In Nigeria, goat meat is widely consumed locally and shapes significant piece of the people’s delicacies.
The mainstream goat meat pepper soup is tasty to the point that people come from great distances abroad to have a taste of it.
Yet, few farmers are into goat rearing in the nation, the majority of the goats consumed in Nigeria comes from the Niger Republic and the North.
Nigerian Dwarf Goats is prominent in the South and Eastern piece of the nation.
However, kept for family utilization and sold in the nearby markets once in a while despite the huge demand.
Any serious farmer who takes goat farming to the next level will have serious money to make.
Goat farming is a major and profitable business anywhere on the planet.
In this article, I will explain how anyone can begin goat farming on a little scale and develop to any size he need inside couple of years in any part of the globe.
I need to make this article as comprehensive as could be allowed and as people begin to share their ideas and understanding in Goat farming business through comments.
I hope this will end up becoming a great resource for little scale goat farmers much like the Poultry Farming post.
Acquire a good eating ground that develops plenty of grass verities.
Goats are relatively clean creatures.
They eat a wide variety of plants that are nutritious to them.
They are foragers of weeds and leaves.
They could eat different types of plant at different season and even days.
However, production animal feed on grass, silage, feed and grain simply like cattle.
Search for where land is cheap and acquire some acres depending on the number of creatures you need to keep.
Goats need large expanse of land, they like moving and moving while eating plants that are not very close to the ground to stay away from worm infested plants.
They like keeping enough distance from each other, along these lines, they reduce debasing each other.
Goat don’t like over crowded condition, ensure you have enough acres of land for your goats to wander about free while touching and feeding.
What number of goats ought to be kept in an acre?
On a good pasture ground, most extreme of 10 goats ought to be kept in an acre of touching land.
In the event that you intend to keep up to 500 goats.
You will need 50 acres of pasturage.
Understand that goat duplicate very rapidly – a pregnancy will dependably result to the introduction of twins.
Sometimes they can give birth to single child or even triplet which is very rare.
Goat farming is very lucrative because the demand for goat meat is so huge!
If you have ever been to a bar, then must have noticed how desired the ‘isi-ewu’ (goat head) is in Nigeria.
It is almost impossible to get an exact figure for the goat meat market size but experts estimate that the annual goat meat sale is at N20 billion with a possibility of growth if the supply increases.
Besides, the goat farmers can earn from goat milk and goat cheese before they finally use the goat as meat. This means you will have more than one stream of income by beginning a goat farm.
1.Goat Farming Business: Learn all you can about goats and goat farming
Goats are of different kinds. Some are kept for their meat and some are kept for their milk.
You will have to learn about goats and choose the type you would like to keep then learn a bit more about the specific type you’ve chosen.
Also there is a need to gain knowledge about goat farming.
If nobody you know rears goats, it may be time to make some ‘aboki’ friends.
Read about commercial goat production as this will be quite different from what your ‘aboki friend will tell you.
Never begin any business without adequate knowledge of what you are going into.
2. Goat Farming Business: Craft a business plan
After becoming knowledgeable in matters concerning goats and goat farming, you will need to plan out how to structure your goat farming business to make it profitable.
One thing to keep in mind is that goat farming may not be capital-intensive but it takes longer time to produce returns unlike chicken or fish.
A goat farm will typically take two to three years before it becomes an income generating ventures.
So there is a need for you to have a plan on how you will finance the farm before it starts yielding.
The process of coming up with a business plan will help you understand the business aspect of your goat farm better
You could begin a goat fattening business before graduating into goat farming if you are short on cash.
3. Goat Farming Business: Find a suitable location
Goats are herbivorous animals. They feed on plants therefore a good location for setting up a goat farm will be a place where you can easily find pasture or set up a grazing land. You will need to build a shelter for the goats against rain. The shelter has to be well ventilated and comfortable enough for the goats to relax and chew-the-cud.
Goats can roam very far if not restricted therefore, a fence will help restrict their movement and keep predators and thieves away. Your goat farm needs to have access to water – not necessarily clean water because goats are resilient animals – but they need lots of water.
After deciding on what type of goats you want to rear, and making a suitable habitat for your goats, you will need to acquire very high quality breed of the goats. Every goat you bring into your farm must be very healthy so as to avoid a spread of infection that could make you lose your investment.
For the Nigerian weather, you should consider stocking you farm with the Nigerian dwarf, Pygmy, Nubians, Saanen, Boer or the Maradi breed. You should consult a Veterinarian to inquire which of this is appropriate for milk and meat production.
You can give goats all types of food like leaves, plants, corns, grasses etc. But they love to eat green leaves and grasses most. Their feed should contain 10-14% protein and sufficient calories for energy. They drink a lot of water daily.
5. Goat Farming Business: Fencing
Construct short perimeter fence round your pasture or barbwire fence.
I prefer barbwire to short perimeter fence for clear reasons.
Barbwire is more protective and impossible for goats to scare through.
While keeping the creature safe from predators.
Goats need protection from coyotes, meandering pooches.
Or even cougars and bears in the event that they are kept on pasture.
Some producers use protection pooches to keep predators under control.
Special 1.2m fencing might be required to keep goats in.
As goats like to circumvent obstacles, electric fencing is sometimes used.
Numerous producers provide ‘play areas’ with things to amuse them and to prevent harming behavior”
First of all make a clear decision of what do you really want to produce and sell from your goat farming business.
Goats are multi-purpose animals. You can produce the products like milk, meat, fiber, manure and skin form goats.
