Goat farming for beginners: where to start, choosing a goat, living conditions and breeding goats

Goat breeding is one of the most popular areas in livestock farming. Goats are bred to produce meat, dairy, down, wool products and skins. Animals easily adapt to any conditions. Growing this species of artiodactyl is a fairly simple task. But beginning farmers should know how to keep goats at home.

How to choose a breed?

The choice of breed is determined by the intended purposes of keeping livestock - obtaining meat, dairy or down products. Each variety has specific characteristics and requirements regarding care and feeding.

Dairy animals

When purchasing dairy cattle, you should take into account some nuances regarding the appearance of the animal. A purebred goat is characterized by:

light, small head;
broad chest;
straight line of the back;
straight, strong limbs;
a dense, non-sagging udder (excessively sized mammary glands are evidence of excess fat accumulation and low milk production);
developed nipples.

Important! From dairy animals you can get about 10 liters of milk per day. Goat milk is a hypoallergenic product, approved for feeding even newborn children.

Animals of the downy direction

Goats whose purpose of keeping is to obtain fluff and wool are characterized by:

larger in size compared to relatives of other varieties;
very broad chest;
straight back and strong legs;
wide sacrum and lumbar region;
small head;
uniform coat with an even white color;
soft fur in the head area, sometimes falling over the eyes;
smooth, wrinkle-free skin.

The wool of animals of this direction is of higher quality and is in demand on the market.

Meat animals

The keeping of such livestock breeds is mostly associated with the production of meat products. The milk yield of goats of this variety is small; most often the milk is only enough to feed the young.

Distinctive features of meat goats are the presence of a barrel-shaped, rounded body with a small, high-mounted udder. The meat of these animals is dietary and has a healing effect for problems with the digestive tract, heart, blood vessels and blood.

Animals of decorative breeds

Such animals are characterized by small size, although milk can be obtained from them. The compact body of goats allows them to be kept even in the countryside.

Criteria for selecting and purchasing kids

If you decide to buy kids for breeding, take young animals 2-4 weeks old. When choosing kids, you need to pay attention to the following points:

Motor abilities. Active kids have a higher chance of becoming a productive goat. The development of muscles has a positive effect on the development of the respiratory system. This activates metabolism, promotes rapid growth and development.
Positioning of the legs - hind and front. The limbs should have a wide stance - this is the key to good development of the chest. Widely spaced hind legs will accommodate large udders.
Head. Shouldn't be too narrow. Animals with narrow heads spend a lot of energy chewing roughage. Because of this, the development of narrow-headed kids will be inhibited.
Earrings. Some goat breeders claim that earrings are a sign of milk yield. However, there is no scientific confirmation of this. But there are plenty of problems from earrings. If a kid damages the earrings by sticking his head somewhere, it will be very painful for him - there are so many nerve endings in them. Pain will interfere with nutrition and growth. An adult goat that has damaged its earrings may experience a drop in milk yield due to pain.
Back . The ideal option is a straight line. There should be no hunchback or sagging. As you grow older, these shortcomings will become more pronounced.
Nose and eyes. There should be no discharge here. Otherwise, you need to find out their cause.
Mechanics of movements. You need to look at the kid in motion. His legs should move freely, without stiffness. The legs should bend freely at the joints. If the movements resemble an automatic robot, something is wrong.

Having assessed the kid according to all the criteria described above, all that remains is to conduct a visual assessment of the entire exterior. Consider these points:

An animal with high milk production has an elongated body.
A short neck indicates a meat type of breed. Short-necked goats quickly get tired on pastures - it is difficult for them to tilt their heads for a long time to eat grass. This feature will negatively affect milk productivity in the future.

When buying a kid, ask the seller what and in what mode the animal is fed. Goat kids are fed in two ways - from a bowl or from a nipple. It is important to gradually transition your baby to a new diet so that there is no stress. Take along with the kid some of the milk that was fed to him - this will reduce stress and the risk that the baby will get sick due to the move.

Male kids develop faster than females. They are larger, taller, and heavier. But their character is calmer, they don’t mind lying down and eating more.

The age of kids can be easily determined by weight - if you know the dynamics of weight gain. Table 2 shows the dependence of the weight of Saanen goat kids on age.

table 2

Age, months	Weight, kg
0	3-3,5
1	8
2	12
4	21
5	26

Where can you keep goats?

To keep goats, you can use a goat shed, a barn, or even an attic (they can easily get into there). Although any building must be equipped accordingly: animals need a separate place for sleeping, feeding, lambing, etc.

The area of the goat's rue is directly related to the number of livestock. The premises must be spacious to ensure freedom of movement of animals inside, unhindered removal of livestock for walking, and space for milking and inspection. When keeping more than 5 animals, it is better to arrange separate pens for the animals to prevent possible difficulties due to frequent fights.

