Current status of goat production in Tra Vinh province
A survey was conducted to evaluate the present situation and economic efficiency of goat production systems in Tra Vinh province including Chau Thanh, Cau Ngang, and Duyen Hai districts from October to December 2019. The study was conducted using the Rapid rural appraisal method (RRA). The results showed that over 45 surveyed goat farms were the combination of animal breeding and meat production systems. The total number of goats in this survey was 833 heads (18.5 heads/household) with (BT ´ Co), Bach Thao (BT) and (Boer ´ BT) breeds were 1.82%, 25.7% and 72.5%, respectively. Almost goat farms with a simple housing and animal in captive were 73.3%. In addition, the daily diets consisted of fresh grasses (61.5%), fresh leaves (29.0%), and mixed feed (9.5%). The goats were injected vaccines (26.7%) and dewormed (44.4%). Furthermore, the results of health management presented that there were some common diseases in goats such as mouth ulcers, eye inflammation, external parasites and pneumonia. Moreover, the profit margin ratio of farmers from goat production was 1.36. The households have three main difficulties as: lack of breeding of male goats, feed and technology. The proposed solutions to develop goat production in Tra Vinh that increasing the rotation of male goats between districts and districts or replacing male goats every year (buying new male goats every year); Planting high-yielding grass and making use of agricultural by-products for feed and proposed researching about technology: processing and preserving of animal feed, formulating diets for raising goats in the locality.
