I have been running an NGO : centre for zero grazing and urban goat farming for sometime now. I have a small demonstration farm around where I live in an urban city in Nigeria. the journey has been an interesting one.

I intend to share few of the stuffs I gathered to encourage new entrants . yes just few stuffs. but for serious minded guys you are good to go.

I must submit here that you can actually have a goat farm in an urban centre without any pasture or grazing field .yes in a city , in your backyard with almost zero percent or less than 5% of your expenses spent on nutrition.

you know nutrition usually take about 60% your expenses in goat farming . imagine if you can reduce this figure just by half.

although I have another thread on goat business , this thread is different . this one is focusing specifically on zero grazing and urban (backyard) goat farming.

for serious minded folks get ready .

Ok. We are following.

INTERESTED

First Thing First

Decide on Breed First

In deciding to go into zero grazing goat farming, decide on the breed first. which particular breed do you want to start with?

there ate three major Nigerian breeds reported and recognised (although there are others)
1. sokoto red 2. Bornu white 3. WAD .

start with one out these three especially the one common in your locality. if you are in the northern part choose sokoto red except in the northeast where you should start with Bornu white. southern . eastern and western part, choose WAD. later you add other breeds.

am now into mixed breed because my experience had developed.

see the pix of some of my goats under zero grazing in my small demonstration urban goat farm

This is very interesting. Please let anybody that want to start in the South start with West African Dwarf. The others do not have the immunity required to survive in the south

mfm04622:
This is very interesting. Please let anybody that want to start in the South start with West African Dwarf. The others do not have the immunity required to survive in the south

I have sokoto red , heavily pregnant now and will put to bed soon. the goat is doing well though not initially easy to rear. I will post the pix here later.

yes I lost one sokoto red when I was learning the rope. when we open her up we found three kids in her . painful . she would have delivered three kids and that was her first pregnancy, although not uncommon with northern breeds.

here is my heavily pregnant northern breed. I promised to post the pix here. sokoto red cab do well in other parts of Nigeria if you know what you are doing

see the udder in the next pix

You need to leave your phone number here for those that will like to contact or meet you in person.

DeepFriedPuff:
I like goats. They mischievous and funny

I think you should be mischievous to like muschievs...hope you not?

updates

on 11/2/2017, my northern pregnant doe with pix above kidded with 2 lovely kids. see the update. mum and babies are fine. note that this is her first pregnancy.

proving that northern breeds can do well anywhere in the nation.

I love this , how can i start. Pls i need the information capital outlay.,housing feeding methods and all that will make a sussessful farming. Thanks

How do I feed them

op pls can I chat with you..drop ur WhatsApp number..get a couple of questions to ask.

Can you all please let this man share his knowledge here It will benefit many that way

olushollys:
I love this , how can i start. Pls i need the information capital outlay.,housing feeding methods and all that will make a sussessful farming. Thanks

for zero grazing urban goat farming, start with two goats male and female in you backyard. that will not cost much. with less than N50k, you can do this (cost of goats, feeding for two yrs, medications , housing in your backyard, etc)

in two years time the two goats would have increased to seven goats. yes seven goats in the least. it can actually be more. if you want to be daring you can get male northern breed and do some breed improvement.
I suggest you start small and learn the ropes. goat farming is not funny but not rocket science . with patience and passion anyone can do it.

pat077:
How do I feed them

there are several feeding options. but in terms of cost, go for poultry droppings ( you need to dry it and if need be improve it before feeding them to goats ), brewery wastes, PKC and cassava peels. all these are very cheap, readily available and efficient. I feed them to my goats.

the caveat is that you may need to compound them properly, improve some of them and regulate how you give them to goats.

this is important . great care is needed please .

although great care is generally needed when feeding goats but greater care is needed for zero grazing goats.. but at present I use them.

What a nice right up, can u help on how to compound feed, better still drop ur whatsapp number

zayons:


there are several feeding options. but in terms of cost, go for poultry droppings ( you need to dry it and if need be improve it before feeding them to goats ), brewery wastes, PKC and cassava peels. all these are very cheap, readily available and efficient. I feed them to my goats.

the caveat is that you may need to compound them properly, improve some of them and regulate how you give them to goats.

this is important . great care is needed please .

although great care is generally needed when feeding goats but greater care is needed for zero grazing goats.. but at present I use them.

poultry droppings?
That's interesting, how does that work?

How do you improve poultry droppings and feed it to goats

easylife16:
What a nice right up, can u help on how to compound feed, better still drop ur whatsapp number

yes particularly for goats

easylife16:
What a nice right up, can u help on how to compound feed, better still drop ur whatsapp number

yes particularly for goats

obiageIi:

poultry droppings?
That's interesting, how does that work?

YES. poultry droppings.

Fresh poultry droppings is about 30% protein and in abundance of minerals sufficient for goats. in fact you will only need minimal mineral supplementation with it for zero grazing goats.

therefore poultry droppings can be used as a dietary source of crude protein and minerals for goats. I regularly use it for my goats.

seriously speaking in both nutritional and economic terms, poultry droppings has the highest value and cattle waste the lowest. but ignorance and stubbornness will not allow most poultry farmers and goat farmers to see and yield to this.

The transmission of diseases from poultry to goats via poultry droppings is unlikely if it is well processed. I have not found a single case from experience with my goats . and there are no reports of any incidence to my knowledge except in situations of poor handling and inexperience.

caution : feeding poultry droppings to sheep should be done with care . sheep is sensitive to copper and poultry droppings is commonly very rich in copper. it can harm the sheep if done carelessly. take caution if you are a sheep farmer.

if processed and dried, goats will eat it. however it may take about one to three weeks for the goats and microbes in the goats floral to adjust. sometimes you may need to find ways to increase the acceptability at the initial stage.

Finally the droppings should also be low in ash (soil), free of metallic objects, hardwares, glass, and other foreign materials. try and pick them out as much as you can.


NB
I must sound a note of warning here.

pls process the droppings VERY WELL before you give them to goats . be careful . don't come back to blame me if things go wrong as a result of inexperience or poor knowledge .

if you are not sure of what you are doing don't do it.

although I use it regularly for my goats till today . but this is because I understand how it works and I have several ways by which I process the droppings and ensure quality control.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful information Please how do we process poultry dropping onto goat feed

Walexz02:
Thanks for sharing this wonderful information
Please how do we process poultry dropping onto goat feed

poultry droppings can be processed by autoclaving or by dry heat. other methods of processing such as ensiling and deep stacking are also effective. drying/heating temperature should not be above 90 degrees centigrade so as not to destroy the protein content. you can use thermometer to monitor this.


Deep-stacking refers to the process of stockpiling droppings for later use. The temperature should be between 60 and 70 degrees centigrade .

NB
I must sound a note of warning here.

pls process the droppings VERY WELL before you give them to goats . be careful . don't come back to blame me if things go wrong as a result of inexperience or poor knowledge .

if you are not sure of what you are doing don't do it.

although I use it regularly for my goats till today . but this is because I understand how it works and I have several ways by which I process the droppings and ensure quality control.
don't call me if you are not willing to take caution

Thanks for sharing this wonderful info.

redsun:
You need to leave your phone number here for those that will like to contact or meet you in person.

08168064251

moyin2009:
Thanks for sharing this wonderful info.

thank you sir

Ectoparasites are big threat to goats under zero grazing system . I intend to share some thoughts on this soon.

We shall be expecting