Each pen can accommodate 1-2 individuals. The exception is mothers with babies. When the cubs are not taken away, 3-4 or more individuals can be kept in a pen - a female with her offspring. Similarly, a goat with kids should be kept until all the kids learn to live independently and eat simple food, not mother’s milk.

Males should be kept in a separate pen, since milk can absorb a specific “goat” aroma.

The dimensions of one stall should be 1x2 meters. Naturally, if you plan to keep large varieties of livestock or decorative breeds, size adjustments are made. The female and the cub should build a separate pen - more spacious, about 2-2.5 m2. It is worth noting that grown-up babies, after weaning from their mother, are housed in one large pen with an area of 2-2.5 m2. Here they should be kept until they achieve full independence and adulthood. This helps save space and also promotes socialization of the livestock.

In addition, you should take into account some nuances when equipping a goat's rue:

Goats are not afraid of cold, lack or abundance of sunlight, although the presence of drafts can harm them. Due to constant exposure to drafts, the animal’s limbs, hooves, ears and eyes suffer. Problems are difficult to detect immediately, and advanced diseases are difficult to treat. Therefore, when arranging a room, you should protect it as much as possible from drafts.
High humidity has a negative impact on the health of livestock. The occurrence of dampness is due to a complete lack of ventilation or poor ventilation. Due to stagnation of air, condensation forms, which causes an increase in humidity in the room. Dampness becomes a source of respiratory diseases and lung problems. Although it is not difficult to deal with this problem. To do this, the barn must be equipped with a basic, and at the same time adjustable, ventilation system.
Compliance with temperature conditions plays an important role. In the south, where severe drops in temperature are rare, goats can even be kept outdoors. However, a little further north, goats definitely need a barn with insulated walls and floors. In winter, the room temperature should be maintained at a minimum of +6o, and if there are babies in the herd - not lower than +8o.
There should also be window openings in the room, and they should be located at a distance of 1.5 m from the floor, since animals can accidentally break the glass during play.

Where to start keeping a goat at home

Dairy goat breeds are most often bred.
If the goal of care is to obtain valuable Angora down, you need to choose a meat-down breed for breeding. For breeding, you can buy a mated queen or grown kids. It is better to purchase an offspring or goat from a queen that has already confirmed its positive properties - the quality of milk or the beauty of the fleece. These properties are passed on to the offspring through the maternal line. If you have chosen a future wet nurse, arrange a place for her to live. Keeping goats at home is easy for novice breeders to organize. Typically, goats are kept half-stall and free-range. The shed will need to be dry and draft-free. There should be a thick layer of bedding on the floor, a bench or a block for lying on in a clean, dry place. In a flock, a goat is kept without a leash.

Hay in the feeder and water in the basin are the minimum set. If the goat is pregnant, the owner must know the lambing time. If young animals are purchased, the females are kept separately and the first mating occurs at the age of one and a half years.

The milk yield of the offspring directly depends on the origin of the producer. If he was born from a dairy goat, the offspring will also have a lot of milk in the udder.

If a newborn is taken to a warm house immediately after lambing, the mother will not accept him. She must lick every lamb.

In summer, goats are grazed on paddocks or fed with freshly cut grass. But unlimited hoof growth will force you to walk the animal at least 4 hours a day or regularly grind the hooves. When there is no pasture, hay, compound feed and root crops are used. In winter, the lack of hay when feeding goats cannot be replaced with compound feed. The temperature in the flock should not fall below 100 C; for newborn kids, a minimum of 12 degrees.

The pen where the goat is placed must be strong. She will definitely explore all corners and try to leave. If the goat makes its further route through the fence to the neighbors, there will be a scandal. The animals are grazed in a herd under the supervision of a goat breeder, or tied to a peg. They talk to the animals affectionately, treating them to a crust of bread and salt.

The unpretentious animal eats:

weeds after weeding;
kitchen waste;
chopped root vegetables;
straw, hay, meadow grass.

Minimal information about raising goats at home gives an idea about goats for a beginner. In the future, you will need to acquire care skills and become familiar with the diet of feeding and raising kids.

Setting up a goat barn

When the main building is built, it is necessary to start arranging the goat house to make it easier to keep livestock:

Feed containers should be located in a common area and not in separate pens. The feeder is a long trough. It should be hung on the wall so that the animals feel comfortable while eating. It is not a good idea to place feeders on the floor, as goats can carry dirt into their food with their hooves. The length of the trough and the hanging height are calculated taking into account the number and age of the livestock.
As for drinking bowls, they can be located in each stall; in addition, water must be placed in the pen where the pregnant or lactating queen is located. Buckets can be used as drinking bowls, but children may accidentally knock them over. Therefore, it is better to equip the room with special mechanical drinkers or use hanging buckets.
Goats like to use high places to sleep. For this purpose, you can place a small bale in each stall for the convenience of the animals. In addition, it will help prevent some health problems.
To purify the air in the room and eliminate unpleasant odors, the floor surface should have a slight slope. In addition, you need to make a gutter where all liquids will drain. This helps to significantly improve the appearance and condition of the barn, and it will be much more pleasant to keep animals.
In pens, the floor must be covered with straw bedding. For this purpose, you need to use coarse, cheap straw that the goats will not eat.

Content options

There are various options for keeping goats. They all depend on the climate and region. In regions with a temperate climate (plains, semi-deserts) a stall-walking system is used. The goat is kept in a stall for 180 days, and in the summer season (185 days) grazing is done on pastures.

Year-round grazing is much less common. This is typical of the southern mountainous regions. There is always greenery there for food. In other cases it is ineffective.

Year-round housing is even more rare. It requires mechanization and automation of processes, which means it requires large initial investments. In addition, constant keeping without grazing negatively affects the health of animals.

How to walk animals?

When keeping small livestock at home, you need to provide the livestock with regular walks, which novice livestock breeders should not forget about. For goats to walk, a meadow or field where healthy and tasty grass grows is suitable. If there is not enough time for walking livestock and it is not possible to take an assistant, it is recommended to set up an enclosure.

It won't be difficult to do it. An area of a certain area (as large as possible) must be fenced off with a fence 1.5 m high (animals are not able to jump over such a fence). This will allow the livestock breeder to release the goats to graze at any time. The area of the pen should be sown with useful herbs, which can be purchased at any pet store.

Although walking for goats is very beneficial, the animals' diet should not contain only forbs. In addition, you should avoid walking in rainy and slushy weather, as this can lead to health problems and sometimes death. You should avoid walking during the winter months. Only in sunny and hot winter weather can you try to take the goats out into the fresh air, but they must themselves want to leave their premises.

Thanks to frequent and long walks, the condition of the skin and coat, dairy products and the well-being of animals in general improves. To avoid difficulties in the walking area, you need to make an artificial shadow - if there is no natural one. For this purpose, you can use a tree, a canopy, or a decorative wall. This will help the animals shelter from the scorching rays of the sun in extreme heat.

Damage to natural ecosystems

The domestic goat is included in the list of the most dangerous invasive species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. On many islands, where large herbivores are absent, the introduction of goats has a dramatic negative impact on overall biodiversity. Goats eat a wide range of plants, influencing the quantitative composition of natural plant communities. As a result, there is an increase in the prevalence of soil erosion and a reduction in the number of weakly competitive local herbivores.

In order to restore natural communities, goat populations were eradicated from approximately 120 small islands where they had previously been introduced. The largest of these islands are Lanai (Hawaiian Islands), San Clemente (Channel Islands, USA), Pinta (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador), Raul (Kermadec Islands, New Zealand).

To more effectively exterminate goats on the islands, hunting from a helicopter (with a large number of goats), specially trained dogs (with a small number of herbivores and developed vegetation), as well as sterile goats with radio telemetry collars (to detect the last goats on the island) are used.

What to feed the animals?

Goats are fairly unpretentious ruminant pets. Feeding them is quite simple, they happily consume almost any food, making keeping small livestock a profitable business.

Diet preparation

To increase livestock productivity and produce healthy offspring, goats must be fed balanced feed containing all the necessary substances. The basis of the animal’s diet is: green vegetation in summer, and hay in winter. It is necessary to ensure that the grass is juicy and nutritious, and the hay is of high quality.

Dairy goats produce about 8 liters of milk daily; this requires significant energy expenditure. To replenish expended energy in the body, the diet of dairy animals must be plentiful and correct:

During grazing in summer, one animal can eat about 8 kg of vegetation per day. However, goats need additional feeding, for which grain and legume concentrates are used. A goat's diet should include whole grains. Dairy cattle should be fed barley and oats from grain crops, and peas and lentils from legumes. The grain should first be ground or ready-made feed should be used at the rate of 500 grams per day for one individual. Around mid-July, the vegetation on pasture lands begins to burn out and dry out, so vegetables or tree branches should be included in the animals' diet. Goats also enjoy kitchen scraps.
In winter, small cattle need to be fed hay - roughage food necessary for the body of goats. The amount of hay should be sufficient, and it is recommended to give preference to deciduous hay. It can be partially replaced with brooms or straw, but it is worth considering that such food is less nutritious.

Daily portion of hay for one individual:

females – 1.8-2.2 kg;
goat - 2.5-3 kg;
cubs - 0.8-1 kg.

