Goat Production and Management

This unit covers practical herd management and production practices including milking, kid rearing, reproduction, health monitoring, basic facility construction, and marketing/sales options. It builds on foundational husbandry skills from earlier units and prepares students for advanced enterprise management and capstone applications in the final unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze herd health, biosecurity, sanitation, and parasite control protocols using fecal analysis and inspection data to reduce disease risk and maintain a clean living environment
• Demonstrate safe, hygienic milking and milk-handling procedures and construct basic production infrastructure such as a milk stand and simple hay feeder to preserve product quality
• Apply appropriate reproductive and management techniques—including kid feeding, castration, offering/managing buck service, pregnancy monitoring, and identification (microchipping/tattooing)—in accordance with animal welfare and handling standards
• Evaluate marketing and business decisions by comparing pricing strategies, drafting basic sale/service contracts, preparing animals for in-person and virtual shows, and weighing slaughter versus direct-market and whole-animal use options