Brazil: why goats are good news
21/02/2013
Farms run by families in remote areas are finding goats are good news because they consume less feed and water than cows and can reproduce more quickly, and demand for their meat, their milk and their skins is strong.
Samuel Pimenta, a scientific advisor in the region to a project called the National Programme of Family Agriculture, said in recent comments to Brazilian media that goat’s milk is in demand because it has 30% less cholesterol than cow’s milk. At the same time, he says 6% of all the children in Brazil have an allergy to cow’s milk. The domestic market is the eleventh largest in the world, he estimates, at 25 million litres a year.
He also said goats were well suited to drier climates, such as that of Ceará’s interior. “A cow weighing 500 kilos consumes around 40 kilos of feed and consumes 50 litres of water a day,” he explained. “On average, a goat will need only six kilos of feed and drink 12 litres of water a day. It takes three years for a cow to be ready to produce a calf, whereas goats are ready after eight months and often have two kids at a time. Goats make great economic sense for a lot of our small farmers.”
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