To saturate the animals' bodies with vitamins in the required quantities, they can be fed with leaves and young pine and spruce shoots. In addition, harvested foliage can be used not only for food, but also as bedding. Goats should be fed both roughage and succulent feed (vegetables, fruits, silage). Juicy food can be given to animals in boiled, dried or raw form.

The annual food requirement for one individual is:

roughage – 350 kg for young goats, 550 kg for dairy goats;
succulent feed – 400-600 kg;
concentrates – 30-40 kg.

Combined feeds can be fed in liquid form or in the form of thick porridge. To preserve all the beneficial substances, you should not brew store-bought feed with boiling water. The daily portion of feed for one animal ranges from 500 grams to 1 kg. Compound feed can be given in combination with boiled kitchen waste. You can partially give goats bran instead of feed.

Salt and vitamin supplements must be present in the diet of animals. Regardless of how adequate your pets’ nutrition is, for preventive purposes you need to use special vitamin supplements (especially for high-yielding and pregnant females). For this purpose, you can use vitamin preparations (Trivit, Tetravit) or various premixes. 30 days before giving birth, the goat should start giving Kaiod (1 tablet daily).

As for salt, it is better to give preference to iodized salt. The daily portion of this product for one individual is 8-10 g (1 teaspoon). You can also use lick salt. In addition, animals need to be fed with chalk, bone meal and brooms.

Important! You should not give all vitamins at the same time. If goats are given a premix, other vitamin supplements should not be used.

To prepare brooms, you need to cut young branches, tie them in the form of a bunch and hang them in a dark, ventilated room. During the first days, the brooms need to be stirred for better ventilation and drying.

Any trees and shrubs are suitable for preparing brooms. Fruit and berry plants are of particular value. However, shoots of poisonous species should not be used for brooms. You can also make brooms from corn stalks and nettles. The daily norm for one goat is 5 brooms.

You should also provide animals with constant access to drink or give them water every time they feed. Goats should be watered exclusively with clean water. In winter, warm or room temperature water can be used.

Feeding

Goats are unpretentious in matters of nutrition. The main thing is that the food is clean and fresh. This greatly simplifies care and maintenance.

Organization of feeding

The diet should be designed in such a way that it is nutritious and balanced. The main food is hay and grass.

To increase productivity, grain concentrates, vegetables, and branches of deciduous trees are added to the menu. You can also give special feed and food waste.

Salt and vitamin complexes are required in the daily diet of goats.

Feeding methods

When organizing feeding, it is important to follow a routine. It is advisable to feed livestock at least 3 times a day at the same time.

It is advisable to give roughage, which is more difficult to digest, in the first half of the day, and succulent food in the evening.

How to water goats

There must be enough water. One animal consumes up to 10 liters per day. Water can be either freely available or issued on a schedule. In both cases, it is imperative to monitor the purity and temperature of the liquid. The optimal temperature is not less than 6, but not more than 10 °.

Water is given in the same way as food - three times a day. It is important to remember that if the liquid is overheated, it is contraindicated.

Summer diet

In the warm season, the main diet is succulent feed and additional feeding in the form of grain and legumes. In summer, goats consume up to 9 kilograms of grass per day. By the end of the season, the grass dries out and burns out, so you need to feed the animals with vegetables.

Winter nutrition

In winter, food should be more nutritious and rich, since pregnancy and lambing usually occur during this season, and in winter animals especially need additional vitamins and minerals. Therefore, you cannot do without concentrated feed.

The main products are hay, grain and legume concentrates, animal feed and vegetables. Dried leaves and bone meal can also be given.

How to care for a goat?

To maintain the productivity of animals, it is necessary to properly care for them: keep the premises clean, brush their fur, feed them properly and walk them regularly.

Caring for females

Females need regular brushing and combing of their fur. This will help remove excess matted hair with parasites. There should be beds in the area where animals are kept, as goats like to sleep on high ground.

In addition, it is necessary to regularly trim and clean the hooves. The procedure is carried out very carefully, since there is a risk of injuring the animal’s limbs.

Manure and food debris should be removed from the goat shed every day.

Females need walks. Thanks to prolonged exposure to the street, the level of milk production and the quality characteristics of milk increase.

Caring for babies after birth

Newborn cubs are kept in a separate room from the herd.

You need to properly care for your babies:

Move to a separate stall after the coat is completely dry.
During the first hour after birth, be sure to feed the baby with expressed breast milk.
For the next 10 days, the cubs must be fed through a nipple, and then begin feeding from a bowl.
During the first month, babies need to be fed 4 times a day, and then gradually switch to the adult diet.
The bedding in the pen is replaced a couple of times a day.

