Photos by Bernhart Immanuel Piñol, Braveheart Farms.
Yesterday, my son, Bernhart Immauel, and I visited the Rocking X Ranch in Weatherford, Texas which breeds and raises the beautiful Spanish Goats of the Kensing line.
The ranch manager, Billy Pruitt, and my friend Bobby Jones of Gatesville, were there to share stories about this hardy breed of goats.
It was a joy seeing almost 2,000 goats running around free in an area of 9,000 acres..
The Spanish Goats will be added to the existing herd already in the Philippines through the Mindanao Small Ruminants Nucleus Farm Program.
The MSRNF is funded by the Dept. of Agriculture through the Bureau of Animal Industry and operated by a local cooperative, the COLIPAA.
As the designer of the program, I serve as pro bono adviser of the project assisted by Dr. Roland Fajardo DVM.
Offsprings of the imported Spanish Goats will be used to upgrade local goats for meat production.
Here’s more:
It’s Best To Breed & Raise Goats In Dry, Warm Areas!
In our visit to the 9,000-acre Rocking X Ranch in Weatherford, Texas yesterday, Ranch Foreman Billy Pruitt confirmed what I had been saying all along – Goats thrive well in dry and warm environment.
Billy, who manages the Ranch which has about 1,800 Spanish Goats, said Goats raised in wet and damp environment are prone to diarrhea and scouring.
This is marked by wet manure, a condition which could be fatal to Goats.
The last person I shared this info with was Gov. Ricarte Padilla of Camarines Norte, a rain-drenched province because of the periodic tropical depression and typhoon which hit the region.
The best option to address this problem is to raise Goats in roofed and elevated structures.
It would require a lot of work and expense though because the goats will have to be fed with cut and carry forage or Silage.
The positive aspect of raising Goats in confined areas is that it allows close monitoring of their body and health.
