Going Back to Basics: Care and Management of Goats

GoatsUnltd Podroll

Goat producers and farm managers have a primary responsibility for ensuring that goat health and welfare are a priority on the farm. Before people who look after goats are assigned their duties, they need to be knowledgeable of the basic needs of, and skilled in caring for, goats in all stages of production.
In Zimbabwe, most farmers have a long-enduring love and hate relationship with goats. They are seen as troublesome animals that are guaranteed to bring problems including invading into neighbours’ fields.

Very little attention is given to goats which explains the 65% pre-weaning mortality rate. Goats live in unbearable conditions that compromise their health with pneumonia being a leading killer.

In fact, exposure to rain, cold, starvation, diseases, unclean environments, internal parasites and predation are among the factors that cause the high mortality rate. Middlemen and the farmers only regard goats as an object for transaction. Farmers seem to only care for their goats when they exchange them for money.

Middlemen literally make a killing out of goats in urban markets. None of these players have goats at heart. No one is concerned about fixing the gaps in the supply chain that will enable bringing goats to the market in a fair and transparent manner.

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