Knowing about the benefits of goat milk, in our time, many are thinking about breeding goats in their summer cottages. Breeding goats does not require large expenses, besides, any utility room is suitable for keeping this animal - from a chicken coop to the attic of a private house.
Goat's milk is much healthier than cow's milk, its medicinal properties have been known to mankind for many centuries. In the past, it was goat's milk that was the most effective remedy for the treatment and prevention of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, diathesis, anemia and many others.
In order to have a goat at your dacha, you do not need to be a fifth-generation farmer. Basic knowledge about the breeding of these unpretentious and intelligent animals is quite accessible even to a person who does not understand at all in the field of animal husbandry.
Where to keep?
Any utility room is suitable for keeping a goat, for example, a chicken coop. This animal will easily find a common language with chickens, ducks, even with turkeys. You just need to remember that a goat can hardly tolerate dampness, but it is quite tolerant to cold and heat.
A stall that can be equipped in a chicken coop must be well ventilated, it is necessary that the air circulates in it constantly. Care must be taken to keep the stall dry and light, moreover, free from drafts. In a warm, mild climate, a goat can be kept under a canopy, but in areas located to the north, you need to determine a place for it in the room.
It is advisable to insulate the stall for the winter, even though the goats tolerate the cold well. The comfortable temperature for keeping an animal in winter is 7-8 degrees Celsius, and if the goat has kids, then the temperature should be higher, at least by 5-6 degrees.
For keeping goats, you can build a separate room - a goat's house. It is necessary to build a goat's house in such a way that its area would be enough for two or more animals, because the more room they have “to maneuver”, the better and more useful the milk will be. For example, a couple of pets will feel quite comfortable in a 2x2 meter room. If the farm has a goat, then it must be kept separate from the goats, since their milk, after communicating with a male representative, can acquire a characteristic "goat" smell.
What to feed?
In the warm season, the goat diet is based on green fodder. The goat eats up to 3 kg of various herbs per day. It is important that the goat does not eat plants such as chamomile, tansy, wormwood, horsetail, tobacco and mustard leaves. These herbs can negatively affect not only the health of the animal, but also the quality of milk.
In winter, the goat is fed with hay. Accordingly, in the warm season, you need to stock up on them well. The calculation is approximately as follows: 500 kg for one adult animal, for a kid - about 300 kg. Also in winter, small bundles of birch, willow, poplar or mountain ash branches with leaves are added to the goat diet. This supplement is extremely beneficial for the animal. In total, a goat should eat about a hundred of these bundles during the winter.
