Boergoat Management

Kidding Season

Breeders must select the time of year during which the most plentiful supply of food is available up to the period after weaning occurs. In other words, the period during which food will be available for 3½ – 4 months in order to breed kids as cheaply as possible.

BoerGoat-Management1
Inoculate against gangrene of the uterus 2-3 months before the kidding season. The symptoms of this disease are: ewes die shortly after a period of up to three days after birth as a result of severe inflammation of the uterus.

If possible, it is preferable to plan in such a way that food will still be in plentiful supply for a further 2 – 4 months, since it is best toof market Boer goat kids at the age of 6-8 months. This enables the farmer to withhold only his replacement goats during the period of the year when food is scarcer, especially in those areas where farming is on an extremely extensive basis.

Try to keep mating time as short as possible – ideally, 36 days. In this way, each ewe will have two oestrus cycles with the ram. This also facilitates management and marketing considerably.

Mating Season

Before mating occurs

Make sure ewes are not too fat one month before mating, so that a growing condition can be effected before mating, by means of carrying out the following:

Inoculate ewes against enzootic abortion 1-2 months before the mating season. Have rams tested for fertility.

 

During Mating Season

 

Prior to kidding

Inoculate against scabby mouth one month before kidding season in order to guard against udder infection. Two thirds of the growth of the foetus takes place during the last three weeks of pregnancy.

For this reason, it is very important to make extra nutritional provision during this period, in the form of the same treatment as that administered before mating time. Extra nutrition will make kids stronger and better able to maintain life at birth, especially in the case of multiple births.

This is why the sonar is of inestimable value in determining the presence of triplets or quads, in order to ensure that each of the kids is born strong and with a good capacity to maintain life.

 

During kidding season

This is the only period during which Boer goat farming requires a great deal of care and attention. This is why it is important to keep the kidding season as brief as possible, so that full attention can be focused on it. It is extremely important to carry out planning properly.

Therefore, it is necessary to plan this aspect thoroughly and consider using one of the following methods, or a combination thereof, in accordance with your particular circumstances.

 

Diseases Among Suckling Kids

 

Weaning

 

Marketing

 

Diseases

Parasites

Internal

The Boer goat is not highly susceptible to roundworm, since it prefers to graze at a level above the ground under extensive conditions. However, over a broad spectrum, it is a good idea to dose three weeks after the first spring rains and then again three weeks after the first frost. In the case of cultivated pastures, dosing should take place on a regular basis. Tapeworms present problems among suckling kids – the latter should therefore be dosed every month.

External

Blue lice disease is problematic especially during dry months – dip, or use an agent which is poured over the animal.

Ticks are greatly problematic since goats are extremely sensitive to them. Make use of patch treatment or, under severe conditions, use an agent which is poured over the animal.

Selection

Rams

Commercial breeder – Castrate male kids at 2-4 weeks. Methods: rubber bands, Bordizzo or knife.

Stud breeders – First selection at 2-4 weeks: castrate all kids with cull defects, as well as those which are promising. Second selection should take place at 2-3 months: castrate all kids which do not have potential.

After three months, young cull rams may merely be Bordizzoed or marketed as they are slaughter animals. A golden rule for every stud breeder is to market all rams which are eliminated as slaughter animals, since keeping them will only have an adverse effect on your good name; and if you keep them, they will also have a detrimental effect on the healthy raising of other animals.

 

Ewes

The first selection takes place at the first selling stage, up to the period before the ewes kid for the first time. Hereafter, they should be screened only on the basis of their offspring and their reproduction capacity. It is in fact necessary to select large ewe phenotypes.

Try not to place lactating ewes with dry ewes in the same group, as the ewes in lactation which have worked hard will create a poor impression, while dry ewes which are not productive at a given time will make a good impression.