If you want to learn about the day to day practical aspects of goat farming, keep up to date with the home page "The Goat Keepers Diary". These are bite size pieces of information about what really happens on the farm and how issues are dealt with. Check it out.
The Boer goat is an attractive, intelligent, high producing farm animal, however there are misconceptions about goats and how to manage them. If you are starting off in goats, this page aims to point you in the right direction so that you will be successful in your operation.
"If ever the stars reached down and touched a human being, it was the unknown man or woman who first conceived of capturing and keeping a goat instead of hunting one”. |
The secrets to successfully raising Boer Goats.
The fundamental beliefs.
Unfortunately many people see goats primarily as weedeaters that will eat anything. If you have this belief and do not change it, you are unlikely to successfully raise healthy, productive goats. The problems are that it is bad for your pocket because either your animals will never be truly productive, and/or you will have lots of veterinary bills. The second problem is that it is very bad for the goats health and becomes an animal welfare issue. The third problem is that it gives goats a bad name as productive animals, and many owners find it extremely frustrating and distressing when their animals die.
Secret number one: Learn how to condition score your goats. Read this summary from the DPI website. A fat stomach is not a fat goat. Check out this article and get someone to show you how to condition score. This is essential to the health of your goats and your success in goat breeding. http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/animals-and-livestock/goats/assessment-skills-for-goat-meat-marketing |
Secret number two:
Well fed does have strong kids
Feeding farmed Boer goats: Probably the most important piece of information a breeder needs to take on board is that goats are not like cattle or sheep. On the evolution tree, the goat is more closely related to the Ibex family than either sheep or cattle. This point seems to be lost on most feed manufacturers that mark their products suitable for goats, and unfortunately some advice given from various veterinarian sources.
While anatomically the internal organs of a goat are similar to sheep and cattle, the environmental pressures on goat development over the past few thousand years have been for goats to survive in hot, dry conditions by eating shrubs, trees and tall grasses. What this means is the goat is very good at breaking down very fibrous materials in its rumen, and it does not carry a lot of its excess energy in fat deposited on its back because this would make it too hot. The goat primarily deposits fat internally around organs and particularly in sheets of fat in the abdomen area. Its browsing habits over thousands of years results in the rumen of the goat being particularly well set up to effectively break down fibrous plant materials. What causes goat problems is when we start feeding quickly broken down high energy grains (particularly finely ground grains made up as "goat pellets") as this quickly ends up as an acidic porridge of food that the goat digestion cannot cope with. This often results in scours, acid stomach, pulpy kidney and quite often death. So the particular challenge for the goat breeder is to manage the natural makeup of the goat but incorporate the modern farming practices of farmed animals.
So the principles of goat feeding are:
(1) Provide plenty of palatable high quality fibrous feed, such as hay or paddock shrubs and grasses. If feeding energy feeds, where possible, use whole grain feeds instead of finely ground pellet feeds, preferably use low gluten feeds such as lupins, or feed high quality hays or pellets such as clover or lucerne. These high energy feeds should only make up a minor part of the goats diet.
(2) The other principle is to introduce new foods slowly. The way a rumen works is that it has a massive number of resident microbes that break down the feeds that arrive in their "room". These microbes develop over time to manage the usual intake of the goat. If the breeder introduces new feeds, the microbes must change their makeup to break it down. It may take several weeks to change the microbe balance and so the breeder must take this into account and introduce new feeds slowly. If the breeder introduces the new feeds too quickly, the goat will show evidence of this by scouring, going off their feed, showing evidence of founder, pulpy kidney, grain poisoning, and quite often death.
Secret number three:
Worms/parasites, the next most important issue to manage. Generally speaking, unlike sheep and cattle, goats do not gain a resistance to worms as they mature. This means they are always at risk of developing a significant worm burden if they are not managed properly. As mentioned earlier, over thousands of years, the goat developed primarily as a browser of trees and bushes in a hot arid climate. It is only in more recent centuries that we have farmed the goat in more temperate climates. When the goat is browsing bushes and trees it is safe from the worm larvae as, after hatching, the larvae can only wriggle upwards about 10 centimetres on damp herbage waiting for the goat to eat it in a mouthful of food. The larvae cannot wriggle anywhere in hot dry conditions. While there are different types of parasite worms that can live in the goat, the major ones that cause the goat breeder trouble are the blood sucking types that cause anemia, and the ones that damage the gut to the extent that the goat cannot absorb its food properly and the result is scouring. So it is important that the goat breeder has a plan of managing the potential worm problem in their goats.
