By Dr. Ruth Waineina
Record keeping entails collection of relevant information that can help make good decisions and to keep track of activities, production, and important events on a farm. Records should not be complex, rather, they should be limited to only necessary information. Complex records will probably increase chances of making mistakes or they may not be regularly kept because of the time required to properly fill out the records.
Types of records kept at the farm
There are numerous types of records that can be kept. The producer should keep records of information relevant to the type of enterprise he/she is operating and limited to information that can be utilized. The major types of records kept on any dairy goat farming enterprise describe information on:
i) Identification
ii) Breeding
iii) Production
iv) Feeding
v) Health
vi) Finances
Identification Records
Identification records include identification information of individual farms and individual goats. Keeping of identification records enables farmers to easily track their dairy goats from birth through their production life to death. Individual farm identification;
- Name of the farm
- Farm code
- Farm location
Individual dairy goat identification;
- Animal name
- Animal ID
- Parentage records
Breeding (Reproduction Records)
Breeding records should show information on:
- Pedigree (parentage)
- Individual phenotypic performance
- Progeny (offspring)
Goat breeding records form an important basis of selection,sale and culling decisions. Breeding records for does will show information about;
- Dates of mating
- Pregnancy diagnosis
- Age at first kidding
- Kidding dates
- Kidding interval
- Kidding ease
- Sex of the kid
- Body condition score
- Type of birth
- Weaning dates
Production (Performance) Records
These are records maintained to show the flock performance.The best way of keeping production record is to maintain individual performance record. These records are later combined to give the flock performance production.Records however, differ based on the objective of the farm.
For dairy production, the important records are:
- Milk yield
- Parity
- Lactation length
- Milking method i.e., hand milking or machine milking
- Milk consumed at home
- Milk sold
Feeding Records
They give information about the amount, type and quality of the feed. They are used both for day-to-day management and adjustment of the feed ration. Together with the production data, they can be used to adjust feeding regimes if a milking doe needs more concentrate, or help in decisions
about examining dairy goats whose growth rates are poor.
They can also be used for planning of activities related to feed conservation and establishment of grazing areas in the following season. The important feeding records are:
- Type of fodder available on farm
- Quantity and type fed and if possible, quality of differentfeeds
- Concentrate supplemented
- Minerals
- Left-over (per head and per feed, if possible)and spoilage (per batch)
- Consumption /kg/day and consumption per group (kid, weaners, milkers and dry does).
Health Records
Health records comprise disease and treatment information that help to keep track of the disease events for each dairy goat during its lifetime. This can guide in better management practices by providing greater attention to repeated events or certain vulnerable groups of dairy goats over time. They provide information about the health status of each dairy goat and the whole flock, and it can help in ensuring important routine health procedurese.g., vaccinations are given at the right time. On basis of the disease and treatment records, it is easier to monitor and evaluate the progress of interventions, be they prophylaxis or treatment.Health records can for example involve:
- Disease occurrence and date
- Major signs
- Vaccination
- Dipping/spraying
- Treatment
- De-worming
Financial Records
Financial records provide the farmer with information concerning the profitability of the farm.They are important in timely decision making.
They include records on:
- Expenses (for feed, dairy goat purchase,health, labour etc.)
- Income (from selling farm products – milk, live dairy goat, meat, manure, feeds etc.)
- Profit/Loss
- Loan/Credit
- Debtors/Creditors
Why you should keep records
Records are important in dairy goat farming because they assist in;
- Keeping track of all dairy goats (identificationrecords).
- Evaluation of dairy goat for selection (breeding records, financial records, production records).
- Taking control of inbreeding and aid in breeding planning (breeding records).
- Selecting dairy goats with the right characteristics for breeding (production, health, feed efficiency) to improve the flock.
- Rationalizing labour.
- Feed planning and management.
- Disease management; keeping track of treatment and disease control (health records).
- Assessing profitability/losses (financial records).
- Improving bargaining power on products,because you can see the investment and the cost of the production (financial records).
- Access to credit services (production and financial records).