Farming Farming Meat Goats Farming Breeding, Production and Marketing Meat Goats Goat meat is growing in popularity and is Meat Goats becoming an important export industry. Breeding, Production It offers many opportunities for large- and small-scale farmers who need to diversify or seek alternative enterprises. This book and Marketing deals specifically with the production of goats for meat and addresses all aspects The author of the industry that the producer is likely Barbara Vincent has worked in a to encounter. It covers selecting and number of Federal Government preparing a property, choosing the departments and has been a breeding stock, breeding, health care livestock consultant for more than and nutrition, drought feeding, condition 15 years. She has been closely involved in cross-breeding of Boer scoring and marketing. and feral goats for meat production One of the key benefits of Farming Meat since the first imports of Boer goats Barbara Vincent Goats is that it will allow farmers to into Australia. Barbara is currently the animal production manager for produce animals to specification for Claravale Park Boer Goat Stud. targeted markets in Australia and overseas including: butchers, supermarkets, restaurants, on-farm live sales, sales to abattoirs that specialise in Halal kills, and breeding stock either as replacements, or for improved herd genetics. Barbara Vincent 040501•00 FMG Page i Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM Farming Meat Goats Breeding, Production and Marketing 040501•00 FMG Page ii Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM This book is dedicated with love to my husband Claude, who personifies the Australian pioneering spirit. ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ 040501•00 FMG Page iii Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM Farming Meat Goats Breeding, Production and Marketing Barbara Vincent 040501•00 FMG Page iv Monday, June 27, 2005 4:33 PM © Barbara Vincent 2005 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact Landlinks Press for all permission requests. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Vincent, Barbara. Farming meat goats: breeding, production and marketing. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 643 06956 9. 1. Goat meat industry – Australia. 2. Goats – Australia. I. Title. 636.3913 Published by and available from Landlinks Press 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 Local call: 1300 788 000 (Australia only) Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.landlinks.com Front cover Photo by Wayne Heidrich, ISIS Town & Country Back cover South African Boer kids, photo by Barbara Vincent Set in 10.5/13 Minion and ITC Stone Sans Cover design by James Kelly Edited by Adrienne de Kretser Index by Russell Brooks Typeset by Desktop Concepts Pty. Ltd. Printed in Australia by BPA Print Group Disclaimer While the author, publisher and others responsible for this publication have taken all appropriate care to ensure the accuracy of its contents, no liability is accepted for any loss or damage arising from, or incurred as a result of any reliance on the information provided in this publication. 040501•00 FMG Page v Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements x Introduction xiii Chapter 1: Will breeding meat goats pay? 1 Calculating a gross margin for sheep, goat and cattle enterprises 3 Selecting and preparing the property 6 Chapter 2: Fencing and yards 8 Electric fencing 8 Mesh fencing 20 Yards 21 Chapter 3: Choosing your breeding stock 25 Which breeds are best? 27 Acquiring your first goats 31 Transporting goats 33 Quarantine and handling of newly arrived goats 34 Identify and record the new stock before release 35 Chapter 4: Breeding season 37 The importance of record-keeping 37 Kidplan 38 Mating age 42 Preparation for breeding 42 040501•00 FMG Page vi Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM vi Farming Meat Goats Oestrus cycle 44 Natural mating 45 Artificial insemination 47 Embryo transplant 50 Pregnancy 52 Abortion 57 Chapter 5: Kidding management 59 Labour and parturition 61 Kidding difficulties 62 Immediately after birth 65 Mothering and mismothering 68 Feeding 71 Diarrhoea 74 Predators 75 Herd guardians 79 Chapter 6: Tagging, marking, vaccinating, weaning and foot-trimming 83 Tagging 83 Marking 86 Vaccinating 88 Weaning 91 Foot-trimming 92 Chapter 7: Nutrition 96 Digestive system 97 Kid nutrition and growth rates 99 Nutrition for older goats 104 Using goats for weed control 120 Chapter 8: Drought feeding and strategies 122 Forward planning 124 Destocking and agistment 126 Breeding issues 128 Alternative feed 128 After the drought 133 Chapter 9: Health 136 Nutritional