The principles of managing the worms are:
There are some very good articles and lots of information on worm control provided by the various agricultural departments. I will provide access details here soon.
There is a very extensive review and discussion of worm issues in the "Serious goat breeders" page if you would like to have a look there.
Check out the link below for the code of practice and basics of goat management and animal welfare. Note 9 shows you how to "put down" a goat humanely and correctly. Please read it before you shoot. http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/about-agriculture/legislation-regulation/animal-welfare-legislation/codes-of-practice-animal-welfare/accepted-farming-practice-goats
While the following web site is American based, I found the GoatWorld.com website had a good range of articles on all aspects of goat care. This includes some excellent discussions and papers written by experts on Goat health issues. Definitely recommended as a source of information. Check it out.
The other sites are worth having a look at but are different in focus.
While anatomically the internal organs of a goat are similar to sheep and cattle, the environmental pressures on goat development over the past few thousand years have been for goats to survive in hot, dry conditions by eating shrubs, trees and tall grasses. What this means is the goat is very good at breaking down very fibrous materials in its rumen, and it does not carry a lot of its excess energy in fat deposited on its back because this would make it too hot. The goat primarily deposits fat internally around organs and particularly in sheets of fat in the abdomen area. Its browsing habits over thousands of years results in the rumen of the goat being particularly well set up to effectively break down fibrous plant materials. What causes goat problems is when we start feeding quickly broken down high energy grains (particularly finely ground grains made up as "goat pellets") as this quickly ends up as an acidic porridge of food that the goat digestion cannot cope with. This often results in scours, acid stomach, pulpy kidney and quite often death. So the particular challenge for the goat breeder is to manage the natural makeup of the goat but incorporate the modern farming practices of farmed animals.
So the principles of goat feeding are:
(1) Provide plenty of palatable high quality fibrous feed, such as hay or paddock shrubs and grasses. If feeding energy feeds, where possible, use whole grain feeds instead of finely ground pellet feeds, preferably use low gluten feeds such as lupins, or feed high quality hays or pellets such as clover or lucerne. These high energy feeds should only make up a minor part of the goats diet.
(2) The other principle is to introduce new foods slowly. The way a rumen works is that it has a massive number of resident microbes that break down the feeds that arrive in their "room". These microbes develop over time to manage the usual intake of the goat. If the breeder introduces new feeds, the microbes must change their makeup to break it down. It may take several weeks to change the microbe balance and so the breeder must take this into account and introduce new feeds slowly. If the breeder introduces the new feeds too quickly, the goat will show evidence of this by scouring, going off their feed, showing evidence of founder, pulpy kidney, grain poisoning, and quite often death.
Secret number three:
Worms/parasites, the next most important issue to manage. Generally speaking, unlike sheep and cattle, goats do not gain a resistance to worms as they mature. This means they are always at risk of developing a significant worm burden if they are not managed properly. As mentioned earlier, over thousands of years, the goat developed primarily as a browser of trees and bushes in a hot arid climate. It is only in more recent centuries that we have farmed the goat in more temperate climates. When the goat is browsing bushes and trees it is safe from the worm larvae as, after hatching, the larvae can only wriggle upwards about 10 centimetres on damp herbage waiting for the goat to eat it in a mouthful of food. The larvae cannot wriggle anywhere in hot dry conditions. While there are different types of parasite worms that can live in the goat, the major ones that cause the goat breeder trouble are the blood sucking types that cause anemia, and the ones that damage the gut to the extent that the goat cannot absorb its food properly and the result is scouring. So it is important that the goat breeder has a plan of managing the potential worm problem in their goats.
The principles of managing the worms are:
- Monitor the worm burden in your goats by doing egg counts on a regular basis. This is easy to do by sending goat dropping samples off to the laboratory. You can have the results back usually the next day by email.
- When necessary, use an effective drench suitable for your goats and monitor the success of the drench 14 days later.
- Do some reading about drenches and talk to experienced breeders about the types and use of drenches and worm control. There is a lot of guessing and unscientific gobbledegook talked about in relation to drenches and what works.
