© 2012 -
Pure dairy goats in Uganda, can give 3 to 5 litres of milk a day. We have done it at JOY Youth Training Centre, and others have done it elsewhere. But, to keep the goats healthy it is necessary to isolate them from other goats to minimise the risk of introducing disease. Even then, good veterinary cover is needed.
Dairy goats have been bred to produce large amounts of milk. But in order to do so their diet must provide sufficient protein, energy and minerals. If the diet is purely green roughage, which is what is available to most farmers, it is too bulky for the goats to eat enough to produce more than 2½ litres per day.
For more than this, the feed has to include some concentrate -
If the goat’s diet is insufficient, then there are two possibilities.The milk yield
may reduce, in which case the effort of caring for a high-
FARM-
For small NGOs, community based organisations (CBOs) and individual farmers, 50% crosses are often the only feasible option. These are normally tough enough to survive if managed like local goats. (Although productivity improves if they are given some extra care.) However, the milk yield is generally much less than 2 litres a day at the peak, and drops to only around ½ litre after 6 months.
Lower grade crosses would not normally be considered as dairy animals. The are even more disease resistant, but the milk yield would be so low that few would be milked. One possible exception is in Karamoja where the very high disease challenge means that 25% crosses may be the most suitable.
The low grade crosses are clearly not as productive as most people would like. While this is the case, organisations that want to get adequate amounts of milk into poor families have no option but to use the high grade crosses or pure dairy goats; and to find solutions for the associated problems.
But we believe that if we can establish a suitable selection process then it will
be possible to develop a new breed that will give a better option in the future -
We are looking for progressive farmers who will partner with us in this process. If you are interested, please look at the Kabulya Goat Traders website for more more information