Caring for young animals

Kids need more careful care compared to mature animals:

It is necessary to ensure that the straw used for bedding is always fresh, since goats can chew it.
In the warm months, young animals are allowed to walk.
Upon reaching six months of age, animals should be transferred to stall housing.
It is necessary to ensure that the room for keeping young animals is dry and warm, and to avoid drafts and dampness.

Until they reach 4 months of age, kids can be with the uterus, but it should be taken into account that the milk yield during the lactation period is only enough to feed the offspring.

Caring for males

Goats should be kept in a separate room because they give off a specific aroma that can be absorbed into the milk.

It is necessary to control the body weight of animals, since reproductive function is reduced due to obesity.

As for the rest, goats need to be cared for the same way as other goats.

Lambing of a goat - what to do?

Goat breeding is an absolutely natural process that does not require human intervention if the goat is healthy and the pregnancy develops without complications.

Signs of lambing (video)

The main signs of impending birth in goats are as follows:

The animal may refuse food;
Signs of anxiety appear;
The goat begins to bleat quietly, dig the bedding, and often looks back;
The animal pushes every 5-10 minutes;
As birth approaches, the udder begins to fill: in adult females this occurs immediately before childbirth, and in young queens - about a month before goatling;
A week before giving birth, a depression forms between the sit bones due to the fact that the ligaments connecting the pelvis and caudal vertebrae relax;
After the fetus occupies the birth position, the goat becomes less voluminous, and depressions may appear in the groin;
The external genitalia begin to swell;
With the beginning of pushing, a plug of the cervix comes out of the vagina - transparent, straw-colored mucus. If the color of the mucus is white or cream, you should contact your veterinarian, as the animal may have developed vaginitis;
About a day before birth, the rectal temperature decreases by one or two degrees (normally it is 39-40 degrees).

And although in most cases childbirth does not require human intervention, it is still worth being present during the process in order to provide assistance to the animal if necessary. The video shows the main signs of lambing and childbirth in a goat.

How to properly start a goat before lambing?

Pregnancy is a difficult time for a goat’s body, so before lambing the animal is started (milking is stopped) so that the body has time to gain strength.

Note: Most often, the goat stops producing milk on its own, but if this does not happen, milking is stopped artificially about a month and a half before giving birth.

All succulent and green foods are excluded from the diet for the launch period. After milk production ceases, they are reintroduced into the diet, but excluded when the first signs of lambing appear, or better yet, a few days before.

Do not suddenly stop milking. The launch requires gradual steps:

First, the number of milkings is reduced (for example, instead of three, two milkings are performed);
When a goat is milked only once a day, the amount of milk produced begins to be reduced. In other words, it needs to be slightly undermilked;
They gradually move on to milking every other day and every two, and when the one-time amount of milk reaches one glass, milking is stopped completely.

It is important that a few days after the launch, the animal’s udder will become hard. To prevent illness, you need to carefully express stagnant milk.

Lambing date calculator

The gestation period of a goat is approximately 149 days (5 months). The time of fertilization can be determined simply by the absence of repeated heat, an increase in milk yield immediately after estrus and a gradual increase in the abdomen.

Since it is desirable to be present at the birth of a goat, using the table below (Fig. 8), you can determine the date of birth with an accuracy of up to a week.

Figure 7. Approximate lambing calendar for goats by mating date

A more precise lambing date is determined by signs of impending birth.

The data in the table can be considered quite accurate if you know the week of fertilization. It should be borne in mind that the gestation period is not always 149 days and can range from 148 to 151 days.

How to feed a goat after lambing

After stopping milking (starting), it is necessary to correctly formulate the diet of a dry goat so that the animal receives a sufficient amount of nutrients to develop fruits and support the vital functions of its own body.

The basis of the diet should be concentrates (up to one and a half kg per day). Two weeks before lambing, their number is reduced by half, and the goat returns to a normal diet three days after birth.

Particular attention should be paid to the quality of feed. Rotten, spoiled or moldy food can cause illness or even cause miscarriage. It is advisable to supplement the diet with warm water with bran, boiled root vegetables and high-quality hay.

How to milk goats correctly?

From a good dairy goat you can get 5-8 liters of milk daily. But for this you need to milk the animal correctly. Moreover, actions for each female must be individual.

You need to start milking the goat 30 days before giving birth. It is necessary to gently massage the udder, trying not to cause pain. Immediately before the birth of the cubs, massage should be abandoned, otherwise the goat will not allow itself to be milked.

If the birth took place without complications and the new mother feels well, she can be milked for the first time within an hour. When keeping females in order to receive milk, it is recommended to place the babies separately from the mother and engage in artificial feeding.

