This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Goats have provided meat and milkfor people longer than sheep or cows. More people use milk productsfrom goats than from cows. There are more thanfour-hundred-sixty-million goats in the world. They produce morethan four-million tons of milk and more than one-million tons ofmeat every year.
Goat milk improves the diet of many families around the world. Inaddition, goats are friendly animals. They can be cared for bychildren.
There are several ways to help goats produce more and bettermilk. One way is to give goats high-protein plants like alfalfa,groundnut grasses, and vegetable leaves to eat. The covering of riceis also high in protein. Providing a special diet for goats isbetter than letting the animals find their own food all the time.
All goats should have covered shelters where they can escape therain and extremely hot or cold weather. If the goat shelter has ametal roof, it should be painted white so that heat from the sun isreflected.
There should be plenty of fresh air inside the shelter. Goatswith horns seem to survive better in the heat than goats withouthorns.
Goats enjoy exercise and need to move around. When goats areinside a shelter, there should be at least two-and-one-half squaremeters of space for each adult animal. When they are outside, afenced-off area should allow about forty square meters for eachanimal. Fences should be about one-and-one-half meters to two metershigh.
Make sure the wire fence is the right height for young goats.Some wire fences can be dangerous for young goats because theirhorns can become trapped.
Many of the same methods used to keep cows healthy can also beused with goats.
In fact, sometimes young cows cannot drink too much of theirmother’s milk because they get sick. Instead, they are given goat’smilk to drink.
You can get more information about raising milk-producing goatsfrom the group Volunteers in Technical Assistance. VITA is anorganization based in the United States that helps people around theworld use science and technology to solve problems. You can contactVITA through the Internet at its Web address, www.vita.org.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by GaryGarriott.