Goat farming and production in Nepal

Introduction
Goat (Capra hircus) is one of the important domestic animal of Nepalese farming
system and is known as poor man’s cow. It belongs to the bovine family and
closely related to sheep. It is also the most preferred domestic animal among all
kind of farmers as even landless and non crop growing households also rear goats
for household consumption and commercial purpose. It is one of the profitable
and fast growing livestock business in most parts of Nepal. Many people are
attracted towards goat farming due to the increase in meat demand. Besides the
meat production goats are good source of milk, organic manure and wool. The
milk of goat is preferred all over the world. The breed of goats like Sannen and
Sarda are reared for milk production. Being the important farm component of
farming system they are found in every geographical regions of Nepal, however
there is a huge variation in indigenous breed of goats available in different
regions.
The indigenous breeds of goats found in Terai are generally Jamunapari, Khari&
Terai goats and the famous imported breeds is boer goat is also growing well in
Nepal.
Types of goat farms in Nepal
1. Extensive
They are not commercial producer and have very less land for the goat farming.
They rear very few numbers of goat for the meat and manure purpose. They don’t
have proper shed for goats.
2. Semi-intensive
They are semi commercial type farmers and don’t have technically well build
shed but have larger number of goats in their shed and they earn good amount of
profit with goat farming. They lack technical knowledge and technicians.
3. Intensive
They generally have large numbers of goats with a lot of technically built goat
shed, feed required concentrations and ration as well as highly nutritious fodder
crops. They have access to a veterinary technicians and their production purpose
is solely meat.
Demand and supply of goat meat in Nepal
Goat meat is preferred by all the castes of Nepal except Limbu. The demand of
goat meat is increasing with the increase in population and urbanization of the
country. Its demand is high during festival seasons. More than 50,000 goats’
heads are imported from India and other countries to fulfill the demand of 61,375
MT. This shows increasing market scope of goat meat in Nepal.
Other products of goat: Milk is one of the important product of goat because it
contains high amount of calcium, Phosphorus, chlorine and vitamins. It contains
high amount of vitamin B1 which is useful in relieving symptoms of stress. Goat’s
milk has low sugar hence it is also good for those people suffering from diabetes
it is low in cholesterol and high fat content and can be a good replace to cow &
buffalo milk.
Wool and organic manure are other products that can be obtained and utilized.
The breed of goat like chyangra are the good source of wool production which is
used to made local woolen products in our country.
Goat commercialization & management
In spite of its huge market scope, in most places of Nepal goat farming is still
subsistence type people rear them for the meat, manure and wool purpose but in
recent days goat farming is becoming interesting business because people are
attracted towards the commercialization mostly the own return from the foreign
employment. To rear goats there are some management practices to be done
before.
1. Management of goat shed
Management of shed is also a major factors contributing in the production
efficiency of goats. House should be built considering the number of goats. Every
goat need proper floor space depending on their size & age. Each goats needs
floor space of about 10 to 12 square ft. for their easy movement. The housing for
the pregnant doe & kids should be separate from flock. The housing of goat
should be built in the elevated area and shed should have the proper ventilation
and water proof roof. Both open and close type of housing can be built depending
on their need & availability of resource for the better growth & development of
goats.
2. Selection of breed
Selection of good breed plays a great role in successful goat farming. When we
select a good breed then only high production can be expected. The breed which
is famous across the area and with good performance should be selected. The
cross breed available in market need more care but they perform good in term of
production compared to the local breed of goats. Hence the selection should be
appropriate. Selection of mating buck should be done carefully for the better
future of goat farming.
Some of the common breed of goats in Nepal
S.N Name of Geographical Purpose of Availability
breed regions rearing
1 Khari Hills and inner Meat 56.2%%
valley
2 Boer Hills and terai Meat & breeding
3 Jamunapari Terai and mid hills Meat
4 Sinhal Hills and mountains Meat 15.6%
5 Sannen Terai Milk & meat
6 Terai goat Terai Meat 27.2%
7 Chyangra High hills & Meat and wool 1%
mountains
8 Barbari Hills Meat

3. Feed and fodder

Feed and fodder are also important parts of goat farming. In small level farm
people depends on forest but in large commercial farm it is very important of feed
nutritious fodder and feed to goats for high production. So the fodder plants like
Bakaino, Napier grass, Dabdabe, should be grown around the farm. In small farm
farmer graze or feed in stall.
1. Legume fodder crops
- Cow pea, stylo, Leucerne
2. Cereal fodder
  Maize, sorghum
3. Grass fodder
 Para grass, Napier
4. Tree fodder
 Sesbania, Taki, Koiralo, Bakaino, Dabdabe, Khanyo
Rice bran, wheat bran and crushed maize are the main feed concentrates of goats
in Nepal. The concentrates is given according to the sex, age and condition. For
the castrated male, growing buck and post-delivery does should be fed 2-3 times a
day with regular watering but salt should be given once in a week normally.
4. Care and management
Castration: Castration is the removal of testis from male goat. It can be done by
both burdizzo castrator or by open surgical method depending on availability of
machines and expert. Castration should be done within the 2-5 months of birth of
male goat it will help in fast growing of goat and increase the meat quality as well
as quantity. Uncastrated male disturb other animal in flocks and they don’t give
quality meat, hence only the buck with breeding purpose should be kept
uncastrated.
Male and female ratio should be maintained at 1:25 (male: female). Male and
female goat should be kept in separate stall to check the unnecessary mating
except mating time. Breeding of goat can be done by both artificial insemination
and buck mating. Generally female goat hit puberty from 5 to 18 months.
Consider the best breeding age is between 11-12 months. The breeding buck
should be of high breed and best breeding time is daily during estrus. Caring your
goat in different stages of growth is vital for reducing mortality and disease
spread. Newly born goat children nose and entire body should wiped with clean
dry cloth in case of mother goat is unable to clean. After delivery of goat, make
sure the kids get mommy’ milk (colostrum) which contains high nutrition.