Go to your nearest market and try to understand which goat products have a high demand in the market.
Try to produce those products which you can sell easily in your local area and in the market.
you will lose money instead of being benefited.
10. Goat Farming :Goat Products
First of all make a clear decision of what do you really want to produce and sell from your goat farming business. Goats are multi-purpose animals.
You can produce the products like milk, meat, fiber, manure and skin form goats.
Go to your nearest market and try to understand which goat products have a high demand in the market.
Try to produce those products which you can sell easily in your local area and in the market. Otherwise you will lose money instead of being benefited.
For an example, you have established a dairy goat farming business.
And your goats are producing milk highly. But there are a little or no goat milk consumer in your local market.
Then what will you do with your production?
So, always keep in mind this factor and try to produce those products which you can sell easily in your local market.
If you have a good facility of marketing your products internationally then you can produce any product from your farm.
However, make a good decision of what you are going to produce form your goat farming business.
Meat: Nowadays goat meat has a great demand internationally. And this rate is increasing rapidly day by day. A report shows that about 70% of total consumed meat globally comes form the goat. If you have sufficient facility of selling goat meat in your local market then you can start raising some highly meat productive goat breeds. Boer, Beetal, Matou, Black Bengal etc. are highly meat productive goat breeds.
Milk: Goat milk is enriched with many necessary nutrition elements and it is easily digestible. As a result it has huge demand in local and international market. Goat milk is also very suitable for making all types of dairy products. If you can sell goat milk in your nearest market easily then you have to choose some highly milk productive goat breeds. Some highly milk producing goat breeds are Saanen, Jamunapari, Toggenburg, Anglo Nubian, Alpine etc.
Fiber: If you want to produce fiber form your farm then Cashmere and Angora goat are very suitable. Both are highly fiber productive.
Skin: All goat breeds produce skin. But few of them produce high quality skin. For business purpose Black Bengal goat produces high quality skin. And their skin has a high demand and value in the international market. Before start raising goats for skin be sure that there is a market available for selling your product.
Manure: Some crop farmer uses goat manner in their field. It is a very high quality organic fertilizer. You can earn some extra money by selling the manure of goat.
11. Do some market research.
Specifically, go to local farmers markets and retailers to see what’s available that might be similar.
Use Google to research farms nearby that raise goats and see what products they sell.
Ask your friends and neighbors what they think about your idea—you may find your market closer to home than you realized.
12. Visit other goat farmers :
Ask them questions about upfront costs and where to focus your money.
Be specific, asking for makes and models of machines and materials they use.
Always ask what those farmers would do differently if they could do it all again—their insights can be very helpful.
13.Goat Farming Business: Look at your terrain and forage:
Goats are some of the least particular livestock, but they can’t survive on, say, conifers alone.
Decide if you have a good diversity of flora—a mix of brush and grasses is nice—good access to water, good shelter and good fencing.
No, make that great fencing. If not, you may need to improve your infrastructure beforeacquiring the goats.
14.Goat Farming Business: Selecting Your Goat Breed
You will have to choose between fiber, dairy and meat breeds before getting started.But that doesn’t mean you can’t try a few of each kind.Here are some of the more popular breeds in each category.
Meat Breeds of Goats:
Boers
Kikos
Dairy Breeds of Goats:
Nubians
Saanen
Alpine
LaMancha
Fiber Breeds of Goats:
Angora
Cashmere
Nigora
Pygora
Dairy breeds can be raised for meat—what are known as “dual-purpose breeds”—if you’d like to do both.
15. Goat Farming Business: Get Management Plan
The management section describes who will be doing what and their qualifications.
Will you be the owner-operator?
What experience do you have? Even if you’re not seeking investors, this is an important step if you plan to have employees one day or simply so the family can all agree upon their individual roles on the goat farm. These plans may change over time, of course, and that’s OK—simply update your business plan as they do.
16. Goat Farming Business Get Marketing Plan
If you’re already marketing other farm products, this section of your business plan should be easy. Include how you plan to advertise, market and promote your goat farm. Feel free to get creative here, and challenge yourself. Think about how to get customers engaged with what you’re doing. Hang up flyers, do social media campaigns, guest vend farmers’ markets—think of all the ways you can advertise as well as all of the places and ways you will sell.
This section of your business plan looks at your own strengths versus the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. Few businesses are without competition, and you should know who they are and what hold on the market they have. Is there already a goat-milk soap business in town? Can the area support two? Do they set up at a farmers market or just sell in boutiques? These are things that should be analyzed here and considered, so you can carve out your own niche in the market.
17.Goat Farming Business: Learn Record-Keeping
Your business may or may not be profitable in the first couple of years, but you need to be able to see for yourself what about it is and is not working when raising goats for profit. This is why you need to prioritize keeping good records. A good balance sheet and a good budget can make or break any business. Include your strategy for these in your business plan.
While it might not seem you’re ever ready to make the leap from farm dream to full-fledged farm business, with a business plan in hand, you have a good chance at turning your goat farm into a success.
Conclusion
While there are numerous other creature husbandry farming sectors like Grass cutter farming, cattle rearing, and more, goat farming is very lucrative. This is because of its appeal and attractive export value. As a goat farmer selling hundreds or even thousands of goats yearly, you could overtime fabricate an agribusiness conglomerate beginning with simply these creatures.
If you need a complete business plan, please let us know. Or, you want us to help you set up this business, kindly contact us. Otherise, Please check out these other business ideas you can do.
