China has a large population and is a major agricultural country. With the promising outlook of the mutton market, vigorously developing the farming industry to enrich oneself not only meets domestic demand but also allows farmers to make money and live a moderately prosperous life. Friends in mountainous areas in particular can take advantage of the unique geographical advantages of the mountains to develop farming. Let us now take a closer look at: efficient goat farming technology in mountainous areas.

1. Site Selection and Construction of the Goat Pen

The goat pen can be built halfway up the hillside. Level a plot of flat terrain with an area of 120-150 sq m, and set up drainage and flood discharge ditches 40 cm wide and 50 cm deep around it. The goat pen can be built with locally available materials. Use miscellaneous wood or moso bamboo 8-10 cm in diameter to build a two-story structure: the upper floor is 18 m long, 7 m wide and 2.2 m high, and the lower floor is empty, so as to facilitate the removal of manure, ventilation and air exchange, and reduce the production of harmful gases.

2. Disease Prevention and Control Measures

Goats gain weight quickly and are prone to gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases, which can be prevented and treated by soaking salt and Trimeresurus stejnegeri (Chinese green tree viper) in water. The method is: hang 4-5 bamboo tubes 60 cm high in the goat pen; remove the outer skin of the bamboo tubes so that their thickness is 0.2-0.3 cm; fill the tubes with 20% salt water and put in a freshly killed Trimeresurus stejnegeri weighing 50-100 g, allowing the water in the tubes to seep out automatically and the goats to lick it freely. The Trimeresurus stejnegeri can also be replaced by 1 toad or 2 geckos. Every 10-15 days, decoct 150 g of dried Taxus chinensis leaves, 500 g of dried Houttuynia cordata, 150 g of brown sugar or white sugar, and 3 L of water into a decoction; after it cools, place it in the pen for the goats to drink on their own, which can prevent many diseases.

3. Forage Combination

Plant forage grasses such as annual ryegrass, Mexican corn, signal grass, Hybrid Pennisetum, red clover, white clover and broadleaf paspalum on a large scale around the farm, and also plant some mustard, cabbage and sweet potato. Goats can also be fed some high-grade pelleted sow feed, achieving a combination of dry and wet, and dry and fresh feed, thereby increasing appetite.

4. Grouped Pen Raising

Goats should be raised in separate pens grouped by sex, size, fatness or thinness, and health or illness, so as to facilitate disease prevention, feeding adjustments, and feeding at fixed times and in fixed amounts.

In mountainous areas, goat farming should focus on disease prevention and control, rational forage combination and scientific management, so as to promote the healthy and steady development of the goat farming industry.