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Damascene goats and boer goats.. its advantages and productive properties

Damascene goats and Boer goats represent one of the options available to some segments of breeders and investors, because of their many advantages over the known breeds and species, which requires highlighting them more, introducing them and their productive capabilities, and the most important recommendations regarding them. During his stay as a guest of the media, Aya Tariq, presenter of the “Agricultural Guide” program, broadcast on the Misr Agricultural Channel, Dr. Youssef Hussein Hafez - Professor in the Department of Goats and Sheep Research at the Animal Production Research Institute - dealt with the file of raising Damascene and fallow goats with explanation and analysis, highlighting the advantages Each of them, their cost and size of productivity, and the most prominent recommendations to obtain the best possible results.

Damascene goats and boer goats

Damascene goats and Boer goats.. Advantages and challenges at the beginning

Dr. Youssef Hussein Hafez

spoke about the Damascene and Boer goats, confirming the availability of the first breed in the “Serw” and “Sakha” research stations, with the possibility of managing the required numbers of them, which are based on a request submitted by the breeders. He presented the Damascene goat as one of the available options for animal production projects, whether those related to fattening or dairying, pointing to their high cost compared to local breeds, which requires sufficient capital to start them.

Boer goats.. Distinctive conversion rates

“Hafez” switched to Boer goats, explaining that the demand for it has increased recently, due to its great advantages, foremost of which are the high rates of meat conversion compared to other available varieties, pointing out that the weight of the goat ranges between 110 to 120 kg, which makes it a “goat” A little buffalo calf. He highlighted the rates of meat conversion and growth, which reach 250 grams per day, provided that large quantities of hay are provided - especially concentrates - which enhances its transformational capabilities, and brings its growth rates to acceptable and satisfactory levels for breeders.

High cost and limited options

Hafez revealed the unavailability of the Boer breed, pointing out that they have endeavored to introduce and breed it in limited numbers, due to its high cost, which exceeds thousands of pounds, which makes it an option not available except to certain groups of investors and breeders.

Advantages of Boer
goats

He explained that the main feature of the fallow goat breed is its adaptation to the environmental and climatic conditions of the Egyptian country, which are very similar to the nature of its original habitat in South Africa.

Damascene and Boer
goats. The reasons for separating the female “pregnant” from the males

A professor at the Department of Goat and Sheep Research at the Animal Production Research Institute advised the necessity of separating the “goat” from the female “pregnant”, due to the possibility of the latter being at risk of any possible attack from the male, which is characterized by its “sharp” horns, which may threaten her life. A different diet for the “pregnant” females provided another explanation for the reasons for separating the “pregnant” females from the “goats” males, due to their need for an intensive diet, in which the focus is on providing a diet with a high percentage of “concentrates”, due to the shrinking of the “rumen” due to the “formation of fetus during this period. He stressed the need to pay attention to feeding the “pregnant” females throughout the pregnancy, so that the childbirth stage passes safely, in addition to ensuring that their production capacity and rates of meat conversion reach satisfactory proportions, in addition to facilitating their task in generating sufficient amount of milk, which suffices the needs of the young until the weaning stage.