Question: Why are we advised to cull our ewes and does? Surely it’s better to keep all the females for breeding? Keeping all breeding animals can result in less breeding. The aims of farming are to produce food for the farmer’s family and also extra lambs or kids to sell…
Breeding to improve animal production entails the upgrading or improvement of a breed in respect of specific characteristics. An expert explains how to do this. Animals that have poor characteristics shouldn’t be used for breeding, but those that have good characteristics should be retained as parents for the next generation of…
The most important objective of small stock farming is to produce lambs or kids. Most of them are sold and the rest are kept for breeding. To ensure successful breeding, they must be fed properly. Here are some guidelines. The number of lambs or kids that reach weaning or slaughtering…
You’ve decided to farm with goats, but how do you know which breed is best? Here’s a guide to selecting the right goat for your needs. The type of goat you buy depends on whether you want to farm with goats for meat or milk production. Once you’ve established this,…
Every sheep or goat farmer wants to have as many healthy lambs or kids as possible on a regular basis. Follow these tips to maximise your results. Rams must be functionally effective, in other words they must have healthy reproductive organs and strong, healthy legs. Test your rams for fertility.…
Question: Could you tell me which formulas I can use as self-mix lick supplements for goats and sheep in summer and winter, and which feed lick can be used to grow weaners (sheep and goats)? The most important source of food is always the natural veld or artificial pasture. If…
We continue our series about raising kids and lambs. Here, we deal with management. Ensure that ewes or does have been checked for udder health, that their vaccinations are up to date and that they are properly fed. Also read: Protect your assets and vaccinate sheep and goats by following this…
Question: What are the nutritional requirements for raising kids and lambs? Nutrition starts with the mother. If ewes or does are poorly fed while pregnant, the offspring won’t grow well inside the mother. They’ll be small, weak and thin at birth and liable to die from factors such as cold, wind,…
To improve production, enhance your available grazing and provide supplements for nutrient deficiencies – especially during feed shortages. One of the best things a sheep or goat farmer can do is to plan lambing for when grazing is plentiful, because the lambs will then have a better chance of survival.…
It’s early on a Monday morning, and Dr. Eric Zeli has just started doing rounds at Zambia’s Cancer Diseases Hospital in Lusaka. As he pauses at a bed to examine a 40-something female patient, he lets out a gasp. “Oh my God” he says excitedly. “You are looking great.” Performing…
Question: There have been recent media reports about deaths from Listeriosis in people in South Africa. Does the disease also occur in animals? Listeriosis does occur in animals and is caused by a bacterium [germ] called Listeria monocytogenes. Three syndromes occur, and these are meningitis and encephalitis, abortions or still-births, and…
The South African meat goat industry (Boer goats and Kalahari Reds) is gathering so much interest that Boer goat clubs can’t keep up with the demand for breeding material. Due to the widespread drought last season, many farmers were forced to sell their animals, but they have kept ewes to…
Question: How much water should I give my goats, and how often should they drink? What kind of water is suitable for them? Many variables affect water intake, such as the amount of moisture in the grazing, the temperature, how far and fast the animals walk, pregnancy, milk production, wool…
Farmers have to keep rams in top condition to ensure good reproductive performance and profitability in a small stock herd. Rams have a very important role in sheep production. But, although they are the most expensive animals on the farm, they sometimes don’t receive the correct attention until they are…
Question: I want to start a feedlot for goats. Could you please tell me how to start the business, and how to develop feeding formulas? It isn’t easy to make a success of sheep and goat feedlots. It may seem odd, but you have to start at the end and…
This five-point assessment method allows farmers to identify several diseases and parasites in their small livestock. This enables you to diagnose and prevent diseases and death on your farm. 1. NOSE AREA Nasal discharge By checking the nose, you can immediately see if there are any sign of nasal worm…
Question: We started a goat farming project, but the goats have suffered from chlamydia right from the start. What can we do to prevent this disease? Before we discuss treatment or prevention, we need to be absolutely sure that the goats are suffering from chlamydiosis and not something else. Infected…
Question: How can I tell if my goats are pregnant? The only completely reliable and practical test today is ultrasonic scanning. The machine has a handset (probe), which is held against the goat’s belly near her udder. It emits very high-pitched sounds that cannot be heard by humans, but these…
Need some advice and information on small stock farming? Look no further, we compiled all of the sheep and goat articles produced on Africanfarming.com so far in this one post, so you as a farmer can have all the information in one place. GENERAL Putting goat farming on the map…
This comprehensive digital textbook is called the Goat Production Handbook and was compiled by Mdukatshani, Heifer International South Africa and the KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture and rural development. Click on this link to download the book in PDF format: Goat Production Handbook Information compiled by Dr. Faffa Malan, veterinary consultant Content…
Dr. Pierre Jansen van Vuuren, of MSD Animal Health, presents a useful video on good practices for medicating small stock. He discusses animal handling facilities and demonstrates the subcutaneous and the intramuscular injection. He also shows how to apply pour-on dips, how to do spot treatment and a method for…
Vaccine programmes differ from area to area and even from farm to farm, depending on temperature, rainfall, season, local disease outbreaks, farm specific resistance and resilience and of course - management. There is no one-size-fits-all schedule. It’s up to you to make sure that your particular programme caters for your…
There is no room for inefficient livestock farming if we are to become food secure on the continent. For this to happen there must be transfer of health care knowledge through extension services in the livestock industry. Small-scale commercial livestock farmers who farm cattle and small-stock on communal grazing lands…
It’s that time of the year when the air is filled with the sound of young goats bleating for their mothers. Lambing season comes with extra work for the stockman who needs to keep his eyes on the flock and his mortalities down. Raising healthy lambs has a lot to…
