Infrastructure
Boer Goats are well known for their intelligence and curiosity, traits that often manifest in their ability to escape from grazing paddocks. This behavior is frequently attributed to two main factors: insufficient fencing infrastructure and the natural inquisitiveness of the animals themselves. Effective farming of Boer Goats requires not only managing this escape tendency but also establishing reliable and comprehensive infrastructure to support the animals’ health, safety, and productivity.
Successful and profitable Boer Goat farming depends on several key infrastructure elements. This includes secure and appropriate fencing to contain the animals within designated grazing areas, ensuring their safety and preventing loss. Equally important is a dependable water supply system, which must provide clean, accessible water to the flock at all times. Proper water infrastructure often involves automatic watering systems or gravity-fed setups that reduce manual labor and ensure consistent hydration for the goats. Additionally, well-designed handling facilities are critical for the safe and efficient management of the animals during routine farm operations such as vaccination, dipping, deworming, weighing, ear tagging and loading.
Each of these components plays a vital role in creating a functional and sustainable goat farming operation. This course explores these foundational infrastructure elements in detail—fencing, water supply and handling systems —highlighting their design principles, practical considerations, and their collective impact on the welfare and management efficiency of Boer Goats.
By examining the various infrastructural elements individually and as an integrated system, the course aims to provide comprehensive guidelines for farmers seeking to optimise their infrastructural investments and improve farming outcomes.