Before milking begins, the animal must be given warm water. To ensure that the female behaves calmly during the milking process, you can treat her with her favorite treat (bread or apple).

Before you start milking, the udder should be washed in warm water and wiped dry. Many mature goats easily get used to this procedure.

For milking, it is recommended to place the animal on a low platform. Movements should be soft and smooth. To ensure the milk flows well, you can massage the udder a little.

You need to grab the nipple with your fingers, squeeze and pull down. To cleanse the milk ducts, you need to express some milk.

The product must be milked in full, since mastitis may develop due to the residue. At the end of the procedure, it is recommended to lubricate the mammary glands with some kind of emollient without fragrance.

Milking

This process can begin after childbirth. In this case, it is better to separate the kids from their mothers. This is often done after the kid is a couple of months old. But you need to take into account that the goat will give milk for a little more than 50 days. At this time, you need to do the covering (mating).

An important part of milking is hygiene. Hands should be washed thoroughly, and all the hair around the goat’s udder should be trimmed to prevent dirt and hair from getting into the milk. When using special machines, make sure they are clean. Before milking, treat the udder. To do this, use warm water or disinfectants.

The most common milking techniques are:

Fist. This method is suitable if the goat has a large udder. First, we squeeze the nipples at the base with our thumbs and forefingers, and then make several presses. It is better to drain the first jet into a separate container, as they contain a large number of bacteria. Then we squeeze the nipple into a fist and rhythmically express the milk;
Plucked. Very similar to the fist milking technique, but uses fingers instead. This style may be suitable for goats with small udders;
Mixed. First we use our fists, and then we work with our fingers. The main principle is to milk everything, because the remainder contains the most fat.

Avoid making sudden movements while milking a goat. It is also undesirable to slow down the rhythm or stop completely, because this reduces the amount of milk that you can get. To prevent the animal from having mastitis (inflammation of the mammary gland), milk it dry.

How to breed goats?

The first step to breeding goats is to purchase young animals or mated females. Moreover, during the purchasing process, you need to take into account that the goats are purebred and have good heredity. After this, you can start pairing. If it is successful, you can get a new herd.

To obtain productive and healthy offspring, it is necessary to select unrelated animals as sires that have better characteristics in comparison with their relatives. For this purpose, it is recommended to purchase male and female animals and different breeders.

Animals are ready for mating when they reach 1.5 years of age. The optimal time for mating is autumn, since goats are in the most active sexual heat at this time. For a young, inexperienced female, an appropriate pair should be selected. During the day, a goat is able to cover no more than 2 goats.

If, 21 days after mating, the female again shows signs of heat, mating is repeated. Often the male is delivered directly to happen to a specific goat.

You can determine that an animal is ready to mate by the appearance of the following signs:

redness of the external genitalia;
mucous discharge;
loss of appetite;
rotational movements of the tail;
arching in the back and squatting while stroking;
the female behaves calmly and does not move away from the goat.

The duration of sexual heat is 2-3 days, it is repeated after 21 days. It is best to start fertilization 12 hours after the hunt begins.

Routine vaccinations, vaccinations and examinations

It is simply impossible to bypass the point about vaccinations and vaccinations, because keeping goats is not complete without it

It is simply impossible to bypass the point about vaccinations and vaccinations, because keeping goats is indispensable without this. Like all animals, goats are vaccinated against rabies and anthrax. All other vaccinations depend on the region, country, local rules and conditions, which are constantly changing.

Goats are examined annually to identify possible problems with their health, double-check tests, and vaccinations (some of them are done annually). The doctor should ideally be present during the birth of the goat so that everything is done correctly! For any problems, suspicions, or symptoms, you should contact your local veterinary service, because the life of the animal depends on the breeder.

It is worth understanding that if a breeder wants to sell goat milk or meat, he must have all the necessary papers stating that the animals are healthy and have all the appropriate vaccinations.

Mating varieties

Mating in goats can be carried out in several ways:

Manual. It takes place under complete human control. For mating to be successful, 2 cages are carried out with an interval of 5 hours.
Free. In this case, the male and female will have to live together for 3 months, throughout the mating period, and mating will take place whenever they want.
Harem. In such a situation, one goat is kept with a large number of goats. At the end of mating time, the male should be moved to a separate pen.

For insemination to be successful, animals are mated twice with a certain interval. During the pause, the goat should be taken away, and after 5-6 hours the animals should be killed again.

Fertilization of a goat can be carried out maximum once during the year.

Postpartum period in a goat and a newborn kid

The worries do not end at childbirth, but only begin. After birth, goat kids are very sensitive to the environment, so proper care is important. It is not much easier for the goat herself, because the body has experienced severe stress, and it still needs to recover for the milking period.

