Leaf meals are leaves and twigs dried, ground, and used as livestock feed. Leucaena leucocephala is so far the best-known source of leaf meal because of its high nutritive value. However, it is highly susceptible to psyllid infestation. Leaf meals are not traditionally used in the ration of ruminants as these animals can be fed with fresh fodder. However, there are instances when leaf meal production is necessary and becomes the most practical way of conserving excess foliage. This is what we have been doing at the farm after getting a few cuttings from a friend.
Leguminous fodder species are generally unsuitable for silage making because of their high buffering capacity. Some have leaves that shatter very easily upon drying, rendering them also unsuitable for hay making. But a considerable amount of leaves can be conveniently prepared into leaf meals and serve as a high-protein feed source.
In preparing leaf meals, leaves and browseable twigs of these fodder trees/shrubs should be sun-dried for up to seven hours or air-dried under a roof for five days, and then ground and stored in sacks. For proper storage and to avoid spoilage, the leaves and twigs should be dried to 10-13% moisture content. The amount of herbage needed to prepare one kilogram of leaf meal and the crude protein (CP) content depend on the fodder species used. The CP contents of the leaf meals are obviously higher than the recommended level of 11% dietary CP required for favorable microbial synthesis and activity in the rumen.
Both the gliricidia leaf meal and the acacia leaf meal can be fed to dairy goats at 50% of the dry matter ration. Milk yield of goats supplemented with either of the meals is comparable with that of goats supplemented with concentrate. Likewise, milk composition was similar among goats supplemented with either leaf meals or concentrate.
Gliricidia sepium (gliricidia)
Income over feed cost with leaf meal supplementation was higher than that with concentrate supplementation. Since feed cost can represent 60% of the total cost to produce a liter of milk, leaf meal supplementation is indeed economically viable, particularly in small farms where concentrate feeding is not usually practiced owing to a lack of cash.
The ‘Bag’ Appears
Can you see two little hooves and a nose with the tongue is hanging out?
Once the shoulders pass the kid usually just slides out.
Turn the kid to the mother’s head and let her lick the it.
Let the kid get a good drink of colostrum as soon as possible after birth.
It looks like this Vigosine is helping with Goats appetite. We were using it to combat stress ( my post here ) which worked out fantastic. For curiosity sake we had a test run of 6 heads of 6 month old bucks, we found that giving a very small amount of 5 ml into the mixed feed ( diluted with 500 ml) for 3 consecutive days saw a boost in their food intact. We repeated the same dose after 4 days for 3 days again. There was a 15% increase in feed intact compared to other test herd.
The Anatomy Of A Boer Goat
Ear notching is commonly practiced in identifying goats. It has the advantage of being visible from a distance allowing identification without the necessity of catching the animal and can accommodate numbers up to 9999. An ear notching pliers are used to put “V”-shaped notches in the edges of the ear and a hole punch is used to punch holes in the middle of the ear, if necessary. The animal is restrained and notches and holes may be treated with iodine. As this process results in bleeding, the notching pliers should be disinfected between animals to prevent transmission of any blood-borne diseases. The notching system used is that begun in the Angora industry and adapted for meat goats. However, some producers may use alternate numbering system. Generally, notches on the goat’s left ear mean: 10 (top), 1 (bottom), 100 (end); and 1,000 (center hole). On the goat’s right ear, notch values are: 30 (top), 3 (bottom), 300 (end); and 3,000 (center hole). Thus, a goat with the number 135 would look as follows: 1 notch on end of left ear (100); 1 notch on top of right ear (30), 2 notches on bottom of left ear (2); 1 notch on bottom of right ear (3) with a total value equaling 135.
Tattooing your goat is important not only for personal identification purposes but also for registered stock and showing. Here in Sarawak the opportunity to register your Goat locally is none and getting to show your Goat is pretty far in between even non existant. But it’s a step towards good record keeping for mating records and commercially for those who sell their stock as breeders.
Tattooing should be done while your goat is still a kid (baby). Get someone to help you hold the kid or use a kid holding box. If you must tattoo an older goat, place them in a stanchion.
Be sure to clean the tattooer and it’s parts with alcohol, then air dry.
Clean the ear with alcohol.
Smear a good amount of ink in the inside of the ear (or tail web) where you intend to place the tattoo.
Test your tattoo on a piece of paper and take note of the direction. Like a mirror, it will need to look backwards to end up readable in the end.
Place your tattooer over the area and give a good, solid squeeze making sure to puncture all the way through the ear and then release. Try to be as quick as possible during this part. Think of it like piercing your ear.
Roll on more ink and rub in gently with the toothbrush.
Tattoo both ears. One for the year + your own ‘code’ I like to use numbers that correlate with which # of birth it was for that year and the other for your herd name abbreviation etc.
Cymbopogon Nardus (L.)
This is what we use regularly when we smoke the Goat houses. It smells great and all insects keep away, really helps keep those pesky mosquito’s and fly’s away. Also great from ache’s and pain when the oil is extracted and used to rub on affected area.
We use a combination of 1 part dish washing liquid, 1 part vinegar and 3 parts water. Mix the vinegar and water first then add into spary bottle, THEN add dish washing liquid before closing and shaking. Spray on area affected, even on Goats. Good Luck!
Seriously Folks. Get it Right.
Sheep Meat = Mutton
Goat Meat = Chevon
Young Milk Fed Goat Meat = Capretto