3 Important Guidelines on Raising Milk Goats
If you intend to raise goats in order to produce dairy products, then there are a few simple guidelines that you need to follow. Raising milk goats can be a bit more complicated than raising goats for other purposes as diseases and parasites can easily contaminate the milk of the producing goat if it’s not taken care of properly. In order for you to be able to raise perfectly healthy goats, which will then give you high profitability, here’s our few words of advice.
1) Provide shelter and adequate fencing
The first thing that you need to do in raising milk goats is to make sure that you provide your stock with shelter and adequate fencing. Shelter should be high enough so as not to stump the goats’ growth. Be extra vigilant when the rainy days come and keep the stock in shelter as goats can acquire colds very easily. If you’re providing your goats with a wide space that they can roam around in, be sure to install sturdy fencing around so that you won’t lose them.
2) Be scrupulous with the food they eat
If you want your milk goats to produce healthy and disease free milk, then you should be very scrupulous with the food they eat, or everything that they take in their mouths for that matter. It’s very common for goats to be curious about their environment, and eat random things in the process. Keep an eye out for strange looking plants or objects, which you think your goats will likely chew on. If your goats aren’t producing enough milk, it’s best you ask your veterinarian for some advice on which supplements could give them to help naturally boost their milk production.
3) Don’t neglect grooming
And last but not the least, do not neglect your goats grooming. Although it’s not necessary for you to clean the goats every day, a grooming ritual is advisable, especially in raising milk goats. Check on your goats’ hooves every two months so that you can trim if needed. Failure to do this may result in your goats becoming crippled after some time. Always check your goats’ coats for any parasite infestation so that you can have it sorted out before the problem worsens.
Raising milk goats, though it entails hard work, isn’t actually anything close to rocket science. So don’t be intimidated by the task at hand, instead prepare yourself by looking up all there is to know about taking care of this livestock.