Traditional Goat Production and Utilisation of Goat Milk in Kgatleng and Kweneng districts of Botswana

Abstract

Botswana, with an estimatd goat population of 1.83 million has inadequate milk production. This study describes milk production and utilisation of free grazing Tswana does. A survey of 100 randomly selected farming households which keep goals was conducted in Kgatleng and Kweneng districts. Sixty percent (60%) of the respondent farmers were male farmers and 40% were female farmers. Data acquisition was done trough questionnaires, interviews and direct goat observations. The total goat population was 1769 composed of 1319 female goats, 362 kids and 88 male goats. The average herd size per household was 17.69 whereas the averages for female goats and kids were 13.19 and 3.62 respectively.
Ninety-five percent of the farmers kept their goats extensively and only 5% practiced semi-intensive system. Goat kept extensively were grazed and browsed for 8 hours daily on natural ranges, while those kept semi-intensively were browsed and grazed for 4 hours. Thirty-four percent of the farmers stored crop residues from maize, sorghum and beans for supplementary feeding during the dry season. Goat milk was mostly used for tea, direct drinking and consuming with porridge. The main diseases reported were diarrhoea, helminthiasis and pneumonia. The major constraint was non-availability of feeds which accounted for 85% of all the production constraints encountered by the goat farmers.