A lot of people are turning to livestock farming as a way to making a living. Raising livestock can be a nice way to making lots of money at the some time provide for your family. You can raise all types of livestock such as chickens, ducks, cattle, rabbits, sheep, goats, pigs, and horses but you should know how to take care of them before you get started.
A beginner livestock farmer should first identify what they want to achieve from their livestock farm. You have to determine what type of livestock will be suitable with your land and how much you willing to invest in your project. Another thing is ask make sure you are allowed by law to raise livestock in your area.
If you’re not sure on what type of livestock you want to raise below we going to cover in detail two types of livestock you can consider raising first.
Sheep:
Sheep can be raised for various reasons, some raise sheep for an agricultural landscape, others raise sheep as pets and most people raise sheep for profits. What ever your reason maybe to raising sheep there are guidelines you have to follow in order to raise healthy productive sheep.
Sheep need a house for some shelter. There are various types of sheep houses such as traditional barns and metal buildings but these can be quiet expensive. If your budget is tight you can go for a hoop house which works well. Your sheep house will protect your sheep from harsh weather and predators.
Your sheep need to be feed well. When feeding your sheep you need to use feeders to avoid the spread of diseases and wastage. The feeders should be cleaned before and after feeding. Your sheep can be fed hay in bunks or you can buy feed from your local farmer’s store. Don’t forget to give your sheep plenty of clean water everyday.
Goats:
Goats are often raised by farmers to produce fiber, meat, milk and butter. A male goat is called a ‘buck’ and female called ‘doe’. When raising them you need to care for them and give shelter.
Goats can eat just about anything that is green looking. When raising goats its best to grow some green grass for them to eat and make sure you don’t have poisonous plants growing in your pasture that can kill your goats. Water should be available for them to drink on daily bases.
Although goats are susceptible to extreme weather conditions that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build some shelter for them. Goat’s shelter can be simple with some roof. It can be divided into sections there they sleep, where they feed and where they can be milked or slaughtered.