Stall feed Goat farm
Dear Swati,
in 1 acre you can grow the fodder for 25 Goats round the year.
1st of all the farm owners should take training on Management and housing of Sheep / Goat and should decide which type of practice is more suitable or beneficial to them by doing critical analysis of various scenarios.
Intensive farming is suitable
for those farms where there are no near by lands for grazing or the owners are more cautious about the health of the exotic breeds and they don’t want to his animals to get mix with the flocks of local farmers and catch various diseases or drink the contaminated water on road side due to in competent grazing staff.
where the farm owners are having only limited land and they cant get near by land on lease or not allowed for free grazing due to their bad relationship with the neighbors.
Where the live stock farms are very closed near by villagers who are having crooks or near by forest or presence of irresponsible staff where the owner is 100% sure that if the animals are taken out they can easily stolen by near by villagers who are un employed or eaten by fox or wild dogs or sold by the grazing staff in the market at cheap rate and this staff will always give miss lead them that Goat / Sheep has been eaten by wild dogs or wolfs or it has mixed by mistake in others people flocks by mistake and bring back the animals from their home or relatives if the owner take severe action on them.
Where the near by land can only be available after harvesting the crops if the owner is only confined land.
Semi Intensive Farming
Here I like to high light some benefits which I am knowing and I am always recommending all my customers do semi stall feeding( stall feeding + 3 to 4 hours of Natural Grazing) because
Most of the farm owners start with low budget or take loan from bank and I don’t want my customers to incur high running cost due to intensive farming and it is my 1st responsibility to reduce the running cost of my clients/ customers as a farm management consultant.
The animals will get daily good exercise and they will active for mating.
The fodder from the owner land can also be saved to some extent which can lead to reduction in Running Cost.
The farm owners of the Goats farms can leave their Goats to graze/browse on the crop residue of near by agriculture farmer when the crop has been harvested. The advantages of this system is that increase in fertility of the land by droppings and urine of these animals, control of wasteful habits, good growth rate, easier management and possible increased crop yields in future. Here the Goat farm owner will get fodder for his goats and agricultural farmer will get fertility in the land by the droppings. If the land and time is more the goat farmer can give some day / night droppings.
Here the goats are grazed round the year for a few hours daily animals should be given good nutritious fodder which is rich in energy and protein apart from Concentrate. This system of management can be suitable for variable type of climate and small to medium size flock as very few farmers are having animals in thousands.
Due to the non availability of grazing lands, it is very difficult to find free grazing lands especially surroundings of any city. Health management is also a task in extensive grazing. Cost of the silage is not less than Rs.5/- per animal/day. It is also costing a lot. In both breeding and fattening business models it is a rope walk. But our peole are managing as the end unit selling price is good and they have their own marketing systems
