8 Tips on Goat Raising for Beginners

Goat raising is one of the most promising livestock business if managed correctly.
Here are my tips for starting and managing your goat business.

1.Choose the proper breed of goat
Goat breeds like your favorite dogs have different characteristic. Breeds like Boer are good meat producers while Nubian and Saanen are good milk producers. Therefore, you should prefer Nubian and Saanen if you are venturing to milk and dairy business.


2. Build your fences properly
Build your fence to protect your goats and to avoid damage to the community. You don't want your neighbors to complain with damaged flowers or with the smelly  goat manures in their garden.
Aldo, goats are intelligent creatures. It can look for spaces at the bottom of your fence and find a ay to escape.

Make sure that the heads of the goat (especially those with horns) will not get stuck on your wire fencing.

3. Grow enough leguminous plants as food source
Ipil ipil and Madre de Cacao are good food sources for your goats especially during summer where there are less grasses. Plant these trees around your farm. You can also use them as posts for your farm.

Please take note that too much ipil ipil leaves can be poisonous to your goats.

4. Go for a good quality buck
Buck will determine the future of your herd. It is known as the most important factor of your success in business because it will affect the genetics, health, and size of your newborn goats.

5. Upgrade native goats
Upgrading of goats is done to achieve a higher quality of goats. It can combine characteristics of two different breeds. Pairing a female native goat and a male boer goat will produce heavier kids compared to kids of pure bred native goats.

6. Build a shelter 
Goats don't want rain and they don't want mud.  Protect them from winds and storm surge by putting walls and roofs on their shelter.  You can use a tarpaulin as alternative if you are low in capital.

7. Learn more.
Continue to read more about goats. There are scholarly studies and research being done on goat breeding and goat management and most of them are available online.

8. Join associations and participate on government projects

You can also join  goat association in your town  to learn the best  practices of other goat farm owners.
Look for projects or seminars being offered by your government. It is usually free and they will be happy to assist you! Furthermore, association or government may lend you loans as capital to kickoff or expand your goat venture.  They may also help you on marketing your products,


What tips do you have? I'm still in the learning process and I might be doing things differently so I'd like to know your opinion.  Correct me if I miss something.  Let's improve the goat industry in the Philippines