you're absolutely right about the rabbits rearing, the problem facing rabbits rearing in Africa and also Nigeria as a whole is lack of marketing informations about the benefits of eating rabbits.
for now, am utilising the abundance of Shea Nuts in my village. by going into the production of Shea Butter.

need to read about hydroponic!

Hydroponics is just raising seeds in a container without soil.
It's the same process used to prepare or sprout seeds for kunu (local drink)
I once used it on broilers after 9 weeks and it was ok for weight gain.

Hydroponics is the way to go for a modern farm but it will be profitable for animals with improved breed. Goats, Cows and even rams in this part of the world don't have improved breeds. They are just local as God created them.

Improved breeds of Pigs, Rabbits, Grass cutter will thrive well on fodder. Assuming we have improved breeds of commercial goats like the boer goats of South Africa, Kalahari red goats or the savavanah white goats known for fast growth and heavy weight, Intensive farming will have been extremely successful. Imagine matured boer goats reaching over a 130kg in weight.

Goats, Sheep and Cattle would have been best on fodder or hydroponics since they are 100% grass fed.

EMMAACHILE:

How many do you have now? Can you say you are making profit from the farm?
Goat farming has been likened to grass cutter rearing meaning its not profitable as they take too long to rear with very poor feed convert ratio.

I have not raised them intensively before but have a classmate in Lagos who raised them before. They are also prone to sickness in intensive care.

Veteran farmers will tell you its better to raise a ram to a goat because of the fast weight gain of rams/sheep.

For breeding (not fattening), nobody will tell you rearing sheep is better than goat in Nigeria. I keep both. They rarely give birth to more than one while the normal for goat is 2. They are also more prone to die from illnesses. Also demand for goat is higher while for sheep it is only during Sallah. In fact, I have decided to kill and eat the female sheep as soon as they wean their kids. It doesn't make sense to sell them because of the low price they will offer for them

EMMAACHILE:
Raising a local goat or goats on intensive ranching will never yield profit due to the low reproduction capability and the slow growth of goats. The cost of feeding will kill you even if you decide to use fodder.

It's like raising local chicken in pens. It will always be a loss. Your best bet aside poultry is pig, rabbits or even catfish where fodder can be used extensively for the former two mentioned here and their improved breeds are available unlike goats.

I dont agree with you on this.

Intensive goat ranching is all over India and its sister countries. There is need to have enough knowledge to plan and make profit.
Cost of feeding can be reduced significantly by having control over your feed resources, i.e plant all your forage requirements.

Have corn silage available
Have one or two acre of green fodder grass
Have legume fodder like Lucerne and tree fodder
Make plans to have affordable concentrate

Willie2015:


I dont agree with you on this.

Intensive goat ranching is all over India and its sister countries. There is need to have enough knowledge to plan and make profit.
Cost of feeding can be reduced significantly by having control over your feed resources, i.e plant all your forage requirements.

Have corn silage available
Have one or two acre of green fodder grass
Have legume fodder like Lucerne and tree fodder
Make plans to have affordable concentrate

Indian local goat breeds are better than our local goats here. Check their weights. Forage crops are not usually available in urban areas just like op case.

mfm04622:


For breeding (not fattening), nobody will tell you rearing sheep is better than goat in Nigeria. I keep both. They rarely give birth to more than one while the normal for goat is 2. They are also more prone to die from illnesses. Also demand for goat is higher while for sheep it is only during Sallah. In fact, I have decided to kill and eat the female sheep as soon as they wean their kids. It doesn't make sense to sell them because of the low price they will offer for them

Rams and Sheep make faster cash in fattening cos they grow faster.

Willie2015:


I dont agree with you on this.

Intensive goat ranching is all over India and its sister countries. There is need to have enough knowledge to plan and make profit.
Cost of feeding can be reduced significantly by having control over your feed resources, i.e plant all your forage requirements.

Have corn silage available
Have one or two acre of green fodder grass
Have legume fodder like Lucerne and tree fodder
Make plans to have affordable concentrate

Corn silage....hmmmm

2 acres of land .....hmmmm that i can use to rake in the sales of 100 goats in a year with crops. How many goats will 2 acres feed? Just trying to understand livestock operational management in Nigeria.

Legume fodder in addition, plus many other goodies.

Is it really worth the investment and stress? 2 acres of land? For start small, grow big goat business? 2 acres?
Medications not yet included.

I need to really see the start up cost and operational costs of this kind of proposal.

I am not against livestocks, but it seems it is not worth the kind of energy we put in it.

That 2 acres is what I am still trying to see. I think hydroponic fodder is the way forward, and not 2 acres fodder. And I have to install sprinkler during dry season for goats?

Maybe you need to really explain this well. Looks like I am missing many things here.

Even pigs, poultry, fish businesses are all same to me. It is always the extreme high cost of feeding. How can the cost of feeding ONLY be over 70% of total cost of production? And then you start picking up crops and fodder farming to make them work well. Just my concern. One can easily grow corn to make profit. One can easily grow soy to make profit. But one starts growing maize and soy to make livestock businesses profitable is what I still do not understand. Most of these livestock farmers eventually abandon livestock when they see the profit in the corn and soy if sold for human consumption.

