If you want to start dairy goat farming business, then you should read this guide. Dairy goat farming is very easy and simple.
Successful and profitable dairy goat farming business doesn’t require any hard work. Even a children and women can easily raise them.
And they require less food, housing and other managements than any other livestock.
Raising dairy goats has already been recognized as a very profitable business idea throughout the world.
Because, goat milk has a great demand worldwide. Goat milk and many dairy products prepared by goats milk are very popular.
Goat milk is highly nutritious and easily digestible than cow’s milk. It also has a unique taste and flavor.
Goat’s milk is also highly enriched with many necessary vitamins and mineral supplements. Along with producing milk, dairy goats also produce meat, mohair, hide, leather and manure (used as fertilizer in crop fields).
As a result dairy goat farming for profit can be a great income source for the people who are interested in this business. You can sell other products and earn money if your goats produce less milk.
The investment in dairy goat farming business is lass and returns are very high.
But the returns from commercial dairy goat farming business mostly depends on selecting breeds, feeding, housing and some other managements.
How to Start Dairy Goat Farming Business
The steps for starting dairy goat farming business are shortly described below. Follow these steps carefully.
Select Breeds
Choosing the suitable goat breeds for your business is one of the most important factors of starting dairy goat farming business.
Because, choosing right breeds according to your area plays an important role in their production.
Choose those breeds for your business which are easily maintained and will produce highly in your area.
On an average Saanen, Anglo Nubian, Alpine, Jamunapari, LaMancha, Oberhasli and Toggenburg are popular and highly productive dairy goat breeds.
Feeding
Good food always keeps the animal healthy and productive. In case of dairy goat good feeding practices increase the milk production.
You can do the feeding processes of your dairy goats in many ways. You can feed your goats forages including corn silage, haylage, hay and many types of by products like beet pulp and brewers grain.
You can feed them dry hay in round bale feeders or along the feed alley. In case of ensilaged feed you can set up newer and bigger operations.
You can also feed your dairy goats purchased or homemade supplementary feed with grain. Be very careful while providing supplementary feed for your goats.
Ensure all nutrition elements and necessary vitamins are available in their food. Along with providing good quality food for your goats, provide them sufficient amount of fresh and clean water.
Housing
Being small sized animal goats require less place for living than cow. You can easily keep many goat in the place required for one cow.
You also can keep your goats with your other livestock animals. For commercial dairy goat farming many different buildings will be very suitable for housing them.
Breeding
Naturally dairy goats are fall breeders and produce kids in the spring. But by using different techniques and modern farming methods, many dairy goat producers are kidding throughout the year.
And by applying those methods producers are producing milk over the whole year. In traditional breeding system producers use bucks for breeding.
But in modern system producers are applying artificial insemination to improve their genetics. For commercial dairy goat farming artificial insemination is very effective than using bucks for breeding purposes.
Keeping Kids
Most of the dairy goats give birth of multiple kids only once every year. And raising the kids is an intense job for the producers.
Most of the dairy goat producers keep the female goats and sell the bucks after a few months. You can also keep the female kids for milk production and sell the bucks when they reach slaughter age.
Feed the kids nanny for a few days after their birth and after that you can feed them cow colostrum. After that, feed the kids milk replacer with bottles, nipple pails or with automatic kid feeder.
At their age of 1-2 months, you cal let them to go with their mother and have some food from the grazing place.
Milking
Milking goats is very easy and simple. You can milk your goats manually or by using milking equipment and parlours like cow. See this guide on how to milk a goat & how to milk a goat by hand.
Dairy Goat Farming Tips
- Make a suitable shelter and house for your goats.
- Make a fence around your farm area.
- Always feed them nutritious, fresh and healthy food.
- If possible, make a pasture for your goats.
- Make a separate room for milking your goats.
- Take extra care to the kids and pregnant goats.
- Make a to do list before starting dairy goat farming business.
Is there a good book on raising goat for meat and cheese.