo strips, with feeding gaps 15 cm wide, and the hay rack about 1 m high. The feed trough can be made of cement or wooden boards into a long trough, generally 25 cm wide at the top, 22 cm wide at the bottom, and 24 cm deep, with an arc-shaped bottom, and it is best to leave one outward drainage hole. Raising goats must have an exercise yard, slightly sloped, planted with deciduous trees, providing shade in summer and sunlight in winter.

Feed Requirements

The main concentrates that can be used to feed goats include sweet potato vines, peanut vines, soybean stalks, vegetable leaves, wild grass, forage grass, tree leaves, etc. The supply of green feed must be guaranteed, and the feeding amount can account for 80%-90% of the total feed.

Roughage mainly refers to mature crop straw, chaff, etc. Roughage should not be too much, otherwise it will affect the goat's feed intake and health; generally it should be below 30%, and if conditions permit, treatments such as ammoniation and alkalization should be carried out. In the peak season of green feed, unused green feed should be made into silage for use in the off season. Confined goats should also be supplemented with some concentrate, especially young goats, pregnant and lactating ewes, stud rams, and meat goats before slaughter. In the concentrate, grains generally account for 40%-60%, protein sources 10%-25%, bran 20%-30%, and minerals 3%, and urea can be added at 1%. When feeding, it is advisable to feed roughage first and then concentrate, and dry feed first and then green feed.

Feeding Management

Place the forage in the hay rack and let the goats eat freely; ensure sufficient clean drinking water, adhere to fixed-time and fixed-quantity feeding, and achieve small amounts with more frequent feedings; generally add grass and water 3-4 times a day.

Disease Prevention and Health Care

① Regular deworming: once each in spring and autumn; alternately use imidazole tablets and albendazole tablets at 100 mg per kg of goat body weight, administered orally at one time. In areas where flukes are prevalent, use niclofolan tablets to deworm once each year at the Xiaoman and Shuangjiang solar terms.

② Medicated bathing: bathe more than twice a year; generally use 1% trichlorfon or 0.5% formaldehyde solution or 500×10-6 amitraz solution on a clear day; the water temperature should be about 35°C, and let the goats bathe in the medicated liquid for 1-2 minutes.

③ Improve environmental sanitation: clean the goat shed every day, and wash the feed troughs and water troughs. Fill in the waterlogged areas around the goat shed and in the exercise yard, keep the urine drainage ditch unobstructed, and prevent urine water from accumulating. Use high-efficiency, low-toxicity mosquito killers or smoke fumigation to repel mosquitoes. In spring, summer, and autumn each year, spray the goat shed and exercise yard with 200×10-6 fenvalerate solution to eliminate mites and ticks.

④ Epidemic prevention: do a good job in vaccination and comprehensive prevention and control of important infectious diseases such as goat streptococcosis, brucellosis, foot-and-mouth disease, contagious ecthyma, and contagious pleuropneumonia. Regularly rotate the use of 10%-20% quicklime or 30% hot wood ash water to disinfect pens and equipment.