Or am I missing anything here?

Maybe we all need to turn to vegetarian. If you get veggie right, I swear, you will never near livestock. You just need them for manure production. Honestly.

This get me really thinking deep again.

There is profit in poultry, that i can confirm. I tried fishery one time and didn't see any profit from it. I had to consume all the 2000 catfish I had them and shared out the remaining.

Poultry especially broilers if raised well could generate as high as 100% profit under 8 weeks using the right addictives and management.

You may need to open a thread if possible sir to give a detailed cost analysis how this is possible so as not to derail this thread. Hmmmm!

EMMAACHILE:
There is profit in poultry, that i can confirm. I tried fishery one time and didn't see any profit from it. I had to consume all the 2000 catfish I had them and shared out the remaining.

Poultry especially broilers if raised well could generate as high as 100% profit under 8 weeks using the right addictives and management.

@jidestroud,
Bro, kindly forgive us. Please, let us get back to the main reason you opened this thread. Not intentional to derail your thread.

fluentinfor:


Corn silage....hmmmm

2 acres of land .....hmmmm that i can use to rake in the sales of 100 goats in a year with crops. How many goats will 2 acres feed? Just trying to understand livestock operational management in Nigeria.

Legume fodder in addition, plus many other goodies.

Is it really worth the investment and stress? 2 acres of land? For start small, grow big goat business? 2 acres?
Medications not yet included.

I need to really see the start up cost and operational costs of this kind of proposal.

I am not against livestocks, but it seems it is not worth the kind of energy we put in it.

That 2 acres is what I am still trying to see. I think hydroponic fodder is the way forward, and not 2 acres fodder. And I have to install sprinkler during dry season for goats?

Maybe you need to really explain this well. Looks like I am missing many things here.

Even pigs, poultry, fish businesses are all same to me. It is always the extreme high cost of feeding. How can the cost of feeding ONLY be over 70% of total cost of production? And then you start picking up crops and fodder farming to make them work well. Just my concern. One can easily grow corn to make profit. One can easily grow soy to make profit. But one starts growing maize and soy to make livestock businesses profitable is what I still do not understand. Most of these livestock farmers eventually abandon livestock when they see the profit in the corn and soy if sold for human consumption.

Or am I missing anything here?

Maybe we all need to turn to vegetarian. If you get veggie right, I swear, you will never near livestock. You just need them for manure production. Honestly.

This get me really thinking deep again.

Corn silage is affordable & cheaper and can be made available throughout the year.
Hydroponic fodder is not cheap cos you still need to buy the grains and also deal with fluctuation in grain prices locally.
It is suicide to plan your herds need on supply of grain from our local mkt and having a b/ward integration to have your grain needs cover may be a suitable alternative.
The only alternative to the above scenario is to plant specialized grass and maintain the grass. It is said that some grass can give up to 100 tons to 200 tons per acre for a year. It is dirty cheap to maintain one acre of green grass to buying tons of grains in the mkt for hydroponic fodder.

This is the recommended practice for keeping dairy cows in Kenya, Ugandan etc which had been largely successful.
Market is the problem for most livestock farmers in the country, the absence of off takers in this segment is a major factor why farmers abandon their farms.

EMMAACHILE:

Indian local goat breeds are better than our local goats here. Check their weights. Forage crops are not usually available in urban areas just like op case.

Ops need to look at AI to get better breeds and improve on the WAD if weight is a major factor.
U can get land in developing areas in urban areas to plant your forage needs
Folks are rearing dairy cows in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya
Ops should make more research and have a sound business plan

Willie2015:


Corn silage is affordable & cheaper and can be made available throughout the year.
Hydroponic fodder is not cheap cos you still need to buy the grains and also deal with fluctuation in grain prices locally.
It is suicide to plan your herds need on supply of grain from our local mkt and having a b/ward integration to have your grain needs cover may be a suitable alternative.
The only alternative to the above scenario is to plant specialized grass and maintain. It is said that some grass can give up to 100 tons to 200 tons per acre for a year.
This is the recommended practice for keeping dairy cows in Kenya, Ugandan etc which had been largely successful.
Market is the problem for most livestock farmers in the country, the absence of off takers in this segment is a major factor why farmers abandon their farms.

OP, please i hope we are not destroying your thread. OMG!

No doubt corn silage is cheaper. But you still need to source for the raw materials which are not easy to come by if needed for a commercial farm. Just trying to see how it can be done easily on commercial level.

Might be helpful to get the details of getting 100 tons per acre per annum.

Again, I have looked into hydrponics too, one needs to buy grains. And might be one needs to produce grains, retain the seeds to cultivate again while the greater part is converted to fodder with hydroponics. No matter how you see it, hydroponics is the way forward. It is just 7 to 10 days to get each batch ready. And 1kg of grain is turned to 10kg of fodder + grains cos there might still be traces of grains. I agree, one can have a garden to grow grains. This is a huge leverage. Ratio 1:10. Meaning you can turn your 200 tons to 2,000 tons fodder which are more nutritious with good quality fiber.