and metabolic diseases 137 Clostridial diseases 149 Other infectious diseases 155 Other diseases and conditions 158 040501•00 FMG Page vii Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM Contents vii Chapter 10: Parasites 183 Intestinal parasites 183 Control measures: faecal egg counts and drenching 195 External parasites 202 Chapter 11: Poisoning 208 Plant poisoning 209 Urea poisoning 222 Chapter 12: Marketing 225 Body condition scoring 228 Markets and market requirements 232 Domestic market 232 Export market 236 Preparing goats for market 239 Appendix 1: Resources for producers 242 Government departments 243 Agencies, associations, organisations and others 246 Books, CDs and videos 249 Glossary 251 Bibliography 256 Index 267 040501•00 FMG Page viii Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM 040501•00 FMG Page ix Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM Preface When we moved to our property many years ago the previous owner asked if we would mind keeping his daughters’ pet goat, and a few others to keep him company. We agreed, and inherited ‘The Pet’ (the biggest Saanen/Anglo Nubian × wether I’ve ever seen), ‘The Company’ (47 does) and an enormous black cashmere buck that, we assumed, they must have forgotten to mention. So began a love affair with one of the most engaging, intelligent, mischievous and exasperating species of animals that we have ever had the fortune – and misfortune – to know. We have made some errors in the husbandry and breeding of our goats, which were not very good for the bank account or the goats, especially not the dead ones! We hope that the information in this book will help other breeders to avoid some of our mistakes and perhaps benefit from some of the things that we have learnt over the years. Barb Vincent September 2004 040501•00 FMG Page x Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM Acknowledgements I wish to thank the following people and organisations, without whose assistance in providing material and advice, encouragement and support this book could not have been written: • Jason Wyeth, BVSc (Hons), BBioMedSc (Hons), Isis Veterinary Services, Childers, Queensland, for the many hours spent editing the veterinary information contained in Farming Meat Goats: Breeding, Production and Marketing; • Sylvia Atthas, Meat & Livestock Australia, for permission to reproduce graphs from her ‘Fast Facts’ note, Australia’s Goatmeat Industry; • Australian Alpaca Association, for providing photos and information on alpacas; • Dr T. Caceci, for material on the ruminant digestive system; • Cameron Bell, Department of Primary Industries, Water & Environment, Tasmania, for editing text on Johne’s disease; • Jay Canning, Farmers Mailbox, Victoria, for information on horn branding; • Boer Goat Breeders Association of Australia, for permission to reproduce the material ‘Kid Plan’; • C.G. Ciappesoni, PhD student, Spain, for permission to use material from his work on the caprine digestive system; • Anne Cathcart et al. and the Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries, Queensland, for permission to reproduce ‘Calculating a gross margin for sheep, goat and cattle enterprises’ (2001); • Dr Laurie Corbett, author of The Dingo in Australia and Asia, for his helpful information on dingoes; • Mick Doak, Landmark (an AWB company), for information on the Western Australian goat industry; • Robyn English, for her work on Figures 7.4–7.9 in this book; 040501•00 FMG Page xi Sunday, June 19, 2005 5:24 PM Acknowledgements xi • Peter Evans, Ausmeat Pty Ltd, for permission to reproduce Figure 12.7,‘Goatmeat primal cuts’; • Mark Gotthard, Managing Director, Kerridale International Trading Pty Ltd, for information concerning the export market; • Dr Keith Gregg, Murdoch University, WA, for information on fluoroacetate poisoning and research into use of modified rumen bugs to control that poisoning; • Professor George F.W. Haenlein, PhD, Department of Animal & Food Science, University of Delaware, for permission to reproduce material from his work and for his assistance in research for this book; • Jean-Marie Luginbuhl, Associate Professor, Meat Goats and Forage Systems, North Carolina State University, for permission to reproduce material from his work and for assistance above and beyond the call of duty in research for this book; • Dr John MacDonald, District Veterinary Officer, Department of Primary Industries, Alexandra, Victoria, for permission to reproduce ‘Kidding difficulties’; • Dr Ross McKenzie, Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries, Queensland, for permission to use material from his work and for his help in research for this book; • Gregg Markwick, Department