Raising Saanen goats, earning billions each year from selling milk

Success thanks to "3 no" goat farming

Introduced by the Farmers' Association of Binh Chanh District (HCMC), we came to the Cooperative.Goat farmingDa Phuoc in early November. Although the two sides of the road leading to Mr. Le Minh Hai's goat farm (Da Phuoc commune, Binh Chanh district) are only wide enough for a 4-seat car to move, the road is paved with clean concrete, and on both sides of the road are rows of straight, green trees, making us feel comfortable.

Mr. Le Minh Hai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Da Phuoc Goat Farming Cooperative (Da Phuoc Commune, Binh Chanh District) feeds his Saanen goats. Photo:Nguyen Thuy

Leading us to visit his farm, Mr. Le Minh Hai pointed to the elephant grass that was taller than me, planted on an area of ​​2 hectares. With this grass source, Mr. Hai can take the initiative in the food source for his goats. "This grass will be cut and mixed with bran to make food for the goats, saving a lot of costs," Mr. Hai said.

As we approached the goat farm, we heard their bleating, but strangely, as we entered and approached the pure white goats, we did not smell any unpleasant odor from the goat farm as we initially thought.

To do that, Mr. Hai said, raising goats for milk requires the barn to be located in a high, airy place, and the goats are bathed regularly to limit the odor in the barn. He also collects and composts the goat manure, treating it to make fertilizer for plants, especially for elephant grass.

"I want to doclosed model"To control the amount of food for goats and at the same time protect the environment," Mr. Hai said, pointing to the pile of goat manure being composted.

When asked about the opportunity to start raising goats for milk, Mr. Hai did not hesitate to say that he used to be an athlete and then a physical education teacher, but for him, goats have been very familiar and attached to his family for decades.

Before raising goats for milk, Mr. Hai had 10 years of experience raising goats for meat. However, with his acumen, combined with his diligence in visiting and learning from many models, Mr. Hai realized that the model of raising goats for milk had a lot of potential, and not many people were doing it, so in 2010, he boldly changed the model and became the first dairy goat farmer in Binh Chanh district.

"I went to learn about some goat milk farming models in Thailand, and read documents that goat milk has good nutritional ingredients for health, so I decided to invest," said Mr. Hai.

So, he decided to invest in raising goats for milk from the imported Saanen goat breed. This is a goat breed with high milk yield, good milk production characteristics, gentle, quiet, easy to train, so it is commonly raised for milk production. Up to now, Mr. Hai's family has invested and raised about 200 goats including kids, reserve goats and dairy goats.

With 1/3 of the total herd's milk goats, every morning Mr. Hai collects about 60-80 liters of milk, then preserves and puts it into the production line to produce two finished products: pasteurized fresh milk and yogurt, with the YoooMilk brand brought to the market. All production processes of pasteurized fresh milk and YoooMilk yogurt are carried out according to the ISO 22000:2018 production process (Food Safety Management System - PV).

With the amount of goat milk collected each day, Mr. Hai's family produces the equivalent of 500 products each day and is consumed within the day. "Raising goats for milk is more profitable than raising goats for meat. From pregnancy to giving birth, the cycle is about 6-8 months to be able to harvest milk.

My model of raising goats for milk is a "3 no" model: no preservatives; no antibiotics; no pesticides/no herbicides.

The imported Saanen goat breed has been crossbred by Mr. Hai and he can proactively source the breed to supply to cooperative members. Photo:Nguyen Thuy

The shelf life of my dairy products is only 7 days. If the dealer does not sell all the goat milk, it will be brought back to be processed and fed to the kids," said Mr. Hai, adding that to prevent the goat milk from smelling bad, during the feeding process, he adds soybeans to increase the source of nutrition, creating a good amount of milk for the goat.

Thanks to boldly investing in additional machinery and processing systems, converting from a livestock farming model, Mr. Hai's family has an income of about 1 billion VND per year from raising goats for milk.

Link to put products on e-commerce platform

Thanks to the effectiveness of Mr. Hai's goat farming model, the Farmers' Association of Binh Chanh District and the Party Committee and People's Committee of Da Phuoc Commune mobilized people in the commune to establish the Da Phuoc Goat Farming Cooperative (abbreviated as HTX - PV) with 7 members, total herd of more than 500 goats.

Besides taking care of his goat herd, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Da Phuoc Goat Breeding Cooperative, Mr. Hai also actively supports the people in the cooperative to be self-sufficient in breeding stock and techniques and coordinates with the government to find stable output for cooperative members.

"According to the local assessment, Mr. Le Minh Hai's model brings good economic efficiency, so they mobilized and gathered households raising goats for meat to convert to the model of raising goats for milk. From there, it helps farmers create strength, develop the commune's agricultural products sustainably, and easily participate in the market," said Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Da Phuoc Commune, Binh Chanh District.

Mr. Hai's farm with 200 goats is airy and clean. Photo:Nguyen Thuy

According to Mr. Hai, in the immediate future, the cooperative wants to focus on two main product lines: pasteurized fresh milk and yogurt. Currently, these products are retailed throughout Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces. "Many customers know that goat milk is good but the price is a bit high, so they are a bit hesitant. However, the price of the cooperative is affordable at 100,000 VND/liter. We have also sent products to some farms in the area to introduce to tourists, the signal is very good. In the coming time, we will strengthen coordination with tourism units to be able to introduce, promote and consume goat milk products," Mr. Hai shared.

Mr. Hai assessed that this is a product with a lot of potential, but it requires a lot of investment capital. Therefore, Mr. Hai hopes that more partners will know about the cooperative's products so that they can develop together.

Thanks to the persistent efforts to bring quality and safe products to consumers, on October 7, the pasteurized fresh milk product of Da Phuoc Goat Farming Cooperative was certified as "Typical Agricultural Product of Ho Chi Minh City 2021" by the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association and received a certificate of merit from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. This is a premise for the Cooperative to continue to develop sustainably, conquer the market and increase income, stabilize life right in its homeland./.

Nguyen Thuy