Little goats need feeding from the first minutes of life. The farmer himself will have to feed them colostrum within half an hour, otherwise they will grow very weak and may even die. You will have to milk the colostrum by hand and feed the baby through a bottle. It is important that it is fresh, as it contains the largest amount of beneficial antibodies. If kids are selected immediately after lambing, they must be placed in individual cages or in a separate barn for young animals. These areas must be cleaned daily. Feeding in cages is done through a pacifier. Here is a list of veterinary activities that are carried out with kids:

Dehorning should be carried out within 3-7 days.
At one week of age, it is necessary to vaccinate against enterococcal infection and repeat it after 2 weeks.
A month after birth, they begin to give medications for coccidiosis.
After a couple of weeks, a vaccine against clostridiosis is given, and repeated after 25 days;
When kept on pasture, they are given anti-worm medications.
From 3 months they are vaccinated against foot and mouth disease, anthrax and smallpox.

Immediately after birth, you need to determine the time after which you will separate the afterbirth. Usually it is 1-2 hours, but it can be longer. You should not pull out the afterbirth and tear it off, because this damages the mucous membrane of the uterus, and particles of the placenta remain inside, and this will lead to complications. Do not allow the goat to eat the placenta - this will cause an upset stomach.

After the placenta is released, foaming tablets or other antiseptic drugs must be introduced into the uterine cavity. On the second day, it is necessary to rinse the uterus. In severe cases, it is worth treating with antibiotics or compensators. If a goat is undergoing treatment, do not use its milk as food for yourself or your young. This can lead to gastroenteritis.

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If the mating goes well, after 5 months you can expect offspring. One litter can have up to 2-3 cubs.

Pregnancy can be determined by the following symptoms:

increase in size of the udder and genitals;
smoothing the skin around the vagina;
lack of milk 14 days after insemination;
calmer behavior, frequent rest and increased appetite;
rounding of shapes in the lateral area towards the end of pregnancy.

Let's start simple

So, you chose your favorite animal (or several) from advertisements or from friends. But do they need to be housed somewhere? If you don’t have a barn with a small paddock, it doesn’t matter. During the construction of a house for goats, you can leave several heads on pasture in any safe area. Let's look at how to do this in more detail.

The shed is built without drafts and excess moisture. It is important not to forget about the floors and bedding. Goats will sleep on the floor or block. Straw and a regular floorboard are the basis for the daily, carefree existence of goats. You will also need milking equipment. And this is an ordinary bench and a block (in the old style, a spear where the head of a cattle is placed during milking).

Important! Goats are not tied in barns.

Diet of goats during pregnancy

A pregnant goat needs more careful care, and the same applies to animal nutrition:

In order for the fetus to develop normally, the daily portion of concentrated feed must be increased to 1.5-2 kg.
In addition, it is necessary to increase the serving size once every 14 days by 100 g of feed during the last 2 months of pregnancy.
If the goat is overfed, before giving birth it is necessary to gradually reduce the portion.

Pregnant goats should be fed high-quality and fresh products: hay, silage, vegetables, grain, vitamin complexes, grated chalk.

Features of walking for goats

Caring for a Milk Goat

Country pastures with various types of grass are well suited for grazing goats. Grazing should not be allowed in marshy areas, where animals can become sick with foot rot and liver fluke. Dew is also contraindicated for goats, so you shouldn’t turn them out early in the morning. In addition, grazing goats in rainy weather is prohibited.

Important! If it is impossible to graze the goats, they can be tied to a peg, leaving 3 meters of rope for walking.

Childbirth

As the time of birth approaches, changes in the goat's behavior occur. It is important to identify these changes in time. At this time, the female should be transferred to a separate room and special food.

When the first signs of the approaching lambing appear, a place must be prepared for childbirth and subsequent maintenance of the babies. You can determine that labor is approaching by the following signs:

lowering of the abdomen;
swelling of the udder and release of colostrum;
weakening of the pelvic muscles, palpation of the vertebral tendons;
rapid absorption of food;
removal of the mucus plug;
swelling of the external genitalia;
slight increase in temperature.

How to prepare a goat for birth?

Two days before the expected lambing, it is necessary to adjust the goat’s diet: abandon succulent feed in favor of dry feed. If signs characteristic of approaching birth are detected, the animal should be fed with warm water and fresh hay.

30 days before lambing, you need to stop milking so that the kids receive more nutritious and healthy milk. It is necessary to stop milking the goat in stages, starting from the 4th month of pregnancy.

When the mammary glands become hard, this may indicate stagnation of milk. To help, it is recommended to express excess milk.

How is childbirth?

