Goat Farming - Essential Tips For Goat Owners

Learning how to raise goats is not an all new
endeavor. This form of animal-raising has been
practiced since time immemorial, and there are a
lot of people from other parts of the globe who
are making this their chief form of
livelihood.  But is this form of animal
husbandry as easy as buying goats and crossing
your fingers? Well, not quite.  These
days, a lot more people are seeing the benefits
and potential profits to be gained from farming
goats. Here are a couple of tips you might want
to consider if you are thinking about setting up
a goat farm for the first time.

1. Decide what kind of goat farming you would
like to practice. There are 4 kinds of goat
farming. One is raising goats for the sole
purpose of harvesting milk. Goat's milk can be
used as buttermilk, candy, cheese, cream cheese,
ghee (clarified butterfat,) kefir (fermented
alcoholic goat's milk,) substitute for cow's
milk, and yogurt. You can also use goat's milk
to produce beauty care products like lotions,
skin creams, soaps and other milk-based
specialty soaps.

The second type of goat farming is when you
raise the aforementioned animals for meat. You
can either sell the meat as fresh produce or to
be used in sausages, salted meat, and smoked
meat cuts.

The third type of farming is when you choose to
raise goats for their fiber. Basically there are
two breeds of goats that yield excellent fibers.
That would be the angora goats (produce mohair)
and the cashmere goats (produce cashmere wool.)
The hairs from both animals are prized for their
softness and warmth; and products made from these
are usually pegged at very steep prices. Other
breeds that are raised for their fibers are the
nigora and the pygora; both of which produce
medium class wool.

And lastly, you can also raise goats that are to
be sold as pets - which is, by the way one of the
emerging profitable businesses these days. By
deciding early on what kind of farming you would
like to practice, you can choose what breed of
goats, tools and machineries you ought to
purchase as well.

2. Always hire the services of a veterinarian. A
vet is a necessary partner in this kind of
endeavor, and you would need to consult him or
her for almost every aspect of raising goats.
From choosing what feeds or supplements you can
give to the animals, to setting up housing and
more importantly, to providing you documentation
(to be presented to the local government) that
you are treating your animals well and that
there are no issues on your farm that can
constitute to animal cruelty or abuse.

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Goat farming does not need to be difficult if you
know how. If you would like to learn more tips
about goat farming and avoid the costly
mistakes, please visit:
http://www.raising-goats.com

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