I like your zeal. You may eventually convince me. Honestly, I wish you open a new thread, and perhaps you run the costs involved. It will be awesome.

But my point is this:
After all investigations, the stress and energy in growing crops for livestock should be compared with growing them for human. Maybe there might be some gains. But after learning growing crops because of my livestocks, and at the end i realise i can make more money selling them for human consumption, why do i need to feed my animals with them?

Yeah. You are nailing the issue on the spot. If the market is not favorable like Kenya and Uganda, why use those countries as templates. That is a big mistake. It is why starting with market research is the first step to take. Most likely if the two countries have the same challenges we have in Nigeria, they might have a different model like the one they recommend. Their methods or suggestions may not work here.

We can brainstorm together, and reach a conclusion on it together. Really, it will be amazing. Everything in me is about brainstorming. I am ready anyday!

Not in the least way offended. I'm presently reading through meticulously to extract salient points needed to make me better both in the production and most especially, in the marketing aspect when the time comes. Like I said earlier, the project is a 5years program with first sales scheduled for 3years into the program.

Moreover, I don't intend bringing in any other breeds for now other than the WAD.

This is a simple housing format that u can adopthttps://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ-7NgjEQr4wJHtwjCbXSNaSqMmghvp5ZNGPgel4gkce2O_BJ4

You go fear different school of thought now...
Please let's go back to the original reason for thread.

jidestroud:
Not in the least way offended. I'm presently reading through meticulously to extract salient points needed to make me better both in the production and most especially, in the marketing aspect when the time comes. Like I said earlier, the project is a 5years program with first sales scheduled for 3years into the program.

Moreover, I don't intend bringing in any other breeds for now other than the WAD.

Take note to make sure your buck is not coming from the same family with the female goats to avoid inbreeding.

Gritty1:



Take note to make sure your buck is not coming from the same family with the female goats to avoid inbreeding.

In as much as I doubt the possibilities of that happening with the present stock, I may still have to look and understand the prospects of inbreeding/Linebreeding overtime.

UPDATE .

majralph:
UPDATE .

Soonest. walahi goats na problem

jidestroud:
Soonest. walahi goats na problem

loolz �� Goat stubborn ehen...

Good morning to everyone. my sheep gave birth to a lamb last thursday and on tuesday i noticed the mother is convulsing and she eventually died. i have been mixing milk and grounded soya beans to feed the lamb but early this morning i noticed the lamb is stooling. i have administered tetracycline. so i would like to ask if anybody has cared for an orphaned lamb before to please give me suggestions on how best to care for the lamb. Thank you

majralph:
Good morning to everyone. my sheep gave birth to a lamb last thursday and on tuesday i noticed the mother is convulsing and she eventually died. i have been mixing milk and grounded soya beans to feed the lamb but early this morning i noticed the lamb is stooling. i have administered tetracycline. so i would like to ask if anybody has cared for an orphaned lamb before to please give me suggestions on how best to care for the lamb. Thank you

Quite unfortunate. So sorry about the loss. I'm still new in the business, but I know you'll get best replies soonest.

jidestroud:


Quite unfortunate. So sorry about the loss. I'm still new in the business, but I know you'll get best replies soonest.

bro, can i get a whatsapp contact?

Quick question. will wire fence hold goats in place
I know goats are stubborn and very goaty

AmadeusCho:
Quick question. will wire fence hold goats in place
I know goats are stubborn and very goaty

Sure it would but again, they aint called goats for no reason.

majralph:
Good morning to everyone. my sheep gave birth to a lamb last thursday and on tuesday i noticed the mother is convulsing and she eventually died. i have been mixing milk and grounded soya beans to feed the lamb but early this morning i noticed the lamb is stooling. i have administered tetracycline. so i would like to ask if anybody has cared for an orphaned lamb before to please give me suggestions on how best to care for the lamb. Thank you

How's your lamb doing? Any update?

oyetpel:

Everyone knows they are troublesome.
And do you want to know how they destroyed my garden?

The females are not troublesome

Yhemit:


loolz ��
Goat stubborn ehen...

The females won't give problem it's the Buck which will cause major problem. If I saw this post earlier I would have advised you not to buy a Buck. When you want to breed, you take your goat for breeding then return it to your farm. Male goats are stubborn and they smell offensive, if you've already bought him separate him from the doe

Mizwisdom:


The females won't give problem it's the Buck which will cause major problem. If I saw this post earlier I would have advised you not to buy a Buck. When you want to breed, you take your goat for breeding then return it to your farm. Male goats are stubborn and they smell offensive, if you've already bought him separate him from the doe

Great Point from you ma'am

#noted

jidestroud:


How's your lamb doing? Any update?

she is still alive o. i use coal pot to provide heat. it is still stooling tho'. i will send pictures soon

Mizwisdom:


The females won't give problem it's the Buck which will cause major problem. If I saw this post earlier I would have advised you not to buy a Buck. When you want to breed, you take your goat for breeding then return it to your farm. Male goats are stubborn and they smell offensive, if you've already bought him separate him from the doe

male goats are stubborn but you can't continue taking your goat to anoda farm when you want to breed. Also male goats tend to grow faster and they sell at a higher price than the female