By Dr. Ruth Waineina
Dairy goats require specific husbandry practices to perform optimally. Goat care and management depend on the dairy goat’s age, health status, nutrition and pregnancy status, as well as production needs, the environment, and facilities. Kids need primary care that is different from the older, mature goats. Thus, proper management practices that ensure dairy goat well-being are necessary for optimum production. It is, therefore, imperative that the producer has the capacity needed to perform routine activities and tasks required for good management.
Raising kids
Kid rearing from birth to weaning is a critical management component of a dairy goat enterprise. The kid management programme has the most significant effect on the long-term production and productivity of the dairy goat herd. The dairy goat kid at birth represents a genetic resource necessary to replenish the herd due to death, culling and sales.
Kidding areas should be clean with dry bedding (straw or hay). The doe may be kept in the kidding area for a few days before kidding. The advantage of separating pregnant does from the rest of the herd is to ensure an undisturbed birth process and create good bonding between the doe and kid. It is essential to take good care of kids to reduce mortalities and improve their growth rate.
Kids should suckle the first milk (colostrum) within the first six hours of birth (Figure 1). Colostrum is rich in antibodies that provide immunity to the kid.
If the doe is not producing enough milk for her kid, fostering or bottle feeding is recommended.
From about 3 weeks of age, kids start nibbling grass and leaves. This is important for rumen development. To stimulate rumen development, kids should be introduced to solid feeds such as good-quality hay early in life (in the second week of life).
Weaning
Weaning is the removal of a kid from its mother, and it is usually done at two to three months of age. Kids can try hay and other solids early in life to strengthen their rumen. Weaned young goats will begin to feed on solid food and, at that point, start to pick up diseases such as Coccidiosis. This is a critical time for kids and farmers. Weaners when separated from the does should be given highly nutritious feeds to avoid stress. The feeding should start before weaning by introducing them to high-quality forages.
“Weaned young goats will begin to feed on solid food and, at that point, start to pick up diseases such as Coccidiosis. This is a critical time for kids and farmers.”
Management of doelings
A young doe comes into heat at 4 to 5 months of age, so she must be raised separately from bucks starting at 3 months. Mating should occur at the appropriate time, and a record of dates should be maintained. Doelings should be mated at 1 year of age.
Management of dry does
It should be emphasized that if the doe is not bred, it should not be dried off, even if the milk production has decreased substantially. This is because, if a doe is dried off, it means it will be out of production for at least six months. For a doe that is not dried at the right time of its gestation period,
the following lactation yield will be adversely affected. Thus, the quantity of milk produced is not necessarily an indicator of whether to dry off or not. The best practice to dry off a doe is to milk once a day for 3 to 4 days, then stop milking altogether.
The doe may also be allowed a dry treatment, to clear up any existing infections and to prevent new ones. At three weeks before kidding, each doe should be vaccinated against enterotoxaemia to build immunity for the foetus. It is essential to separate the dry herd from the milking group.
Routine management practices
Kidding/Parturition
The doe should kid in a clean environment; either a well-rotated pasture or stall bedded with straw or other absorbent material. Before birth, the kid as a foetus develops in a germfree environment, and parturition represents exposure to common disease organisms to which the mature dairy goat
has developed resistance but are new to the kid.
The location of the kidding stall or pasture should allow for frequent observation in case of kidding difficulties. Few adult does require assistance at the time of kidding though problems are always a possibility. Does kidding for the first time should be closely monitored, especially if mated to
bucks known to sire large kids. At the birth of a kid, the first thing to check is whether or not the airways are clear.
Clean off any excess mucus from the nostrils and mouth. The following two steps are critical for the future health and survival of the newborn kid. The second step in the care of the newborn kid is to dip the navel cord in a solution of 7% tincture of iodine to prevent entry of disease-causing
organisms through the navel cord directly into the kid’s body. Further, if necessary, a long navel cord can be cut to 3 to 4 inches. A bleeding cord should be tied with surgical suture material. If no surgical suture is available, sterile string may be used in its place.
Dipping the cord in iodine not only prevents the entry of organisms but also promotes rapid drying and the eventual detachment of the cord from the navel. If the navel cord is not dipped in a tincture of iodine, the child may develop a navel infection.
Identification
Farmers need to be able to identify their goats so that they can keep records and easily determine each dairy goat’s age, breeding, and usefulness.
Tattooing
This is done on the ear or udder using a tattooing machine, a tattooing number and a tattooing paste. The kids are tattooed within two weeks of age to allow for permanent identification.
Ear tagging
This is the most common method of dairy goat identification used by dairy goat breeders’ associations. Ear tagging is putting a tag in a dairy goat’s ear, which enables identification of the dairy goat throughout its life.
Deworming
Deworming should be done at an interval of 2 to 3 months.In areas where worm burden is high deworming interval can be 1 month. It should be done with the advice of a veterinary doctor. The dewormers should be changed at regular intervals to reduce incidences of drug resistance. Also, the
dewormer should be given according to the weight of the dairy goat. Excess or low dosage and the repeat of the same deworming drug may lead to the development of “Drug resistance”. This may reduce the effect of the dewormer. Currently, there are combinations of dewormers available for multiple worms. It is better to give a combination of dewormers for multiple worms than a specific worm. The kids should be dewormed at the age of three months.
Ecto-parasite control
External parasitism results in poor health of the goat and loss of income to producers. Common external goat parasites include ticks, lice, fleas and mites. Blood-sucking parasites cause anaemia, especially in kids. Applying acaricides using knapsack sprayers is the most common method of
controlling ectoparasites. Spraying is done fortnightly, but it may vary based on the severity of the infestation and season.
Weighing of goats
Determination of live weights assists in assessing dairy goat performance and the quantity of feed or medication to be administered. Weight should be taken at birth, weaning, nine months, one year (age at first mating) and the point of sale. Goats are weighed using a weighbridge or weighing tape.