Small scale Black Bengal Goat rearing on Bangladesh

Goat rearing is an integral part of many farming systems in Bangladesh. The goat is probably the only animal which in Bangladesh is managed for multiple end uses: meat, hides, milk and manure. It provides one of the main sources of income for the farmers of Bangladesh. It is a major contributor of protein and fat and often the goat enterprise can help farmers to overcome an unforeseen crisis, which demands immediate finance.

The goat is a prolific animal; twins or triplets are common in kidding. The cheese is worldwide recognized according to its quality. The skin of the Black Bengal goat in particular is unique throughout the world (Banerjee 1980). Cash income from the goat is utilized in different sub-sectors of the farm. Goats in general are hardy animals and in wild or semi-domesticated state they rarely suffer from serious disease.

Black Bengal goat is a very useful small livestock in Bangladesh. It is a great source of income for the poor people of Bangladesh. Goat farming has a very important role in reducing unemployment and poverty, increasing meat production and achieving currency from foreign country. There are about 25 millions of goats in Bangladesh. Most of those goats are "Black Bengal goat". This goat breed is very suitable for meat, milk and skin production.

Benefits of Goat Farming:

There are many benefits of goat farming. The main of those are described below.

• As goat is a small animal, it's food demand is relatively low. 

• It requires short space to live.

• The capital needs to make goat farm is low and it is within the ability of general people.

• Diseases are relatively less than other domestic cattle.

• Produce more goats in short time.

• The female goat became pregnant twice a year and give birth 2-3 baby goat every time.

• The meat, skin and milk of goat have a huge demand in our country and abroad.

• The goat milk prevents tuberculosis and asthma. For this reason it has a great demand.

• Goat farming can be considered as an additional source of income to the landless farmer.

Black Bengal goat has a broad chest, ear is always on top, horn my small or medium. The body is tight and relatively short. The hair of the skin is smooth. This types of goat give birth of baby goat at the age of 12-15 months. The female goat became pregnant twice a year. In proper management and care they can give birth up to 1-2 baby goats. From a goat weights 20 kg, we can get about 11 kg of consumable meat and a high quality skin. The skin of the goat is really a very valuable byproduct. Semi intensive method is very effective for goat farming.

Before purchasing:

If you want to start a goat farm, keep in mind the following criteria before purchasing goats for business.
 

For male goat:

It would not more than one year old. The scrotum of the goat should be large and well organized. Hind leg must have to be strong and beautiful. Try to know details about the family circles meat and milk production of the goat. If all this requirements become satisfactory then you can purchase it.

For female (nanny-goat):

The nanny-goat would be a very high productive generation and large sized. You should buy the goat aged between 9-12 months. No problems if it become pregnant. The stomach of the nanny-goat would be relatively large than the body. The bones of the chest would broad and extended. Between the two bones there would be at least one finger of empty space. The breast of the goat will be well organized and clean. The selected goat for purchase should free from infectious diseases, skin diseases and sexual diseases.

Housing of goat:

The goat house should setup in dry, high and such a place where it is free from flood water. It should place vertically east-west and faced to south. The place would get priority, where well arrangement of water discharges is available. The goat doesn’t like to live in overcrowded place. They like clean places with the facilities of free air and light. A house with 5 feet long, 1.5 feet wide and 6 feet height is perfect for a pair of goats. On an average 10-14 square feet space for adult and 3-8 square feet for baby goat is required. The goat house can made with straw, tin or concrete. However, bamboo or wooden platform should make inside the house. It would be 1 meter high from the ground and the roof would be 6-8 feet high from the platform. If you want to keep the goat in the ground then, you have to keep enough sand in the floor. The rain water must not enter the room directly. In winter season 1.5 inches thin straw should spread in the floor. It will keep the goat warm. This straw should clean once or twice in a week.

Required Space for Goat:

In accordance with increasing the body size and weight of goat they need more space. A house of 1.8 meter *1.8 meter* 2.5 meter (5.5 feet*5.5 feet*8.5 feet) is suitable for staying of 10 small goat. Every adult goat needs about 0.75 meter*4.5 meter*4.8 meter space. Every billy goat needs a special room with 2.4 meter*1.8 meter space. It would be better if you can keep the pregnant goat separately. You can extend or decrease the area of goat house according to the number of goat in your farm. But keep in mind that every goat needs their required space for proper growing.

Goat	Required Space (Squire Meter)
Baby Goat	0.3
Adult Goat	1.5
Pregnant Goat	1.9
Billy Goat	2.8

Chart of required space for goat according to their age and nature.

Food management:

If you want to feed your goat from natural source, then you can keep them near the edge of the street, pond shore, fallow land or slope of the hill. It would be more effective if they can feed in this system for about 8-9 hours daily. Where this system is not available 0.5-1 kg of green grass or tree leaves is necessary for every goat weights 20. 250-300 grams of home prepared grainy food can feed them. In a mixture of 10 kg grainy food the required components are, 4 kg of broken rice, 5 kg rice bran, 0.5 kg broken pulse, oyster powder 0.2 kg and salt 0.3 kg. You can feed the goat straw processed by nitrogen. Because, processed food contains a high quantity of vitamins and it is well digestible. After feeding grainy food the goat should serve sufficient clean water. An adult goat needs 1 liter of water daily.

Health management:

The farmer needs to remember that it is very risky to rearing goat in bound methods than free system. Combination of scientific thoughts and modern technology is very important in keeping goat in bound method. It's a real realize. So, the farmer should keep mind in the health of goat. Outbreak of disease in goat farming is very harmful. So, it is very important to take proper arrangement to prevent various goat diseases. Otherwise you can't expect profit from the farm. From the day from bringing the goat the health condition of it should monitored. The body temperature of the goat should check twice daily for the first five days. If any diseases affects suddenly, you should make a consultation with the veterinarian. In heavy cold weather you can cover the body of nanny-goat and baby goat with hessian. The house should clean daily with antibiotic spray. Always provide fresh food and clean water.

Marketing:

Profits from goat farm projects depend on appropriate prices of the cattle. So, try to sell your cattle where the value is relatively high. But you should not transport the got so far by foot or vehicles to get more benefits. It hampers the cattle health much. Then you will lose money than being benefited. So, make your own decision to sell the goat.