How to Raise Goats Profitably Goat raising is gaining popularity as an enterprise among farmers and entrepreneurs in the country. It could be the main enterprise with other goat-based technologies or activities as allied enterprises. The products of the main enterprise could be meat or milk depending on the breed of goats raised and the associated technologies in production. Technological Options Proven to Improve Productivity For goat raising to become productive and profitable, there is a basket of options that raisers could choose from which were developed from various R&D projects implemented in the past. PCARRD along with international partners, implemented projects on feeding and health from the late 1990s to the middle of the new millennium. Technologies produced were on different forages as feed for goats, smarter drenching methods, strategic nutritional supplementation and better grazing management. These technologies were later tested on actual farm situations using full participatory approach (Alo, 2008) and were later redesigned by farmers, tailoring them to their needs and realities. Through the Farmer Livestock School (FLS), the farmer-redesigned Basket of Tech-options were promoted to other farmers and further redesigned until a farmworkable basket of options was finally developed. This consisted of the following technologies (Table 1), which became the foundation of technology offerings of succeeding projects such as CASREN and the RED projects. Table 1. Basket of options on technologies for Integrated Goat Management (IGM) Technological Basket Grazing Management

Technological Basket

Alternative Options Complete confinement during the entire wet season: stall-feeding Total confinement yearround: stall-feeding Partial confinem’t-grazing control dur. wet periods

Alternative Options Rapid rotational grazing

Feeding management

Feed supplementation with tree leaves and

Major Resource Requirement Proper housing, Forage garden Labor for stall-feeding Proper housing Capital for Strategic deworming Labor for taking animals to and from grazing area Major Resource Requirement Land, labor and capital for paddock dev’t Labor for taking animals to and from RRG paddock Labor to gather leaves and shrubs

Traditional Practice Displaced

Free grazing Tethering in same spot everyday

Traditional Practice Displaced

Scavenging any available feed 1

Technological Basket

Alternative Options

Major Resource Requirement

shrubs and MPTS

Worm control

Breeding management

Waste management

Concentrate supplementation Feed block supplementation Urea-treated rice straw supplementation Strategic use of chemical drenches Use of medicated feed blocks Regular use of leaves with anthelmintic properties (herbal medicine) Controlled breeding --timing of kidding to dry months Use of improved bucks -- upgrading (even threebreed crossing) Selection of good native breeds for breeding

Manure for biogas Manure as organic fertilizer Manure as fish food

Traditional Practice Displaced from all possible areas

Capital to buy or produce supplements

Capital to buy drenches Capital to buy or produce blocks Labor to gather leaves and shrubs

Labor to manage breeding

Capital to buy or linkages to borrow exotic or upgraded bucks

Capital for and knowledge of biogas set up Area for compost pit

Slaughtering or selling at bargained prices when diarrhea strikes

Breed anywhere, anytime, any goat resulting to inbreeding, high neonatal mortalities during wet months and mortalities in kidding No waste management program

* Source: Venturina, Virginia M. and Alo, Anna Marie P. 2005. “Farmer-developed worm control options for goats in the Philippines”. Technical Advisory Notes on Sustainable Parasite Control for Small Ruminants in Southeast Asia. Los Baños, Laguna: ILRI-IFAD Sustainable Parasite Control Project.

Over the next decade, other technologies were produced that can also improve goat productivity. On feeds and feeding. As an offshoot of the implementation of the CLARRDEC R & D program on goat, CLSU recently developed the protocol and the product called the pelletized total mixed ration (TMR) for goats, which increased the weight of goats by 0.78 kg and reduced labor by 17.8 hours after 120 days of feeding. Similarly, lactating does fed with TMR increased milk yield by 6.3 li and reduced labor by 15.6 2

hours after 105 days. The net benefit of feeding TMR is P183/head and P825/head for growing and lactating goats, respectively. These proved that feeding TMR could improve productivity and reduce labor cost of both growing and lactating goats (Orden, et al, 2011). On breeding. The implementation of the buck-line or doe-line project improved the performance of native goats in five villages of Balungao, Pangasinan. Ten ready to breed animals (5 purebred Anglo Nubian for the doe line and 5 Boer for the buck line) were provided to selected goat raisers. The infusion of quality bucks and quality does resulted in bigger F1 progenies (Orden, et al., 2011). Birthweight of kids under buckline breeder operation was 2.6 kg while under doe-line breeder operation was 2.23 kg, much bigger than the reported birthweight of kids raised in backyard farms in Region 3 under the National Goat Farm Production Performance (Cruz, et al, 2011) which is 1.9kg in 2010. The CVARRD Regional Goat Program on Enhancement of AI and Meat Processing technologies towards Production of Quality Slaughter Goats in Cagayan Valley implemented in 2009 has tested two delivery systems for AI application in selected municipalities in Cagayan Valley. The systems included the goat AI delivery system into the Unified National AI Program, which initially involved only large ruminants. Different key players such as the DA, PVO and LGU technicians and private inseminators were tapped to bring AI to rural areas. Because of this project, slaughter weights of stocks produced, which were dominated by upgrades of Boer and Nubian lineage, increased markedly. Meat recovery rates also improved with the infusion of exotic bloodlines (Table 2). Table 2. Resultant improvements in weight and recovery rates due to upgrading interventions (RED and CVARRD Regional Goat Programs, 2011) Increase in weight by generation

Recovery rate by bloodline

F1 - 57% F2 - 44% F3 - 31% F4 - 26% Native - 50.72% Crossbred Anglo Nubian - 61% Crossbred Boer - 65.57% Purebred Anglo Nubian - 61.07% Purebred Boer - 65.57%

3

Alternative Goat-based Technologies A.

