A goat is an unpretentious animal for keeping in a household farm, from which milk, fluff, skin, meat, wool and manure are obtained. But before you get a goat, you need to carefully read the rules for choosing an animal and the conditions for keeping it.
When to buy a goat and how to choose?
The most suitable time to buy a goat is March-May. It was during this period that the animals already acquired kids, lactation began in full force, a warm and herbal season comes. When choosing an animal, you can taste milk, estimate its real volumes. Do not buy a one-year-old, compare the age of the goat, as well as the number of lambing for the period of sale. The largest milk yield occurs at the age of 5-7 years. Moreover, with each lambing, the goat's milk yield only increases until old age sets in.
Ask the owner of the animal about the reasons for the sale and listen to your intuition. It is advisable to find out about the time of the evening milking and arrive by this time, informing the owners. So you can make sure that there is no fraud with the amount of milk. Ask about the nature of the animal, look at the behavior of the goat. Explicit persecution or aggressiveness should be a reason for rejection. If you are generally satisfied with the appearance of the animal, its habits, milk yield and taste of milk, feel free to move on to financial issues.
Goat maintenance
The air in the room for keeping the goat must be clean, have a favorable temperature: not higher than 18 ° C in summer, not lower than 6 ° C in winter. Goats are sensitive to dampness, so the room must be dry and meet all hygiene and cleanliness requirements. Remove manure from the barn regularly. Make sure that the wind does not blow over the goat. The windows in the shed should be located on the south side. The floor in the room should be raised and sloped to allow fluid to drain.
The main care of a goat is keeping the animal dry and clean. Unkempt contents affect the bad smell and taste of milk. Do not skimp on bedding, otherwise the goat will begin to transfer hay from the feeder to its feet on its own. Brush the animal daily, if the goat is long-haired, then it needs to be combed. Brush once a week with warm water and baking soda.
Goats are restless animals that need constant movement. Therefore, you do not need to always keep them in a shed or on a leash, let them go for a walk. Use the branches, bark and shoots of forest trees as food. Such feed is much higher in nutritional value than hay. Even with a sufficient amount of hay, you should feed one broom a day, add needles. Goats require an abundance of clean water and salt. In winter, include silage in the animal's diet. Goats eat bran, barley, oats and corn well. Beets have a good effect on milkiness, potatoes make the milk more fatty. Carrots (washed and sliced) are no less useful.