5. Disease
Goats prefer to live in a clean and dry places by nature but mostly that hygiene is
rarely maintained hence there is chance to introduce disease and parasite in goat.
Most common problems seen are FMD, PPR, Bloat, Diarrhea, cough etc. in goat
farming. Use of locally available medicine is used in most of rural goat farming
people but the proper vaccination should be done to reduce the risk of disease and
incase if animal is diseased proper medication should be done.
Also the management of external and internal parasites are the major challenges
seen in goat production. For the healthy production of goats the deworming
should be done in time. Internal & external parasite reduces the meat quality and
production as well.
TABLE: VACCINATION TABLE FOR GOATS
S.N Name of Time Table
Disease
Primary vaccination Regular Vaccination
1. Anthrax At the age of 6 month for kid Once Annually (In
or lamb Affected area only)
2. Haemorrhagic At the age of 6 month for kid Once Annually Before
Septicemia (H.S or lamb monsoon
.)
3. Enterotoxaemia At the age of 4 month for kid Before monsoon
or lamb (If dam is (Preferably in May).
vaccinated) Booster vaccination after
At the age of 1st week for kid 15 days of first
or lamb(If dam is not vaccination.
vaccinated)
4. Black Quarter At the age of 6 month for kid Once Annually (Before
(B.Q) or lamb monsoon)
5. P.P.R. At the age of 3 month for kid Once in three years
or lamb & above
6. Foot & mouth At the age of 4 month for kid Twice in a
disease (F.M.D.) or lamb & above year (September &
March)
7.. Goat Pox At the age of 3 month & Once Annually
above for Kid (December month)
8. C.C.P.P At the age of 3 month & Once Annually (January
above for Kid or lamb month)
Source: Dr. J. Tamizhkumaran, Veterinarian
 6. Market
Goat market is well managed in the rural areas of Nepal whereas in urban areas
farmers are not satisfied with goat market. Farmers take goat farming as the
source of liquid money income because they can sell goats whenever they need it.
One of the major problem in goat market is middle man trend as in other
agricultural products. Because of this problems real farmers are not benefited
Slaughtering of goats and selling of meat is easy and common practices in rural
areas of Nepal. They don’t need any special market for it. All ages of goats can be
sold for the different purpose in Nepalese market. Not only the meat but goat’s
wool and manure have high value. Skin of goat is used to made different products
in industries. The lacking knowledge of suitable age of goat selling is also a
problem in Nepalese goat market. Now days customer have direct contact with
the commercial goat farmers that makes easier for selling goats.
Opportunity and challenges of goat farming in Nepal
Every opportunity come with challenge. There is huge possibility for the
production of goat because of the increasing in meat demand and meat industries
with the increment in population & daily meat consumption is taken as the sign of
quality life. The community forest of Nepal add benefit for the production of
goats because it help to fulfill the demand of fodder. Nepal is a agricultural
country and they practice agroforestry & livestock based farming system means
fodder trees are grown around agricultural field it somehow help to manage the
fodder problem. Ministry of Agriculture & livestock development Nepal and
different INGOs, NGOs like heifer are making a lot effort to praise the goat
farming by giving grants, subsidy & training to the farmers. Heifer international is
working for the development of goat farming by providing the breeding buck and
doe in different places of Nepal. Insurance facility helps to reduce the risk of goat
farming as well.
The investment of private sector is high in the goat farming. Different types of
training has been conducted in different places of Nepal that increase the interest
of people in goat farming. With the consumption all over the country among all
the cultural, social and ethnic groups, goat meat is the second most consumed
meat in Nepal after buffalo meat, and constitutes for a quarter of all meat
consumed despite the highest cost per unit weight. Goat meat industry has a good
market potential for the budding entrepreneurs and investors if they could
capitalize on the growing market demand.
Some of the challenges in goat meat production
 Lack of proper technology in rearing, breeding and housing management
(space, air flow and slot management).
 No easy access to market information on price, volume traded, market
context of live goat/meat to farmers and traders.
 There is a limited number of goat collection centers in Nepal, and the
existing collection centers are of poor quality lacking reconditioning
facility which results weight-loss up to 20% while handling or transporting
them to the distant market.
 Lack of elite flock based goat resource centers that promotes high-quality
cross breeding facilities.
 Lack of expertise and efforts in processing activities. For instance, there are
very limited slaughterhouses, meat processing factories and deep
fridge/cool centers. Also, the conditions of most of the available
slaughterhouses’ do not meet the standards set by the government under
‘Animal Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act’.
 Poor effort of loan disbursement by the government and high interest rate
in the banking sector are limiting the farmers from scaling up their
production activity.
CONCLUSION
Goat farming is a real profitable business despite of all the challenges. Due to the
effort of traditional knowledge, MOALD & different INGO’s goat farming has
reached to the next level. Increasing in human population demands high animal
protein and goat meat can fulfill their animal protein hunger. Goat farming is
suitable in Nepal also because of no traditional and cultural barrier in goat meat.
Every religions & castes people rear and consume the goat meat. Goat is source
of liquid money for the poor rural people. Establishment of exotic breeds with
superior genetic character in Nepal is luring the people towards goat farming.
Establishment of good market, role of governmental and non-governmental
agencies, private investments are the reasons for the development of goat farming
in Nepal.