- Try to reduce the numbers of active larvae the goats have access to, by rotating paddocks, using mature cattle or horses to clean up the pastures, keep pasture length over 10 cm.
- Keep goats in good condition as they are more likely to be able to withstand the effects of a worm burden.
- Take particular care of your heavily pregnant does and weaner kids they are the most vulnerable.
There are some very good articles and lots of information on worm control provided by the various agricultural departments. I will provide access details here soon.
There is a very extensive review and discussion of worm issues in the "Serious goat breeders" page if you would like to have a look there.
Check out the link below for the code of practice and basics of goat management and animal welfare. Note 9 shows you how to "put down" a goat humanely and correctly. Please read it before you shoot. http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/about-agriculture/legislation-regulation/animal-welfare-legislation/codes-of-practice-animal-welfare/accepted-farming-practice-goats
While the following web site is American based, I found the GoatWorld.com website had a good range of articles on all aspects of goat care. This includes some excellent discussions and papers written by experts on Goat health issues. Definitely recommended as a source of information. Check it out.
The other sites are worth having a look at but are different in focus.
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Breeding for Excellence
There are two major factors in being a stud of excellence and producing outstanding animals for sale. The first fundamental is that the Boer Goats must add value to the buyers. This means that the breeding focus must be on commercial attributes that add value either through increased carcase value or through the genetic make-up of the animals to ease the workload associated with the commercial herd. This may be by way of better temperament, worm resistance, less foot trimming, better mothering ability etc. Secondly, the true Stud breeder wants to breed "true to type". This means the breeder is continually evaluating the herd to breed true to the Breed Standards.
Origin of the Boer Goat
While there is some question about the full genetic makeup of the South African Boer Goat, it is generally agreed that it is primarily the result of South African breeders taking the best of their local goats and breeding for a true meat goat. The improvement in the breed over the past 20 years in particular, is truly outstanding and is an absolute credit to the Stud breeders in South Africa. The modern Boer Goat is a robust, fertile, and strong bodied goat that meets the market specifications for prime kid in about half the time that a feral goat will. Under good farming conditions the doe will usually raise twins and the weight of the twins together at five to six months will often nearly equal the body weight of their dam.
Breeding true to type and performance measurements
Cadenza Yearling Boer does 2010 drop
At Cadenza Boers, the breeding stock are regularly classified by qualified assessors to confirm the herds breeding direction as "true to type". This means that every goat is individually assessed to establish how it meets the breed standards and its overall quality. The yearling bucks and does have recently been assessed with most animals grading between 5 to 7. This means most goats were either high flock or stud level and a number reached the highest levels of 8 and 9 being assessed as show potential animals.
The other way the Boer goats are assessed is using measurement recording such as birth weight, milking ability, mothering ability, progeny weight gain at weaning, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. The weight gain measurements are particularly important for the breeding bucks as the Cadenza Stud is very focussed on breeding strong animals with fast growth rates. This means early maturing animals are high on the breeding direction. Other important measurements include the frequency that feet need trimming. This is very important as no breeder enjoys foot trimming and contrary to general opinion that feed makes their feet grow, there are some genetic lines at Cadenza that rarely if ever need their feet trimming. Other lines have fast growing feet and need foot trimming three or four times a year. The aim here is to include good feet as a selection criteria for all breeding animals and this is especially important for the stud bucks as they are genetically 50% of everything on the ground. The Stud, together with several of the more forward looking studs is now evaluating some of these characteristics to identify superior breeding genetics.
The other way the Boer goats are assessed is using measurement recording such as birth weight, milking ability, mothering ability, progeny weight gain at weaning, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. The weight gain measurements are particularly important for the breeding bucks as the Cadenza Stud is very focussed on breeding strong animals with fast growth rates. This means early maturing animals are high on the breeding direction. Other important measurements include the frequency that feet need trimming. This is very important as no breeder enjoys foot trimming and contrary to general opinion that feed makes their feet grow, there are some genetic lines at Cadenza that rarely if ever need their feet trimming. Other lines have fast growing feet and need foot trimming three or four times a year. The aim here is to include good feet as a selection criteria for all breeding animals and this is especially important for the stud bucks as they are genetically 50% of everything on the ground. The Stud, together with several of the more forward looking studs is now evaluating some of these characteristics to identify superior breeding genetics.
