Content
Goat milk has long been popular: a healthy product that does not cause allergies. That is why it is widely used in baby food. The issue of choosing a pet should be treated carefully.
There are meat and dairy breeds.
What this animal is, how to care for it - we will consider these questions in detail.
Description
This breed was bred in Western Georgia in 35 of the last century. There are two types: upland and lowland
The creators are considered to be ordinary peasants from Megrelia who did not have any special knowledge.
Today, breeders, in order to improve a particular breed, often use Georgian goats as donors. After all, representatives of the Megrelian breed are the most highly productive.
Mountain goats are distinguished by their strong constitution:
- Elongated body, broad chest.
- Strong limbs, set straight.
- elongated head with graceful ears standing straight.
- Beautiful horns reminiscent of a saber. If you look closely, they look like the Latin letter “S”.
- Height at withers is approximately 70 cm.
The color of the coat can vary, from white to light gray.There are also roans with red-brown spots.
Productivity
- Goats most often reach a weight of 38 to 45 kg. Males - up to 55 kg. Some Megrelian goats can weigh up to 60.
- Females most often give birth to twins. One hundred goats can produce an offspring equal to 160 kids. A productive herd is replenished without difficulty.
- With proper feeding, one Megrelian goat produces up to 900 kg of tasty, healthy milk per year, with a fat content of up to 4%. You can make various dairy products from it, such as cheese, cottage cheese, feta cheese.
Features of care
Drinking from a puddle can cause infection. In the summer heat, goats are watered twice a day; in winter, if wet food is available, once is enough.
Feeders
Galvanized utensils should not be used for feeders, so as not to poison the animal with zinc. The vessels are placed on elevated surfaces, reaching up to the goat’s chest; for kids, drinking bowls and feeders are installed lower. Water and food are given in separate containers. Many goat breeders make automatic drinkers - the water is always clean. In winter, the water needs to be heated.
What to feed
- The animals are fed oats, barley, and corn grains. You need to make sure that no water gets into the feeders with dry food.
- If you feed potato peelings, they need to be washed and boiled. Salt and mixed feed are sprinkled on top.
- Root vegetables can be fed raw, but should be thoroughly chopped, especially for kids.
- It’s good to give a variety of mash. Suitable options include steamed oats, oatmeal, table scraps, carrots, beets, and cabbage. Dairy goats, eating wet food, add milk.
- There should always be feed salt in a special trough (for one goat or goat for a year you need up to 8 kg of salt, for kids a little less).
- In winter, in addition to hay, goats are given prepared brooms and pine needles. They are hung at such a level that goats and kids can reach them.
Feeding is carried out several times a day:
- in the morning - grains and root vegetables.
- in the afternoon - hay.
- in the evening crushed grain, hay.
In the summer, Megrelian goats, along with their kids, graze in the highlands, and in the winter, weather permitting, at the foot of the mountains.
Rules of care dairy goats
For goats of the Megrelian breed, a special room is needed, it is called a goat house. The height of the room is about 3 meters. Square:
- for one queen with offspring of at least 2.5 sq. m;
- for a single goat – 1.5 m;
- male – 2 m;
- kid - up to 3 m.
The room for goats should be dry, drafts are not allowed. In winter, the temperature is maintained from +6 to -7 degrees. If there are a large number of animals, additional heating is not required - the goats warm it with their breath. But where kids are kept, heating must be used.
Males are kept separately from the queens so that they do not breed prematurely. In addition, the proximity of a goat next to dairy goats can negatively affect the milk: it acquires an unpleasant aftertaste.
For the Megrelian breed, stall keeping or free grazing is acceptable. Kids graze together with adult animals.
All about lambing
If the Megrelian goat is not sick with anything, it does not need human help during lambing. Kids appear 20–22 weeks after mating. The owner writes down this period in order to know when the goat will kitt in order to be separated from the general herd.
It is necessary to prepare in advance for lambing:
- The room where lambing will take place must be clean and dry. Disinfection is required. The walls and ceiling are whitened with lime solution. If the goat house is dark, provide additional lighting.
- The room is ventilated, fresh bedding is laid on the floor, the thicker the better.
- For future goats, a nursery is made, with an area of at least two square meters with a feeder and drinking bowl.
You can tell that it’s lambing time by the goat’s behavior: she’s worried and often refuses to feed. The udder swells, becomes dense, and the nipples splay out to the sides. Mucus appears in the swollen genitals.
How to feed a goat after lambing
Megrelian goats, like other representatives of this restless tribe, are given sweet warm water to drink. Animals need carbohydrates to restore strength. Then the drinking bowl is filled with clean warm water, and hay is placed in the feeder.
The digestive system of goats after lambing may malfunction, so for feeding you need to use easily digestible feed:
- bran up to 300 grams, four times a day;
- if lambing occurred in the summer, then they give fresh grass, in winter - hay;
- branches and brooms;
- concentrates;
- salt at least 10 grams.
How to feed kids without a goat
Since Megrelian goats are a dairy breed, it is not recommended to allow kids to feed. They are fed artificially. Purchase a special bottle with a nipple in advance. This makes it easier for the baby goat to suck. In addition, the sips are even, and casein lumps do not have time to form.
On the first day, goat kids are given colostrum. It contains all the necessary micro and macroelements to improve low immunity. Moreover, colostrum removes original feces and mucus from the intestines of goat kids.
Milk is given immediately after milking, while it is warm, every 4 hours. It is clear that it will not always be steamed; it will have to be heated.
On the third day, Megrelian goats are fed oatmeal. There must be water constantly. And goat kids begin to eat hay from the age of ten days. As for compound feed, you need a special one.
New food should be introduced gradually to goat kids. It is given in small portions, gradually increasing to the norm. As soon as the kids of the Megrelian breed get used to it, and this will be evident from their condition, you can introduce a new product. The cubs are fed milk for two to three months. Wean off by reducing the portion.
When the kids of the Megrelian breed are one month old, they are driven out to pasture in the summer. Artificially raised kids are not suitable for goats. If the kids of the Megrelian breed are fed correctly, they do not get sick and grow quickly.
Instead of a conclusion
High-milk domestic animals of the Megrelian breed are raised mainly by residents of Megrelia, Svaneti, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. When grazing freely, they require high mountain pastures. There they find the grass they need for development.There are currently approximately 100,000 animals. There are no particular differences in raising goats of different breeds. The main thing is attention, love for animals and compliance with the rules.
