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May 13, 2010

Sustainable Goat Production System - A Model

Red meat is considered bad for you.  But this was not the case 50 years ago.  There were tribes then, and still, who consume mainly meat and live normal healthy lives.  Some eskimos eat only meat throughout their lives.  Nomadic people used to consume only the meat and milk of the animals they herd.

Perhaps the problem lies with how we raise the animals.  Here's the lipids content of a sample cut of 100 grams taken from the USDA nutrients database:

Beef - saturated fat: 9.75gms, omega 6: 2.56gms, omega 3: Nil, Cholesterol: 90 mg

Lamb - saturated fat: 11.76gms, omega 6: 2.08gms, omega 3: Nil, cholesterol: 74mg

Chicken - saturated fat 2.6gms, omega 6: 1.87gms, omega 3: 0.03gms, cholesterol: 64mg.

The chicken sample had an oddity, trans fat of 0.105gms.  Wonder what are they feeding the chickens, recycled frying oil?

Compare the above with the goat meat produced from our farm:

Saturated Fats : 0.3gms, Omega 6: 140mg, Omega 3: 49.6mg, Cholesterol 51. 

The non-existence of omega 3 in industrialised meats as per the samples from the USDA database is worrying for consumer health.  The chicken had an omega 6 omega 3 ratio of 62:1.  Our goat meat has a ratio of 3:1.

Read here why a low ratio is important for your health.

This is how we produce our goat meat.  The goats are happy, the land is happy, the consumer is healthy.

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The goats are moved from field to field every 3 to 7 days. This reduces disease and intestinal worm problems.

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We choose local indigenous goats and cross them with boers to produce a herd that's resistant to local diseases, eliminating to a large extent the need for medication and dewormers.
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Local goats are chosen over imported goats for resistance to disease.
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The goats are moved to fresh fields every week. 
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Grass is planted separately, harvested, and fed to the goats.  This ensures better utilization of land and thereby reduce the demand for expanding land acreage.

 

An acre of land using normal grazing methods can raise a maximum 15 goats.  In our case, we can raise 200 goats on an acre of land.

 

With less disease and better control on the quality of grass that the goats are eating, the net result is happy goats, healthier meat for the consumers and less impact on the environment.

 

We are the only producer of red meat that can guarantee an omega 6: omega 3 ratio of 4:1 or better (in the world!).

 

Mar 20, 2010

Grassfed Cabrito

We are budgetting about RM30,000 to complete this plan to produce about one ton of 100% grassfed, certified organic cabrito per year.  Targetted wholesale price for one kg of cabrito meat will be RM80.00 but will be selling on a per carcass basis.  We may consider butchering at a later date and if we do that, the average pricing will be higher.  The meat will be certified and will have lab tests to prove high omega 3 content with a guaranteed ratio of 4:1 or better for the crucial omega 6 : omega 3 ratio.
Click on the pic for a larger image.
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Cost of the goat house comes to RM5.00 per sq ft.  The rest of the budget goes to fencing. The layout is not ideal of course but reflects the lay of the land and the fact that we are not 'touching' the land by way of leveling etc.  We work within the contraints of the landform which adds to the cost a little.
The rotation every 3 days is to avoid the need to constantly deworm in our humid climate and also to allow the land to recover faster as the land is planted with mature fruit trees.  The food for the goats will come mainly from the napia that we are growing seperately and then harvesting them to feed to the goats.
Of course it is not as easy as what have been outlined here.  Cultural practices will have to be implemented to ensure goat health, reasonable weight-gain and low mortality.
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Progress as at April 16.  Another two weeks, the goats will be in their new home.
(Click for larger view).

Jun 28, 2005

Successful Auction

Had a most successful auction of our boer crosses on Sunday, 26th June. We sold off 420 goats within 2 hours and all prices were met or exceeded. Buyers came from all over the country. We served them cabrito curry before the auction and they were really pleased with the quality of the meat and that perhaps gave them the confidence to bid.

Click here to see some photos of the auction.

18:35 Posted in Goats | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Organic Farming

Jun 22, 2005

Boer Goat Auction

We are going to have an auction of about 200 breeder females on Sunday 26, June 2005 at our goat breeder farm at Serting, Kuala Pilah. We will also be selling about 200 males, commercial quality. Price for the males will be RM11 per kilo. Each male will weigh around 20 kilo.
The starting price for the females will be RM280 each to about RM600.
We are hoping to net sales of about RM100,000 from the event.

22:39 Posted in Goats | Permalink | Comments (0) | Tags: Organic Farming