 At Cadenza foot trimming is carried out in the same style as foot trimming a horse. The goats appear less stressed with this method and it is a very quick process. Note, because of her excess colour this doe is classified as flock. |
 At cadenza we use pneumatic foot shears. This makes it easy on the goat and the operator. Contrary to popular opinion they are really quite safe to use as long as the pressure is not too high and therefore the blades respond too quickly. |
Raising Poddy kids
Cadenza hand raised (poddy) kids, healthy, happy and growing well.
At Cadenza Boers, while it is not unusual for a doe to give birth to three or four kids, generally we do not leave more than two kids for a doe to raise. There are several reasons for this. Often a doe with a good milk supply is quite capable of raising three kids to weaning. However our experience is that more often than not, at least one of the kids is jostled out of getting milk by stronger siblings, and this kid is either stunted or dies because of lack of nutrition. Sometimes all three of the kids are stunted. In other cases the does teats are torn or cut through by the multiple kids fighting for a teat, sometimes this destroys the udder permanently as it results in scarring or damage by mastitis infections. With twins, from about the age of two weeks, each kid has its own side of the udder and always drinks from there so there is not the fighting for a teat. Our belief is that two big kids are more productive than three small ones or three dead ones.
So that leaves us to deal with the excess triplets or quads. At this stud these kids are raised by hand-feeding and end up as productive as the dam raised kids. However a note of caution. When deciding which of the kids to remove for hand-rearing we suggest that where possible only females are chosen.. The reason for this is that bottle-fed bucks can become too friendly with people and some become disrespectful and pushy. This is no problem while they are young, but later on in life when a >100kgs buck decides to be pushy, that is a more serious and dangerous matter and it can become a problem. The principles of hand rearing goats are, good milk/replacer fed at correct temperature in clean containers, warm clean surroundings, clean pellets, hay, and water provided every day, and toys and entertainment so the kids have something to do. See picture above for a group of happy bottle fed kids.
The link below provides a detailed description of how to go about artificial rearing of kids. Check it out.http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/goats/mgt/general/rearing
So that leaves us to deal with the excess triplets or quads. At this stud these kids are raised by hand-feeding and end up as productive as the dam raised kids. However a note of caution. When deciding which of the kids to remove for hand-rearing we suggest that where possible only females are chosen.. The reason for this is that bottle-fed bucks can become too friendly with people and some become disrespectful and pushy. This is no problem while they are young, but later on in life when a >100kgs buck decides to be pushy, that is a more serious and dangerous matter and it can become a problem. The principles of hand rearing goats are, good milk/replacer fed at correct temperature in clean containers, warm clean surroundings, clean pellets, hay, and water provided every day, and toys and entertainment so the kids have something to do. See picture above for a group of happy bottle fed kids.
The link below provides a detailed description of how to go about artificial rearing of kids. Check it out.http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/goats/mgt/general/rearing
The protectors of the herd
In this area, there is a risk of losing young kids to foxes and to a lesser extent eagles. Maremma dogs are used to protect the flock from these predators. The Maremmas are generally kind, shy, and very observant to any change in the environment. Their first reaction is to bark to warn the predator off. Then it becomes more serious and the Maremma will confront and challenge. They are very independent by nature and it is not helpful to enforce your dominance. It is important for the Maremmas to take responsibility for their herd and so a more respectful attitude to their independence is required.
Ted the working dog with friends
Ted, the working dog with "friends"
The farm uses Border Collie working dogs to manage the goat herd. They are softer on the goats than some other working dog breeds and they are easy dogs to have around the farm. Ted is getting on in age now. He is a very intelligent, quiet worker, but is not as patient with the bucks as he is with the does and the kids. Lucy is a new addition to the farm and is currently "learning the ropes" she is beautifully bred to be a working dog from Kippakoop Working Dog Stud and is showing strong desire to cast, collect and hold groups of goats. She also has a lovely affectionate personality. Both of these dogs are invaluable to the smooth running of the farm.
 Ted, the experienced working dog now has a mate, this is Lucy who is learning the ropes from the Master. |
Lucy as a pup
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Contact email cadenzaboers@bigpond.com phone 0429661369