YOUR BUCK IS HALF YOUR HERD

A buck can ruin your herd just as fast as a good carefully chosen buck can improve it. Using him just because he ‘looks good’ does not mean he should be used for breeding. When you are ready to get a buck, be prepared to do some homework and leg work searching for that quality. If you were in Australia locating a quality registered buck of your choice breed is not a big challenge. Here in Sarawak where locally born registered animals are non existent then a good drive around will have to do searching for what you need. Don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions.

You want to make sure you see at least the buck’s mother, and possibly the father, of any buck you decide on. Look at the mothers udder, because is she has a “bad” udder, those udder genes will be passed on through her son and you really do not want that. Look at both parents conformation. Are they within the requirements of the particular breed you are aiming for? Look at the other offspring the father had sired, is the quality also there? Does he have any birth records? What was his weight at birth? Did the breeder keep any records of his weight gained as he aged?

Remember, that Buck you chose represents your future herd.

FEEDING YOUR GOATS CASSAVA

Cassava seems to help a lot as a natural alternative as a dewormer for the Goats. The strongle egg counts and coccodial oocyt were much lower when fed with foliage from the cassava plant. I must note here that they are also fed with leaves from the Jackfruit tree.

I think that it is evident that gastrointestinal parasite control based on commercially available dewormers are failing because of a natural buildup, evolution and eventual resistance against dewormers. Hence we have to look at natural control as an alternative, if cheaper and hassle free even better.

The leaves are collected by hand and let out to dry (if the sun is out and hot) for at least a day before being given to feed. The quantity is small at one time, perhaps around 4-7 leaves at one time for each animal, once a week. The leave of the Jackfruit is also collected by hand and let to dry too. The Goats seem to prefer these leaves to be really dry, brown bone dry in fact. Our Goats eat these leaves almost daily.

I strongly suggest that if you have access to these plants and want to introduce them to your Goats, please try them out in small quantities first and observe. It will be even better that you collect some ‘goat pellets’ and send them to the lab to do an egg count. After trying out these plants over a period of time retest again.

FEEDING YOUR GOATS

There are many things you can ‘recycle’ from your kitchen ‘waste’. Some of those things are vegetable and fruit cuttings. These range from the orange peels, banana skin, garlic and onion ends, broccoli and cauliflower ends, sweet potato peels, any vegetable stems etc. I normally feed them as treats as and when i have enough to be sure everyone has a small share. You could also feed them old bread which i dry out in the sun, but serve only a very tiny bit for each because there is only a few slices to share amongst so many.

THE BRIDGE IS DONE

Yay! Done!

THE KEBUN BLOCKS

Our Blocks (Goat Houses)

Block A – 24′ x 36′

Block B – 24′ x 48′

Block C – 36′ x 80′

Block D – 18′ x 36′