Before lambing, the pen in the barn is cleaned. A couple of hours before giving birth, the female becomes anxious. At this time, the goat should not be unduly disturbed - it is better to leave it alone. The duration of the first lambing is about 2 hours. As a rule, childbirth takes place without human intervention.

Initially, a bubble containing liquid is removed, and then the baby is removed head first.

The mother must be given the opportunity to lick the babies, only then can the baby be wiped with a clean rag or dry straw. Remove 2 cm from the belly, tie the umbilical cord using a thread treated with iodine, and cut it 1 cm above the ligation site.

Some time after lambing, the placenta is delivered and should be removed to prevent it from being eaten by the goat. Dirty litter must be replaced with new one.

During the first week after the birth of the baby, milking is carried out 5 times a day. All the milk must be milked until the end.

Diseases and prevention

Goats are distinguished by good health, but they also suffer from various diseases - non-contagious, infectious, invasive, parasitic. The most common diseases of goats are shown in Table 5.

Table 5

Name of the disease	Symptoms	Treatment	Note
Acute rumen tympany	Gas formation, belching disorder, bloating, loss of appetite, possible death.	Removing gases from the rumen, restoring belching.	This can be triggered by a sudden change in diet.
Infectious mastitis	Enlargement of the udder, it becomes hot and painful. The milk yield drops, then the milk disappears.	Adequate treatment. Prevention - a warm room, good nutrition.	Affects lactating females. There are acute and chronic forms.
foot and mouth disease	Damage to the oral cavity, udder, hooves, fever.	Temporary isolation, washing with disinfectants.	The duration of the disease is a week. Goat kids have a high mortality rate. The milk of sick goats is boiled.
Listeriosis	Damage to the nervous system. Loss of balance, convulsions. The head is turned to the side.	Antibiotics. Vaccination. Disinfection of premises.	Death occurs after 10 days. The meat is cooked for two hours.
Leptospirosis	Temperature increase. Lethargy or agitation, cramps, frequent urination. Urine takes on a reddish tint.	Contact your veterinarian.	Animals usually die within 2 days. Even if they can be cured, they are not suitable for farming, so they are slaughtered for meat.
Fascioliasis	Parasitic disease. Caused by fasciola larvae. The source of infection is pastures and standing water bodies. The liver is affected, metabolism is upset.	Treat with carbon tetrachloride.	Carry out preventive measures.
Echinococcosis	Infection with parasites – sexually mature cystodes. Parasites live in internal organs.	Antiparasitic measures.	When slaughtered, the organs are destroyed.

Diseases in goats are different, but the symptoms are approximately the same. If your pet exhibits the following symptoms, contact your veterinarian immediately:

the temperature increased to 41-42°C;
changes in behavior - depression, rapid pulse, rapid breathing;
discharge from the ears, nose, eyes;
swelling of the eyelids;
diarrhea;
plaque on the gums;
cough;
lack of appetite and decreased milk yield.

The beauty of a goat is its unpretentiousness. Without any extra effort, you can easily get several liters of valuable goat milk every day. Even a beginner can keep goats. And if you take the matter seriously, goat breeding can become a profitable business.

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Subtleties with the purchase

Since we have settled on the dairy breed, we will analyze the important developments for it:

When buying from farms, we look closely at the general appearance. Smooth fur without tufts, all teeth in place - this indicates a healthy individual.
We bypass the youngest animals, because until the first lambing occurs, there will not be enough milk. But it’s not worth cleaning up the aging ones either, because 6-7 years for goats are already aged organisms.
It is advisable to have time to milk a sexually mature individual before purchasing. This is how they determine the characteristics of behavior down to character.
They don’t buy goats from scratch, because they are needed only for a simple process. The rest of the time he will simply have to be fattened, perhaps for meat.
Corrections about vaccinations are important now, as this can stall the organizational process.

For reference! Raising goats with sheep or horses is not prohibited. They will definitely get along. And if space allows, then you can buy two individuals at once for development.

Mating and breeding of young animals

It's no secret that goats are very fertile. The minimum is 1 kid, but the number is often larger. Multiple females are highly valued, bringing up to 4-5 kids.

A young female goes into heat even at 6 months, but it is better to wait up to a year. After mating, she will bear the fetus for about 150 days. Lambing takes place without any difficulties, all under normal home conditions.

And having received the first results in the form of funny little goats, there are two options for the development of events:

Immediately after birth (as soon as the kid is licked), it must be weaned from the udder. Then the newborn is fed with mother's milk, but for this we move on to daily milking. Farmers choose this approach because it is more profitable.
The goats are left with their mother. Everything that is in the udder will be used naturally. We remember that you will have to go without milk for more than 7 weeks, but you won’t have to milk the goat either. In this case, you can rely on animal natural instinct; the goat will not leave the children to starve.

Goats