Stall feeding as an alternative to traditional grazing

Goat raising is traditionally under grazing system. However, there is higher risk of parasitism especially during rainy season. Staff feeding is an alternative for goats that are under partial or complete confinement. There are differences in these two systems (Table 3).

Table 3. Comparison of free grazing and staff feeding systems in goat production Requirements Feed Housing Labor Knowledge on feed needed by the animal

Advantages

Disadvantages

System of Goat Production Free grazing/tethering Stall feeding Vegetation grew on vacant lots or Adequate supply of quality fallowed areas feed from worm-free sources Simple shed (animals were grazed Housing/structures that allow or tethered during the day) feeding of animals Minimal labor Labor extensive Uncalled for because the animals Important; quality and amount are free to choose variety of plants of feed needed by the (feed) available in the area animals should be well known Animals can choose a variety of Reduced risk of plant species parasitism/disease Fenced grazing area: minimized Protect crops from labor destruction of goats Unfenced: labor required (shepherd) Simple shed is enough Reduce risk of theft and predation Facilitates use of other feed resources thereby increases use of limited area Enable easy monitoring, control breeding, husbandry practices implementation; improves animal performance Allows maximum manure collection Destruction of crops by the goats Labor intensive High risk of parasitism Capital for pen construction is more expensive High risk of theft Breeding can’t be controlled

4

B.

Alternative feeds for goats

The shift from tethering/free grazing to stall-feeding or intensive feeding management requires sufficient supply of quality feed materials year-round so as not to affect animal’s productivity. Hence, alternative feed resources were identified and processed forage products were developed to meet the higher nutritional requirements of goats for growth and milk production. These feed resources are classified as follows: Classification of alternative feeds • Shrubs and tree leaves/pods - fresh leaves and pods of leguminous tree species - with high crude protein (CP) content - more degradable organic matter than grasses and dried roughage materials - multi-purpose tree species (MPTS) such as Ipil-ipil, Kakawate, Katuray, Rensonii, Flemingia • Fibrous agro-industrial materials - by-products/residues of agricultural and industrial processing - contain relatively high amount of crude fiber - examples: rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, banana rejects, soybean hull, brewer’s spent grains • Concentrate feeds - by-products of rice milling or brewery - considered energy feeds - plant protein supplements as by-products of copra production and tofu processing - examples: rice bran, rice middlings, brewer’s spent grains, copra meal, fermented soybean curd • Mineral supplements - locally available mineral sources - Examples: limestone, ground snail and oyster shells • Processed feeds - fresh forage processed into leaf meal or legume hay - also includes lick blocks (corn silage, UMMB/UMMT) and forage-based pelleted feeds • Non-Protein-Nitrogen - nitrogen rich compounds but not necessarily protein sources that can be used in feeding goats. - provide N in the rumen for microbial protein synthesis (MPS) - examples: Urea and chicken manure

5

C.

Stock upgrading as an alternative to traditional breeding management

Native ve goats are genetically small with slower rate of growth than imported breeds of goats. To improve the genetic make make-up up of native goats upgrading could be done using Anglo Nubian, Boer or other exotic breeds that are adapted to local condition. To facilitate the upgrading of the native herd, a purebred or highly improved buck should be introduced. Upgrading can be attained by allowing the native does to mate with a purebred buck. The first filial (F1) generation will then bear 50% of the improved breed. Then, on the F2, the infusion of the improved stock will be 75% and 87.5% in the third filial generation (Figure 1). In this system, buck being used per generation should belong to one distinct breed but mating among relatives should not be allowed to avoid inbreeding.

Figure 1. Development of upgraded native goats using purebred bucks until 3rd filial generation

6

Advantages dvantages of raising upgraded goats There are several advantages in u upgrading native goats with Anglo Nubian or Boer.. Upgraded goats are bigger than native goats at different physiological stages (Figure 2). Att mature age of 8 months, months, upgraded goats is about 40% heavier than native goats. They can be sold at a relatively higher price because they are a bigger resulting in a higher market value. value At a farm price of Php120/kg, upgraded goats weighing 21kg has a value of more than P2,500 while native goats s weighing 15kg has a value of only Php1,800 00 per head. Moreover, upgrading also implies shorter rearing period for upgrades to attain the same weight of native goats under the same management practices. Therefore, cost saving could be achieved through upgrading (Orden, et al., 2005). The following advantages can also be observed in raising upgraded upgrad goats: improved reproductive performance, improved capacity to produce milk, increase in body size, and improved potentials for growth rate for early slaughter

Body Weight (kg)

• • • •

36 33 30 27 24 21 18 15 12 9 6 3 0

Native Upgraded 3-way cross Anglo-Nubian Boer

Birth wt.

One month

Weaning wt.

8 mos. Wt.

Figure 2.. Growth performance of the 3-way 3 way crossbreed, native, upgrades, Anglo Nubian, and Boer under CLSU conditions, 2004-2006. 2004

7