Top 17 Goat Farming Business Tips

Goat Farming Business: How to Start goat farming business in Nigeria is the focus of my discussion today.

Goat farming is one of the most rewarding creature rearing business anyone can engage in anywhere on the planet.

Goat meats are widely accepted and consumed round the globe.

Goat milk is likewise picking up in prominence and is being sold in supermarkets over the United States.

Europe and Asia possess the greater part of the goat market.

Here in Nigeria, the goat goat milk is still not yet widely consumed because farmers are not yet exploiting the open door.

Would you be the farmer to make this happen?

The meat is believed to be the best animal meat available anywhere in the market for good reasons.

Not exclusively does the meat taste great.

It is likewise lower in fat than chicken yet contains higher protein than beef. that makes it better than chicken and beef.

Goat meat has a unique taste that is very hard to describe yet very appealing to the taste bud.

There are other products that can be derived from Goat goat milk.

For example, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and butter.

Anything that dairy animals goat milk can offer, goat goat milk can likewise offer.

These are the reasons goat farming is considered by wise farmers as a very lucrative business.

And it is increasingly becoming very prevalent among modern farmers in Nigeria.

Goat Farming Business

Opportunities In Goat Farming Business in Nigeria

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.

Please read and participate by dropping a comment: Top 19 Good Businesses in Nigeria

Presently, how would you proceed to begin your own goat farming business in an easy and simple way that guarantees benefit and support ability?

How would you begin off in a savvy way that ensures you don’t get your fingers consumed.

Below are what you need and things you need to set up to ensure you get started fast and simple.

Read also: Top 11 Sources of Getting Funding for Business in Nigeria

Goat Farming Business

Step by step instructions to Setup Your Goat Farming Business in Nigeria

Pasture

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.

See also: How to Start Frozen Chicken and Turkey Business in Nigeria

Goat Farming Business
https://www.hobbyfarms.com goat-farming-business-plan

Why is goat farming is a lucrative business?

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.

Read also: How To Start Fruit Juice Business In Nigeria

4. Goat Farming Business: Buy your goats

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”

Read also: 28 Livestock Disease Prevention Tips in Nigeria

6. Goat Farming Business: Housing

Build a suitable house for your goats, house is required to keep them safe from rain and other climate elements like cold.

Goat don’t like terrible conditions. they like to remain indoor when it is drizzling. they like to remain under shade when the weather is hot.

And they like to remain outside and graze when the weather is perfect and enjoyable.

Goat likes some measure of protection when they are inside. so it is required you manufacture separate houses for few number of goats.

Or,  you build it in a way that it will be open enough to give each creature some level of security.

Goats like setting down and chew the string while resting in a quiet condition.

Make sure the housing is made comfortable for them.

Some even suggested fabricating canine house for each goat.

See also: 8 Tips to Start Livestock Farming Business in Nigeria

7. Goat Farming Business: Species

There are large number of goat breeds suitable for different purposes of rearing.

Some are very good for goat milk production, some are good for the meat, other are preferable for the fiber.

However, there are species that can combine all that.

Some does well in certain area than the other, you need to go for the one that is most prominent in your territory.

They could be important reason why farmers prefer certain species in your environment.

Check the rundown for available goat breeds in your nation and choose as indicated by what you need.

Having decided on the goat breeds to go for, source for healthy children.

It must have history of De-worming and Vaccination.

Goat is susceptible to stomach worm and other internal parasites.

Get the healthiest of goats possible to begin with.

8. Goat Farming Business: Veterinarians

You should have appointment with a veterinary Doctors near you for periodic checkup and immunization.

This is very important since you hope to keep the mortality at the lowest or completely eliminated.

You can use Government agencies near you or choose a private vet specialist.

With all these in place, you are very good to go in your goat rearing business.

Since goat does not necessarily feed on processed animal feeds.

Your cost of production will be profoundly reduced because they will be eating regular nutritious plants in their pasture that develops all alone.

Related: Top 10 Chemicals for Veterinary Business in Nigeria

9. 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.

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.

17.  Goat Farming Business: Assessing Risks/Strengths

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. 

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