Goats are of a number of different breeds, these different type of breeds produce different quantity / quality of meat, hides, skin, fiber and milk. Nigeria has 3 main breeds

1) West African Dwarf: This type of goat is commonly found in south western part of Nigeria, their meat has a special taste and they are commonly reared for beef. This breed of goat has a high resistibility to trypanosome, a common disease of goats.

2) Sokoto Maradi Red: This breed is commonly found in north western Nigeria, it is darkly red in colour and weighs between 20 - 30 kg at maturity.

3) Borno Sahel: They are commonly found in the Sahel region of the country, they are well adapted to trekking long distances for grazing, and mature goat weighs between 25-30 kg.

Although these are predominately the main breeds in Nigeria, farmers have begun to import foreign breeds for rearing purposes. Breeds such as Boer, Sirohi and Kalahari are frequently being purchased from South Africa and India by Nigerian farmers. These breeds are popular for their good body formation and skin quality, helping to provide immense profitability for the farmer.



With good maintenance and feed an average Boer can grow up to 80 kg in weight, which is much more than an average west African dwarf. The advantages of rearing foreign breeds of goat are numerous, that is if a farmer can overcome the challenges involved.


Foreign goat breeds can be costly, Importing a 30kg Sirohi breed can go up to #72, 00 naira, while a 80-100 kg goat of the same breed goes for almost #200, 000. There are lots of third party companies (Escrow) that act as middle men in purchase of goats from foreign farms. Beware of scammers and ensure you use a credible Escrow company.

Full costs of importing these goats breed vary, a farmer would also have to consider vaccination, customs duty and air freight costs.



If a farmer can surmount these challenges, foreign breeds are very profitable, they can be also cross breed with the local breed or raised breed pure. Kid goats of a foreign breed can be sold for nice sums to other livestock farmers in Nigeria.

To properly benefit from raising a foreign breed of goat, it would be advisable to buy one or two male goats and three or more female goats for starters based on the finances of the farmer.

Although foreign breeds are very profitable, with the right amount of care, feed and management, farmers can make good profit from raising local breeds of goats. I would post subsequent posts on stating up a goat farm and taking care of goats.

ProbityFarms is an affordable software solution that allows for improved productivity where farmers can keep track of livestock development, farmers can monitor development of their flock change feed and feeding contents to suit different breeds of their animals.

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