SNAKING along a bumpy dusty road, passing thick bushes in rural West Nicholson on the way to Hokai Farm, one cannot miss the organic matter derived from the goat droppings littered along the way.
For Deon Grundling, the owner of Hokai Farm located in West Nicholson, Gwanda district in Matabeleland South province, this sight is nothing new.
Grundling started rearing goats at a tender age.
“I grew up with my father rearing goats. I was nine years old when I bought my first goat. I have farmed goats most of my life,” he said.
“I have been in Gwanda district for about 12 years now. When I started with goats here, I bought Matabele females and crossbred them with pure Boer goat bucks. Recently, I bought a herd of Kalahari reds.”
Grundling and his employees begin the day with a prayer.
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“The herders then go into the pens and make sure everything is in order, that is, there are no sick animals. If it is dip day, they will dip the animals before they go out for grazing,” he told to NewsDay Farming.
For Grundling, starting the farming project was never difficult as he begun small and grew with time.
“I built my herd of goats over years, saving money and investing it in breeding.
“Goats are the easier livestock to farm, but like any other livestock, they need to be looked after, especially pure breed animals. They [pure breed] are soft with any breed of animal. Currently, I have 150 goats,” he said.
As a goat farmer, Grundling has come across opportunities, experienced successes and failures, all which have strengthened him to soldier on, especially during this year’s El Niño-induced drought.
“Goat meat is healthier than most meats and you need less land than cattle to farm them. I farmed with dairy goats for a while, but you need to be close to the market to sell the milk,” he says.
“Stockfeed is expensive, so if you don’t grow your own grass for hay, the margins become minimal.”
Farming is part and parcel of Grundling’s life and he is using experience to stay up-to-date with industry developments, best practices and technological advancement in marketing and advertising his business.
“It is all about research and finding sites on the internet that you can read, but sometimes you have to use common sense to see if it is appropriate for your operation or not,” the goat farmer says.
“I normally market and advertise via social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp,” he said.
“I target local markets, especially selling young bucks to people in my area at a lower price so that they can improve their herds at an affordable price. There is a huge opportunity to export, but I haven’t exported any goats as yet.
“There was a time when my goats numbered around 400, but then they became too many for my property, so I sold some of them.”
Although the Gwanda-based goat farmer has had some achievements, he has also faced challenges which have threatened to wipe out his goats.
“Predators and diseases have become the major challenges. This year, our pastures were greatly affected by the El Niño-induced drought,” he says.
Former Zimbabwe National Farmers Union deputy president Edward Dune says they also diversify into various enterprises, with goats and other small ruminants included.
“As a farmers union, we facilitate for a favourable environment both from the supply and market sides of agricultural businesses. It is generally up to the individual farmers to approach financial institutions to fund various projects,” he says.
“We have approached several goat markets, but farmers don’t have adequate goats for the market. Ramadan is one such Arabic markets ready to absorb all goats in the country, which is less than 3 million as a national herd.”