Nam Hung (Nam Dan): Developing goat farming

(Baonghean) -Taking advantage of the large mountainous area of ​​a commune, in recent years, the livestock raising movement in Nam Hung (Nam Dan) has developed strongly. In particular, goat raising is considered a spearhead, bringing significant income to many farming households...

We visited the goat farming model of Mr. Tran Van Hien's family (in hamlet 3/2 - Nam Hung commune) just when he was preparing to herd his herd of more than 40 goats to graze on the acacia and eucalyptus hills adjacent to his house, about 3 hectares wide. Mr. Hien explained - "They must be released from 9am onwards. If released early in the morning, the grass and trees still have dew on them, and the goats can easily get digestive diseases from eating them."

As one of the households raising a large herd and having experience in raising goats, Mr. Hien said: Due to the large mountainous area, goat raising in Nam Hung has developed for a long time. There was a time when almost every household in the commune raised goats, with small households having 3-5 goats, and large households raising more than 50 goats. However, in the past, the economic efficiency of raising goats was low due to difficult consumption because consumers were not used to eating them, so many households switched to raising cows, chickens, pigs, etc. In recent years, many restaurants and hotels have sprung up, and the demand for specialties made from goat meat has increased, causing goat raising to develop again.

Many farming households in Nam Hung commune (Nam Dan) escaped poverty thanks to goat farming.

Goats are animals that only like to eat leaves, do not like to eat starch, so they are easy to "please"; they can eat natural grasses that are poor in nutrients, and can endure hardship well, so the investment in food is not high, they can graze on hills and mountains, or be kept in cages. The biggest difficulty in raising goats is that in winter, goats often get sick with diseases such as septicemia, cholera, and anthrax because of their poor endurance due to the impact of weather and climate. If there are no reasonable disease prevention measures, goats will easily get sick and lose the entire herd....

Taking advantage of the opportunity when people competed to sell goats at low prices before 2000, Mr. Thai Khac Ha (in Lam Son hamlet) chose to buy good breeding sows to raise a herd. From the initial 5 breeding goats, thanks to knowing how to take care of them and applying science and technology properly, Mr. Ha's family's herd has now grown to 40 goats and always reproduces stably from 35-40 goats/year. Consumption is also very convenient because traders come to weigh them at home. With the form of both breeding and selling breeding goats and raising commercial goats, after deducting expenses, Mr. Ha earns a profit of 50-60 million VND per year. Not only Mr. Ha's family, thanks to goat farming, many households have been able to buy equipment and supplies for daily life and production. Especially, it creates jobs during the off-season.

According to Mr. Tran Dinh Binh, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Nam Hung Commune: With high mountainous terrain and steep land, the commune's agricultural production depends entirely on the rain, so the crops are good one year and bad the next. In that context, the development of goat farming is suitable for the natural conditions in Nam Hung. Goat farming not only requires little capital and quick turnover, but also takes advantage of idle labor and exploits the potential of local hills and forests...

A good sow can give birth to 2 litters per year, each litter has 1-2 kids, after about 7 months of raising, the weight reaches 20-25kg/kid; at the time the price of meat goats at the barn is from 100,000-110,000 VND/kg. This is a price that brings relatively high profits to breeders. If the price of meat goats remains stable as it is now, goat raising is bringing about very positive economic efficiency. The old people have a saying, "The rich raise dogs, the poor raise goats", so this can be considered a suitable breeding model for poor households without land for production, because it only takes 1.5-2 million VND to buy a good sow to raise a herd.

The whole commune currently has 150/820 households raising goats with a total herd of more than 3,000; the scale of raising from 5-40 goats/household; the total annual income from goats reaches over 2 billion VND. Currently, Nam Hung is a place specializing in providing meat goats, breeding goats for localities in and outside the district and Vinh city. If in the past goats were raised in a natural grazing style in hilly areas, around the house, now many households have built barns or planned according to the farm model, family farm; this model helps to increase fertility and productivity; the quality of breeding animals is also better thanks to the initiative in mating.

The efficiency of goat farming is the condition for Nam Hung to move towards building a concentrated farming model with a large quantity of goods, contributing to affirming the specialty brand of Cau Don Nam Dan goat meat which is favored by the market. At the same time, promoting the strength of the livestock industry in developing the agricultural economy of the semi-mountainous area of ​​the district.

Ngoc Anh