‘There are prospects in sheep, goat farming’

Kwala who retired from civil service as the Vice Principal of Government Secondary School in Kaltungo, Gombe state, said the ban on the importation of beef was one of the things that motivated him to go into goats and sheep farming.He said though he started with only seven two years ago, he now has 345 […]

Kwala who retired from civil service as the Vice Principal of Government Secondary School in Kaltungo, Gombe state, said the ban on the importation of beef was one of the things that motivated him to go into goats and sheep farming.
He said though he started with only seven two years ago, he now has 345 goats, 20 sheep after selling some that he found too matured to retain. He is very optimistic that after graduating from a training he is currently undergoing at the National Livestock Training Centre in Kachia, Kaduna state, said his target market is South-South Nigeria.   
“I started the farming not knowing its value. When there was high demand for sheep and goats especially in the South-South, I realized the huge opportunity following the federal government’s ban on importation of beef. If you want to go into farming as a business and get value for your money, its sheep and goat; I bought a goat N2, 800 last years, I just sold it N8,000. Before they took it to the market, it gave birth to two that I am still keeping.
“There is prospect in sheep and goats farming. We get milk out of the goats. Goat milk is better than that of a cow. If you sell N200 cow milk, that of the goat will be N500. There are so many things to benefit when you farm goats. One of my workers that is into crop production, could not get three bags of maize from his farm last year. But when we applied manure from the Sheep and goat waste, he had a bumper harvest and left the job,” Aminu said.
Kwala now packages manure from sheep and goats waste that he sells N500 per bag to farmers who apply in their farms in lieu of fertilizer, adding, “Each time I go to the farm and looked at the beauty of the goats and the sheep, I feel happy.”
In addition to goats and sheep farming, Kwala is also into the production of maize, rice, beans, onions, Okra, sugarcane before venturing into sheep and goat farming, adding, “And in all, the most favourable one is sheep and goats and within these two years, I have seen the differences. I am happy that my farm is contributing immensely to the beef demand of Nigerians.”
Another sheep and goats farmer, 51 year old retired banker, Malam Mohammed Doma who is now the Manager of Zeidi Farms, Kurmi in Kaduna state said during the training in Kachia that the sheep and goats in their farm have clauses with a South African farm which has been beneficial.
“We call them buwa and these buwa goats are very good and handy. We got the breed from Nyako’s farm in Yola, Adamawa state for the males. Then we cross breed them with our own goats and people are coming to buy.