Research and Training Strategies for Goat Production Systems in ...

Table 4 Possible income from increasing goat slaughtering
Percentage Carcasses
increase
Kg meat Income/year
(R)
0.55 36 511 492 898 3 578 443
5 332 196 4 484 651 32 558 564
10 664 393 8 969 301 65 117 128
15 996 589 13 453 952 97 675 692
20 1 328 785 17 938 603 130 234 257
25 1 660 982 22 423 254 162 792 821
Approximately 65% of the people interviewed indicated that they do not eat goat's meat or that
they will only eat it if nothing else is available. Some reasons for not eating goat meat are:
Goat meat smells (the majority offered this reason).
Beef and mutton are more tasty.
Meat fibres are too coarse.
Goats are only used during traditional ceremonies.
You can not eat your pet!
Small-scale farmers evidently do not see goats as a saleable commodity. They see them as animals
of financial security. There is also a perception that goats are a poor man's animals. If we want to
establish a goat industry, it is very important that we must embark on an educational approach and
show the financial value of the goats to the farmers. Furthermore, we must acknowledge the fact
that insufficient family labour and unreliable hired labour are a reality. The majority of people in
the rural areas are women, old people (50 years and older) and children, younger than 15 years of
age. They are responsible for the farming activity. They share their time between crop production
and livestock production of various types and non-farming activities. According to research done
at the University of the North, each farmer requires a total of 210 man-days (126 man-days for
crops and 84 man-days for livestock). During the peak months, each family has an average of
eight members but only three adult equivalents are available during the year and usually only two
for part of the day. They can only devote 5% of their time to animal production and spend 63% of
their time on household chores. This results in poor management and the accompanying low
animal performance. Also, hiring labour is the exception rather than the rule.
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