A successful industry in animal husbandry is goat farming. Meat, milk, fiber, dung, and skin and skins are the major reasons goats are raised. Goat meat is quite well-liked by a large number of people all around the world. Since goats are typically sturdy animals, raising goats is not as difficult. Their hardiness aids in reducing the cost of production for the goat industry. This is due to the fact that goats can survive in even the most challenging climatic and feeding conditions. Even the cheapest, most basic shelter can support goats in good health. You need adequate understanding of effective goat husbandry, strong business management abilities, and a strong goat production business strategy to establish a long-lasting, lucrative goat farming enterprise.. This article will outline how to start the goat rearing business, and the goat farming business plan – PDF, Word and Excel.
Numerous livestock producers are making a living off of the lucrative economic venture of goat farming. Before starting a goat producing firm, you must take into account a few crucial factors. You must assemble the necessary materials, determine the scope of your goat farming operation, including the number of goats, the location of the goat production facility, and your target market. Your available money and the size of your target market will have an impact on these choices. You may always start small with your goat breeding operation and scale it up over time if you don’t have a lot of initial money. You also need to carry out market research (Who are you going to sell the goats to? At what price?) and write a goat farming business plan before you start the project.
Choosing a location for a goat farm
It goes without saying that you need land to run a goat farm.When choosing property for a goat production business, there are a few things to keep in mind. The required goat pens must be able to be built on a space that is large enough. The project should be placed closer to decent highways to help keep expenses down. As a result, the farmer will have simple access to and from the project for raising goats. Does the area have easy access to a dependable source of fresh, clean water? The existence of a favorable climate must be taken into consideration while choosing your site. Is the land space easy to fence right round to ensure the goats are secure? This is important for two main things. One, goats are adventurous and tend to easily escape when they figure out a loophole. Two, if improperly fenced, goats become vulnerable to predators. Being able to escape also makes them vulnerable to predators. Fencing is strategic in that it provides an additional layer of security for your goat farming business. The assumption is that you would have setup secure housing for the goats. During the day when the goats are roaming around the fence will be keeping them secure. When indoors (usually overnight), the goat housing and the fence essentially become two layers of security.
Water logging or flooding is not good for the goats. You need to pick a land space that enables easy runoff. The ease of fencing also depends on the nature of the terrain in question. That is why it is imperative that you should choose a land space characterised by a flat to gentle slope. You must consider the availability of pastures – goats require pasture to graze on. Ideally you want a land space big enough to be segmented. This segmentation will be essential for having a goat rotational grazing regiment. You should divide the pasture into different parts. To avoid over usage of pasture and the growth of less desirable forage, you should rotate the pastures where your goats graze on. This means that you should allow your goats to graze on one pasture while the other pasture is resting. The pasture should have various types of pasture plants or grasses. This will increase the food value and help to meetup all types of necessary nutrient requirements for goats, leading to profitability of your goat farming business plan. Your goat farming business plan should take into account the cost of purchasing or leasing the land.
HOUSING FOR THE PROJECT OF GOAT FARMING
Goats are so hardy that they can thrive whilst staying in the open day and night. However, in order to build a successful goat farming business you must house them. Housing for goats serves two core purposes namely, security and protection from extreme weather conditions. The location of your goat housing must be elevated and be where dryness can be maintained all the time. This is all central to ensuring flooding is not possible since it is not good for the goats. Any build-up of water or moisture increases the chances of disease breakouts. That same elevation is also pertinent in protecting the goats from predators. The floor or bed of the goat housing must also be maintained dry at all times. Ventilation and adequate natural lighting is important for your goats so factor that in when designing your housing. The goat shelter must be well-ventilated, and should be easy to clean. Poor ventilation is bad to the health and performance of your goats. Extreme temperatures can reduce the productivity of goats. Poor ventilation may also lead to circulation of harmful gases which can cause respiratory problems to the goats. This also implies the housing must be big enough to allow free goat movement inside.
Materials that can be used for construction of goat housing include wooden poles, bamboo poles, bricks, cement and concrete. You can always figure out how to blend these together depending on what you have. In principle of course the aim is to use cost-effective yet robust materials. You must also segment your goats as well. Have separate goat housing units or spaces for pregnant goats, nursing goats, weaned goats, diseased goats, and the rest of the goats. You just have to bear in mind that you must allow more space for bigger goats. The bigger the goat, the bigger the living space it needs. The costs of constructing the housing should be included in the goat production business plan.
BUSINESS EQUIPMENT FOR PRODUCING GOATS
Equipment for both standard and specialist goat husbandry is needed. You obviously need supplies like food and drink. Your feeders can be set up in accordance with the feed that is being used. You may, for instance, have different feeders for hay, grains, and other things. Water troughs or containers may be permanent or temporary. Additional useful tools like forks, wheelbarrows, pallets, buckets, shovels, scales, thermometers, and the like are also required. Depending on the specifics of your goat farming business, specialist equipment could be required. Castrators, drenchers, and hoof trimmers are a few examples of these. The expenditures of purchasing the equipment should be included in the goat farming business plan.
STOCKS FOR THE GOAT FARMING BUSINESS: Breeding
To start keeping goats for profit, you require breeding stock. The breeding stock consists of male goats which are known as bucks, and female goats which are known as does. When choosing breeding stock for goat farming business, you should be very careful of the health history of the goats. It’s advisable to purchase the breeding stock from goat farmers who have a good reputation in the goat production business. The goats which you select should be strong with an overall appearance of good health. Request to see the records of the breeding stock which you want to purchase. The growth potential of your kids will depend on the nature and quality of the parent stock. Thus it is of great importance to buy a good goat breeding stock from reliable goat farmers. The goat farming business plan should take into consideration the cost of buying the breeding stock.
BREEDS OF GOATS
Goat breeds have different meat characteristics. There are goats that are best for meat production, milk production, or both. Focus on purebreds, request for comprehensive records, and physically inspect the goats when buying. Some of the important attributes to look for are high reproductive rates, good maternal ability, zero physical defects, good feed efficiency, and disease resistance. There are various breeds of goats which are used in commercial goat farming operations. The popular breeds for goat meat production include the Boer goats, Spanish breed, Black Bengal, Kalahari Red, Rangeland among others. The Boer Goat is a highly productive meat breed and considered a superior breed. This type of breed is originally from the Eastern Cape in South Africa and it’s more expensive compared to other breeds. A good Boer buck that is between 6-12 months can service 25 does while a full-grown buck that is 13 months old can service 50 does in a year. The Boer Goat is considered superior because it has a good bone structure, large body size, grows fast, heavy weight and can easily adapt to a wide range of pastures. Some farmers cross breed an superior breed e.g. the Boer Goat with indigenous breeds. This is in order to get the right quality of offspring with good meat quality, resistant to diseases, health and adaptable to various pastures.
FOR THE GOATS TO EAT
The biggest expense in operating a goat farming enterprise is feed. Browse and pasture are the most affordable food sources for meat goats. Sometimes pasture and browse will be enough to provide meat goats with the necessary nourishment. The eating habits of goats are flexible, inquisitive, and active. Goats are able to adapt to many situations. They can eat more than 80 distinct plant species. Goats are not grazers; rather, they are browsers by nature. However, they will consume grass as well. Low shrubs are great for a good location for the goat farming operation. Trees, shrubs, twigs, and leaves are great browsing resources for goats.
Even though goats will browse and feed on pasture, you will have to give them supplementary feed for you to be profitable in your goat farming business. Enough pasture might not be available throughout the year due to seasonal changes. To enable goats to grow fast and reach their full growth potential in a short time, you will have to give them supplementary feed. There are various kinds of supplementary feed you can give to your goats including hay (lucernes), grains (e.g. wheat, oats, maize, sorghum, barley etc), commercial goat feed, minerals and salts. The goats also require sufficient water. The goat farming business plan should take into consideration the feed costs.
Pastures and hay tend to make the biggest chunk of a goat’s diet. Grains should not be a major part of the diet of young goats. This is because bloating can occur due to indigestion. As goats grow older though, it becomes essential to include grains in their daily diet. The grain component in the total diet should range from roughly 10 percent to 16 percent. As for garden or home residues, make sure they are not rotten or too sugary. Concentrates are a common part of the supplementary feeding of goats. Their composition varies and your choice would depend on the nutrients your goats are lacking.
A COMMERCIAL Goat Farming Project’s Capital
A goat farming enterprise needs money to get started. Building goat housing, buying breeding stock, buying supplemental foods, and other expenditures related to operating a goat farming enterprise all demand funds. Depending on the scale of your goat farming enterprise, you’ll require a certain amount of cash to start your goat raising business.The financial requirements to launch and run a goat meat production firm should be clearly stated in your goat farming business plan.
You can get a loan from the bank, or funding from investors, to use as capital to start your goat farming business. If you plan to raise capital from investors and a loan from the bank, you need a good goat farming business plan. If you don’t have access to investors and bank loan, you can use your personal savings and start small, and grow your business overtime. Goat farming is very profitable, so if you reinvest the profits you get, you can quickly grow. Even if you are not planning to get a loan, you should still get a goat farming business plan to guide you in starting and operating the business. It is essential for you to have a goat farming business plan before you venture into the goat farming business, so that you know all the costs involved and you make an informed decision.
MANAGEMENT AND LABOUR FOR A GOAT FARM
The number of employees you require for your goat farming project will depend on the size of your goat farming project. You will need goat keepers who will be responsible for feeding the goats, cleaning and disinfecting the goat housings, and other duties. There may also be need for finance and marketing team, depending on the size of your goat production business. Your goat farming business plan should take into account the salary costs for all the people you are going to employ.
Marketing strategy
Goats can be purchased as young animals, mature goats, breeding stock, complete animals for slaughter, or weighted pieces. You may concentrate all of your marketing efforts on luring customers to your goat farm. This is due to the profitability of selling goats locally or on-farm. This strategy may attract a wide range of clientele, from private citizens to corporate enterprises. Utilizing different venues for marketing is still wise. For instance, selling goats at livestock auctions has been successful. The benefit of cattle auctions is that you won’t have to worry about getting prospects together. You need just sign up to participate in it to gain access to a select group of potential customers.
All this does not nullify the importance of approaching or engaging potential clients. You can target butcheries and other relevant food preparation or processing entities like this. The idea is to look for a way to score clients where you are on a retainer arrangement. Farmers markets are also central to marketing goats and so are events such as agricultural shows. Do not forget there are strategic ethnic and religious groups you should target. Examples are Hispanics and Muslims, respectively. All these efforts must be streamlined through the use of digital marketing strategies.
MARKET
The market for goat meat is very huge and is ever increasing. The annual global demand of goat meat is 5 million tonnes. That’s a lot! You can supply goat meat to abattoirs, local butcher shops, retailers, hotels, supermarkets, restaurants, wholesalers and individual consumers. Goat meat has to be sold whilst it’s still fresh, thus you should locate your goat farm close to your market. The goat production business plan ought to include a proper marketing plan to use in your goat business.
Goats can be raised for their meat, milk, fiber, and hair. The goal of this paper and business strategy is to produce goat meat. Goat exports are really popular! You will be able to export goat meat as your goat farming business expands to other nations.United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, United States of America, Caribbean, South Korea, Angola, Taiwan, China, India, Middle East, European Union, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei are the top importers of goat meat.
