The Sunday News
Farming issues with Mhlupheki Dube
LAST week’s article on the need for livestock farmers to diversify their production enterprises generated quite some interest among the readership of the column. Consequently, this week we develop on the topic giving some flesh on the areas readers wanted clarified.
Firstly, we look at the advantages of trying to establish a goat production enterprise compared to cattle ranching.
Goat production demands less capital, be it setting up handling facilities or buying in the animals. Indigenous does will cost you between US$35 to US$100 depending on the area you are buying from and the farmer you are buying from, while indigenous heifers will cost you anything from US$250 to US$400.
Exotic breeds will cost more for both goats and cattle. This means on a pound for pound basis, it is cheaper to set up a goat production enterprise compared to cattle production.
The second most important consideration is the reproductive multiplication factor. Goats will give you kids at least twice a year and, in some cases, they will give you twins. This means one will realise a return on his or her investment much faster when invested in goat production than in cattle production.
While it may take you up to three years for a heifer to drop the first calf, a doe would have multiplied several times including its offspring.
Also, if one experiences massive losses due to either mortality or predation, it is easier for the goat production to spring back in terms of numbers compared to cattle. Another important factor to consider is the feed requirement as this has a bearing on the land holding one needs as well as survival rates against recurrent droughts.
Goats will naturally need much smaller grazing and browsing space in comparison to cattle production. This means a goat farmer can set up a successful enterprise in a small plot which ordinarily may not be able to hold more than three herd of cattle. Again, as stated in previous articles goats will have a better survival chance against droughts because they graze and browse almost in equal proportions, meaning if the grazing runs out as it always does, goats will switch to browsing the available tree leaves, barks and pods.
It is very rare to record poverty deaths in goats but in cattle these occur almost every year.
Also, in terms of drinking water, goats will need far much less volumes of drinking water compared to cattle which need at least 50 litres per animal per day. This means that if you have 20 cattle you will need about five drums (1 000 litres) of water for them every day.
This can be a huge order during the dry season where some farmers get water from the river beds (imifuku) for their animals. Imagine trying to drain 1 000 litres every day from under a very dry river bed! However, having pointed out advantages of setting up a goat production enterprise over cattle production, it is important to mention that one of the challenges in goat production can be high kid mortality.
This is usually a management factor hence with improved management, kid mortality will drop. Usually kid mortality is a function of two main factors, which are predation and disease due to poor housing.
Inappropriate housing will result in goat kids contracting diseases and dying and this can be a setback on the production enterprise.
Another important factor in goat production is the market.
The goat production value chain is not as organised as cattle production especially as it relates to markets.
While the market has been developing over the last few years as more farmers get into goat production big time, more still needs to happen.
It is easier for a livestock farmer to dispose of 100 cattle than it is for the same number of goats. There are a number of reasons for that but one major one is that most of our indigenous goats are smaller framed and hence they fail to meet the dress out percentage as demanded by most abattoirs.
Most abattoirs would want a goat that yields at least 19 kilogrammes of meat after slaughter and most of our indigenous goats cannot go that far.
This obviously brings in the need to infuse better genetics into your flock through cross breeding.
Lastly, it would be inappropriate for me to sign out without giving health advice to my readers in view of the coronavirus. Let’s keep safe and observe whatever we are being told to do by the responsible authorities. As they have indicated, its all hands on the deck if we are to win the fight against this disease.
Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
Feedback [email protected]/ cell 0772851275.
