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Why Goats?
| Goats can be kept even if the land available is
small. One of the obstacles to the keeping of dairy cows is
the expense of building and maintaining suitable housing. In
the case of goats, a low-grade cross requires very simple housing.
Even in the case of high-grade animals, it is possible to construct
houses entirely from locally available materials. |
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In many parts of Tanzania milk is scarce and
expensive, generally in these areas the diet is high in starch
but low in fat and protein which milk could provide. Dairy
goats provide an excellent opportunity for such people to
improve the quality of their diet while increasing the overall
productivity of their farm.
Information sourced from www.joygoats.org.uk |
Goats milk is easier to digest than cows milk,
and also much less liable to cause problems of 'allergy' (intolerance).
For this reason it is particularly useful for infant feeding.
It must be stressed that the best milk for a baby is its mothers
own milk, but if this is unavailable, or at weaning, goats
milk is the next best choice.
www.joygoats.org.uk |
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Dairy goats are fast-growing, but tend to be
thin. However, if the females are mated to meat males, the
kids have excellent properties for meat production. Sale of
young goats provide lump sum income for school fees, medical
bills etc., and are an important part of the economics of
goat keeping.
www.joygoats.org.uk |
Small East African (SEA) is the
name given to a type of goat which is found throughout Eastern
Africa including Tanzania.
These goats are predominantly kept for meat. They grow slowly,
but have a heavy-set conformation.
Among the valuable characteristics of these goats is a tolerance
to heartwater (an endemic tick-borne disease) and worms and
possibly other diseases such as mange.
The hides give a good quality leather.
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Boer goat is a highly meat productive
goat breed which originated from South Africa. They are
of very big sized goat among the other popular meat goat
breeds. They also produce milk highly, but mostly suitable
for meat production. Boer goats are generally white colored
with red or brown heads. There are also some completely
brown or white colored Boer goats. They have a pair of long
and pendulous ear. They are very fast growing goat breeds
and for this reason they are very suitable and most of the
farmers prefer them for commercial goat farming purpose.
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| Even without expensive high-energy supplements
('concentrates'), a good dairy goat can produce 2 litres of
milk a day, just feeding on the greenstuff available to local
farmers.
One of the best fodder crops is Moringa. |
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Moringa inclusion at all levels increased
nutrient intake, improved digestibility and nitrogen utilization
with the highest values being observed with the sole Moringa
foliage diet. Average body weight gain also increased with
increasing levels of Moringa foliage. The highest performances
in terms of feed intake, nutrient digestion, nitrogen utilization
and bodyweight gain was obtained from the sole Moringa supplemented
goat. It can be concluded that Moringa foliage could be
replaced satisfactorily with up to 100% inclusion level.
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Research sourced from Evaluation
of Moringa Foliage (Moringa oleifera) as Goat Feed
Just US $50 will enable
our team in Tanzania to purchase a goat.
Contact us for further information
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