Guide to Raising Goats - 5 Practical Tips to Help You Start Raising Goats

Without a doubt, goat farming is one of the more
profitable businesses these days. Fibers from
these animals also yield wool, mohair and
cashmere wool; and there are now farms that
raise and sell docile goats as pets. Aside from
selling fresh and processed meats in the
markets, there is also goat milk that can be
harvested and sold fresh or used as ingredients
to other food items (e.g. candy, cheese, yogurt,
etc.) and skin care products (e.g. lotions, soaps
and creams.) If you are thinking about raising
goats as a business venture, here are 5 guide to
raising goats tips you might want to consider.

Guide to raising goats tip #1: Consider what
kind of production you want to get into. Would
you like to sell goat meat, milk, fibers or
pets? Easily enough, you can sell both goat meat
and milk parallelly, (or whichever combination
you prefer.) But that would entail a huge
overhead expenditure right from the very
beginning. It would also mean getting a very
large number of animals, and an equally large
farm space. Try to start this business venture
small. This will help keep your expenses down
while you learn the ropes of rearing goats on a
commercial scale.

Guide to raising goats tip #2: Now that you have
chosen what kind of production you want to get
into, you need to choose carefully what breed of
goats you can order in. Goat breeds like the
Angora, Cashmere, Nigora and the Pygora are
excellent for fiber production. One of the best
producers of goat meat are the: South African
Boer, Kiko, Brush, Myotonic (also known as the
Fainting goats,) West African Dwarf and the
Spanish goats. Goats breeds like the
Anglo-Nubian, Saanen, La Mancha, Alpine,
Toggenburg and Oberhasli are the top milk
producers; while docile breeds like the: South
African Boer, Anglo-Nubian and the Pygmy goats
can be reared and sold as pets.

Guide to raising goats tip #3: Learn all you can
about commercial goat raising. Sign up for
lessons in goat rearing through newsletters, and
learn how to harvest and sell goat based
products. Inquire the local goat farmers for
tips and learn from their past experiences. The
more you know about this kind of business
endeavor, the more you can quickly regain your
overhead expenses and profit from your hard
work.

Guide to raising goats tip #4: Constantly look
out for services of a vet. As a rule, goats are
very hardy animals, and are quite low
maintenance too. But if you are selling the meat
and milk of the animals, you need the animals to
be issued clean bills of health. In addition,
having a vet on your farm's payroll is
compulsory in most states.

Guide to raising goats tip #5: Build adequate
housing for your animals. Goats would need
protection from both the elements and potential
predatory animals. In order to succeed, one goat
would require at minimum 4 meters of indoor floor
area with a lot of head room so that it can
stand. Housing should also include a separate
feeding area, watering station, beddings, and
milking or shearing stations, especially if you
are rearing goats for milk or fiber production
respectively.

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Raising goats does not need to be difficult if
you follow the foot steps of those who have done
it successfully before. If you would like to
learn more guide to raising goats and avoid the
costly mistakes, please visit:
http://www.raising-goats.com

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