Slatted Floor Goat Farming

Introduction

• Smt. Brindadevi is a graduate and involved in agriculture and allied farming activities since 2010.
• The annual income of her family was around Rs. 2 lakhs which did not meet the family expenses and children’s education.
• She came to know that the slatted floor goat rearing is a beneficial enterprise.

Training & Motivation

• Goat rearing is one of the important aspects in dry land farming system. In rural areas open grazing is a common practice for rearing of goat flocks.
• Due to the reduction in open grazing there is a need to search another alternate option i.e. stall feeding or slatted floor goat rearing method.
• Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Myrada conducted training programme on slatted floor goat rearing during 2012. She attended the training programme and came to know about slatted floor shed construction, breed selection, goat breed up gradation, green fodder production, concentrated feed production, disease management and market linkage.

Achievements

• She started slatted floor goat rearing shed with 10 local goats and gradually replaced with Tellicherry goat breed.
• In the beginning she sold out the kids and male goats for breeding and slaughter purposes in their block and later she expanded her marketing linkages to nearby blocks of Erode district.
• Goats are being sold as live weight for Rs. 250/kg for male and Rs. 300/kg for female at the farm gate.
• At present she is maintaining around 60 adult goats & 45 kids and 30 HF cross dairy cows in the farm.
• She is getting an annual income of Rs. 4,37,500 from the sale of 50 goats (9 months age) at an average weight of 30-40 Kg. She is selling FYM to other farmers also.
• KVK identified this goat farm as a model slatted floor goat rearing unit for KVK technical programmes.
• She started mixed fodder cultivation practices like Cumbu Napier (CO-5), Fodder Sorghum COFS-31 and Hedge Lucerne and supplying seed and slips to other farmers.
• Apart from Goat farming she started Mini dairy farming with 20 HF dairy cows and regularly selling milk in nearby areas.
• She established Mini Concentrate Feed preparation unit at farm level to reduce feed cost.

Importance to other Farmers

• 46 slatted goat units were established in Erode district with the technical support from KVK and this unit is an play as inspiration to other farmers to initiate slatted floor Goat farming.
• Documentary film has been produced on Slated Floor Goat Rearing as a training material.
• More than 2400 farmers have visited the farm for updating their skill and knowledge on goat rearing
• MYRADA KVK conducted front line demonstration programme of Mixed Fodder Cultivation technology.
• Apart from Goat farming this successful woman entrepreneur became a government teacher in the year 2015. She continues to monitor the unit with the support of her husband and family members.

Awards & Recognitions

• Received award from ASPEE Foundation, Mumbai for “Best Woman Entrepreneur” for the year 2016 – 2017.
• The success story of woman farmer published in Daily Thanthi Sunday special edition.

Source : Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare