Black Bengal goat is a very useful small livestock in Bangladesh. It is also a great source of income for the poor people of this country. Goat farming has a very important role in reducing unemployment and poverty, increasing meat or milk production and earning currency from foreign country. And Black Bengal goat is really very perfect for this campaign. There are about 25 millions of goats in Bangladesh. Most of those goats are “Black Bengal goat”. This goat breed is very suitable for meat, milk and skin production. The milk and meat of this goat is very tasty and nutritious than any other goat breed. And it’s meat and milk has a great demand throughout the world.
Benefits of Raising Black Bengal Goat
- There are many benefits of Black Bengal goat farming. The main of those are described below
- As goat is a small animal, it’s food demand is relatively low.
- They require less space for living than other livestock.
- The necessary capital and investment for starting goat farming business with this breed is very low and it is within the ability of general people.
- Diseases are relatively less than other domestic animal.
- Produce many goats in short time.
- The female goat became pregnant twice a year and give birth 2-3 baby goat each time.
- The meat, skin and milk of this goat has a huge demand in Bangladesh and abroad.
- The goat milk prevent tuberculosis and asthma. For this reason it has a great demand to the Bangladeshi people.
- Raising Black Bengal goat can be considered as an additional source of income for the landless farmer.
Physical Characteristics
Black Bengal goat has a broad chest, ears are always on top, horn may small or medium. Their body is tight and relatively shorter than other goat breed. The hair of the skin is smooth. This goat breed starts producing baby goat at their 12-15 months of age. The female goat became pregnant twice a year. In proper care and management they can produce more than 2 kids each time. We can get about 11 kg of consumable meat and a high quality skin from a goat weights about 20 kg. The skin of the goat is really a very valuable byproduct. Semi intensive method is very effective for Black Bengal goat farming.
Before Purchasing for Business
If you want to start a Black Bengal goat farm, keep in mind the following criteria before purchasing goats for business.
§ For Male Goat: The male would not be more than one year old. The scrotum of the goat should be large and well organized. Hind leg must have to be strong and beautiful. Try to know details about the meat and milk production capability of it’s previous generation. If all the results of this requirements become satisfactory then you can purchase it.
§ For Female(Nanny-Goat): The nanny-goat would be from a very high productive generation and large sized. You should buy the goats which are aged between 9-12 months. No problems if it become pregnant. But be careful transporting pregnant goats. The stomach of the nanny-goat would be relatively larger than their body. The bones of the chest would broad and extended. There would be at least one finger of empty space between the two bones of their chest. The udder of the selected goat will be well organized and clean. The selected goat for purchase should free from all types of diseases, like infectious diseases, skin diseases and sexual diseases.
Housing
The goat house should setup in dry, high and such a place where it is free from flood water. It should placed vertically east-west and faced to south. The place would get priority for housing, where well arrangement of water discharges are available. The goat don’t like to live in overcrowded place. They like clean places with the facilities of free air and light. A house with 5 feet long, 1.5 feet wide and 6 feet height is perfect for a pair of goats. On an average 10-14 squire feet space for adult and 3-8 squire feet for baby goat is required. You can make a house for your Black Bengal goat with straw, tin or concrete. It would be better if you make a bamboo or wooden platform inside the house. It would be 1 meter high from the ground and the roof would be 6-8 feet high from the platform. If you want to keep the goat in the ground then, you have to keep enough sand or husk in the floor. The rain water must not enter the room directly. In winter season spread 1.5 inches thin straw in the floor. It will keep the goat warm. Clean the straw once or twice in a week.
Feeding
If you want to feed your goat from natural source, then you can keep them near the edge of the street, pond shore, fallow land or slope of the hill. It would be more effective if you can feed them in this system for about 8-9 hours daily. Where this system is not available 0.5-1 kg of green grass or tree leaves is necessary for every goat which are weights around 20 kg. You can also feed them 250-300 grams of home prepared grainy food daily. In a mixture of 10 kg grainy food the required components are, 4 kg of broken rice, 5 kg rice bran, 0.5 kg broken pulse, oyster powder 0.2 kg and salt 0.3 kg. You can also feed the goat straw processed by nitrogen. Because, processed food contains a high quantity of vitamins and it is easily digestible. After feeding grainy food the provide the goat sufficient clean water. An adult goat needs 1 liter of water daily.
Health management
The farmer/producer needs to remember that it is very risky to rearing goat in bound methods than free rearing system. Combination of scientific thoughts and modern technology is very important in keeping this goat breed in bound method. So, you have to always keep in mind the proper health management of goat. Outbreak of disease in goat farming is very harmful. So, it is very important to take proper arrangement for preventing various goat diseases. Otherwise you can’t expect profit from your farm. From the day from bringing the goat in your farm, you have to monitor the health condition of it. Check the body temperature of the goat twice daily for the first five days. If any diseases affects suddenly, you should meet with the veterinarian as soon as possible. In heavy cold weather you can cover the body of nanny-goat and baby goat with hessian. Clean the house daily with antibiotic spray. Always provide fresh food and clean water.
Marketing
Profits from Black Bengal goat farming projects depends on appropriate prices of the breed, proper care, housing, good managements etc. So, always be careful about those factor. Marketing process of goat products are very easy. As the meat and milk of this breed has a great demand internationally so, you don’t have to think about marketing your products. Try to sell your goat where their value is relatively high. But never transport the got so far by foot or vehicles for getting more benefits. It hampers the goat health much. Then you will loss money than being benefited. So, make your own decision for selling the goat products.
