Goats are one of the most popular animals in Indonesia. Goat meat is often used for aqiqah purposes, animal sacrifices, restaurant cooking, or just home cooking. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are many people who are interested in keeping goats as livestock.

In Indonesia itself, goat meat is very popular to be processed into satay, gule, tongseng, and various other spicy foods. Seeing the need for goat meat, goat farmers compete to fatten their goats. So, if you are also one of those people interested in raising goats, then you don’t just have to consider what kind of goat is good to raise.

You should know that raising goats will be very profitable if you can fatten up the body. This is because the goats are traded for their meat. Therefore, in addition to determining the type of goat, you must also learn how to care for goats so that they gain weight quickly. To do so requires the best possible planning, implementation, and maintenance. Discussed below are 15 ways to care for goats so they get fat fast that you need to know:

1. Choose a quiet breeding spot

Goats need a quiet environment away from the hustle and bustle of the city to feel comfortable. This calm and comfortable environment will whet your appetite. In addition, the calm environment makes the goats avoid stress that can affect their appetite and trigger diseases in the goats. Therefore, try to choose a farm location that is away from roads, factories, or other sources of noise.

2. Make the right goat cage

Next, you need to make a goat cage that is suitable and comfortable for the goats. Make sure the air circulation in the goat pen you made is working well. Good air circulation for raising goats means that the cage is not blocked by stone walls or large buildings around it. With good air circulation, the cage will stay healthy because dirt will dry quickly and bad odors will be carried away by the wind.

3. Give enough sunlight

A bit related to the previous point, sunlight will keep the environment clean and germs won’t breed easily. Make sure the cage location is not too hot, but not too cold either. It would be ideal if the goat’s cage is under a shady tree that protects it from the hot sun but still gets enough sunlight.

4. Adjust cage size to number of goats

You should also make sure that the size of the cage is suitable for the goats you have. Don’t let the size of the cage become too narrow so that the goats don’t feel free to move around. For example, the ideal cage size for billy goats is approximately 1.1 meters x 1.25 meters per head.

5. Ensure cage comfort

Cage comfort is judged by proper air temperature and a shady location. If the environment of the cage is shaded, that is, neither too hot nor too dark, the goat will feel comfortable and will gain weight more easily. The comfort this goat feels will keep its appetite up and help maintain the quality of the meat. The formation of meat will be maximum when the goat has a good appetite.

6. Choose Superior Goat Seeds

Not only due to external factors, such as the cages, the internal factors of the goats themselves can affect the fattening business that is carried out. That is to say, genetic factors and growth talent in the goat’s body will also affect the fattening business you do. Therefore, you must be able to choose good and superior goat seeds to ensure that your fattening business is successful.

To ensure that the goat seeds you buy are the best, you can follow these guidelines:

• For a top male goat breed, make sure he has a large and long body size.
• Good billy goats usually have a taller and larger rear body.
• The goat was not too fat, but he was of manly stature.
• It has straight and strong legs.
• Born of two brothers or single.
• Approximately 1.5 to 3 years.

In the meantime, if you want to choose a good mother goat, you need to know about a few slightly different characteristics, such as the following:

• The line of the back and waist is straight.
• Have straight legs and high heels.
• The character is docile and not fierce.
• It has a symmetrical udder, not hanging.
• Having bifurcated or bifurcated nipples.

So make sure you choose good goat seeds, okay!

7. Give Ideal Food

Goats are livestock that are quite easy to keep because they only need grass or other green plants as their main feed ingredients. Instead, it provides food that is cheap and readily available. Its objective is to reduce maintenance costs. However, also make sure that the feed you provide meets the carbohydrate, protein, mineral, and vitamin needs of goats.

8. Give extra food

Although the main diet of goats is green plants, it can also provide additional food for goats. This additional feed will be very useful to accelerate fattening and make the goat’s reproductive system healthy. The additional food you can give him is a mixture of tofu feces, rice bran and a mixture of cassava. To speed up fattening, you can give this additional food up to 3 kg per day. In fact, you can also add leftover organic ingredients from your kitchen that are not used for cooking.

9. Give Fermented Food

One type of feed that has been shown to be able to quickly fatten up goats is fermented feed. Doing it is quite easy, that is, mixing green plants such as grass, straw or others, with bran that weighs 5% of the weight of green plants. Then add 1% salt, 0.5% sugar, roter and enough water. Leave this mixture for 3 to 5 days. Giving this fermented food is not meant to replace the main food such as grass, and additional food can also be given from tofu feces as above.

10. Keep Goat Appetite

In addition to making sure the goat is comfortable so that its appetite is maintained, you can also add vitamins or SOC supplements. The administration method is to mix 5 cc of SOC in 15 liters of water to give as a goat drink. This supplement can be administered 2 times a day.

11. give enough drink

Drinking enough will also keep the goat healthy so it will produce healthy meat. By giving it enough water, the goat meat will form more and be of good quality.

12. Make sure that the cleanliness of the cage is maintained.

As discussed above, cage cleanliness is the primary key to goat health. Make sure the location of the cage is away from the garbage disposal. Not only that, don’t let the cage get dirty from the goat’s own manure, food scraps, drains, or other dirty places. If this is not done, it is not impossible for the goat to lose its appetite. It is highly recommended that you clean the goat’s cage every day, preferably in the evening. By cleaning the cage regularly, you will prevent diseases due to spoilage of manure and food from attacking the goats.

13. Immediately recognize diseases in goats

If the goat is sick, it will surely interfere with the fattening process that is taking place. Therefore, you should be careful if the goat is restless, likes to rub its fur, or has any other unusual behavior. If it is too late to notice, it is feared that it will have a serious impact on the goat’s health, both physically and psychologically.

14. Disease control in goats

If any of your goats are sick, you should separate them from other goats. This will help prevent the disease from spreading to other goats. If it stays in the same cage with other goats, it will most likely have an impact on the health of other goats that are in the same room as the sick goat.

15. give medicines to sick goats

For sick goats, you should immediately consult a veterinarian. This is so your sick goat can get treatment right away so she can recover quickly. Medications can be administered as directed by the doctor.

Good luck!