Curriculum · Module 12
Goats: Browse, Fibre and Cold
The national capacity map explicitly excludes the resource goats live on, which is where this module starts. It then settles meat goat reproduction on a real SA dataset, turns Rowswell's weather thresholds into a shearing decision, prices the mohair ladder correctly, handles the disease that limits where goats can be kept, and states plainly what cannot be said about dairy goats and cashmere.
- 54 Browse Budgets and Why Goats Are Not Small Sheep Settles how to size a goat enterprise when the national capacity map explicitly excludes the resource goats live on. Estimate browsing units on your own land using a walked transect methodExplain why the DALRRD long-term grazing capacity map cannot size a goat enterpriseState what actually differs physiologically between a goat and a sheep, and what does not 14 min
- 55 Meat Goats, Indigenous Veld Goats and the Live-Goat Market Settles the reproduction structure of an SA meat goat herd, what Indigenous Veld Goats actually deliver, and the one channel the abattoir rule does not block. Design a doe herd age structure from published South African reproduction dataState what Indigenous Veld Goats deliver against Boer goats on the same carcass trialUse the live-goat channel lawfully and time it to ceremonial demand 15 min
- 56 Angora Cold Mortality and the Shearing Decision Settles South Africa's signature goat problem and turns Rowswell's weather thresholds into a real shearing-date tool. Explain the glucose-collapse mechanism behind Angora cold death and stress abortionApply Rowswell's recommended criteria to your own weather record and pick a shearing windowDecide whether coats are worth buying on the measured trial evidence 14 min
- 57 Mohair Price Structure and Flock Design Settles how the mohair price ladder shapes an Angora flock's age structure, and the unit error that overstates income by about 14%. Read a mohair sale report and convert greasy to clean without overstating incomeDesign a flock age structure from the kid-to-adult price ratio and the reproduction age curveSelect Angora replacements on the traits the SA lifetime-income evidence actually separates 13 min
- 58 Heartwater, the Kidding Season and Handling Goats as Goats Settles the disease that limits where goats can be kept, the three-way kidding-season trade-off, and handling an animal whose metabolism fails under stress. Assess heartwater risk on your own land from tick species, season and the exposure history of your animalsChoose a kidding season against your own parasite and cold calendar, and then hold itHandle, kraal and yard goats in a way that does not cost you the animal 15 min
- 59 Dairy Goats and Cashmere: the Honest Position Settles what can and cannot be said about SA's two smallest goat enterprises, and why neither can be budgeted from published data. State exactly which dairy goat and cashmere figures do not exist in South African sourcesDesign a farm pilot that would generate the missing numbersApply the raw-milk regulation to goat milk 10 min