Production Systems

Goat and sheep production in Tanzania operates under three main systems:

Extensive system: Animals roam freely on natural rangelands, walking long distances to browse. This system has low costs but limited disease control and depends heavily on seasonal feed availability.

Semi-intensive system: Animals graze for part of the day and receive supplementary feed (cut-and-carry fodder or concentrates) when housed. This system offers better nutrition and easier supervision while requiring simple housing structures.

Intensive system (zero-grazing): Animals are kept indoors full-time with all feed brought to them. This system provides excellent control over feeding, breeding, and health, but requires higher investment in housing and feed.

Essential Housing Requirements

Proper housing protects animals from weather, predators, and disease. Key features include:

• Raised slatted floors for drainage and airflow
• Open sides for ventilation
• Strong roof for weather protection
• Separate pens for different groups (kids/lambs, does/ewes, bucks/rams)
• Adequate space: 1.0-1.2 m² per adult goat/sheep indoors
• 30-35 cm trough length per adult animal

Basic Health Practices

• Regular deworming based on parasite risk rather than fixed schedules
• Tick control through spraying or dipping every 2-4 weeks during rainy season
• Vaccination against major diseases (PPR, clostridial diseases)
• Clean, dry housing to prevent pneumonia and foot rot
• Proper nutrition to maintain immunity

Basic Feeding Practices

Animals require approximately 5% of their body weight in dry matter daily. Feeding systems should include:

• Browse, pasture, and crop residues as basal feed
• Concentrates for growth, pregnancy, and lactation
• Clean water at all times
• Mineral supplements
• Fodder conservation (hay or silage) for dry seasons

Digital Record-Keeping Tools

Modern technology enables better farm management through:

• Mobile apps for recording breeding, health, and production data
• Spreadsheet templates for tracking weights, treatments, and finances
• QR code scanners for quick animal identification

These tools help track mating dates, expected kidding/lambing, vaccination schedules, and financial performance.

Climate-Controlled Housing

Advanced housing technologies include:

• Ventilation fans with humidity sensors
• Automated ventilation systems that adjust based on temperature
• Proper orientation (east-west roof alignment) to minimize heat load

These systems improve animal comfort, reduce heat stress, and decrease disease incidence.

Advanced Breeding Technologies

Artificial Insemination (AI): A technique where semen is manually placed into the female's reproductive tract. Advantages include:

• Access to superior genetics from around the world
• Reduced disease transmission
• Better safety and efficiency

Embryo Transfer (ET): Produces multiple offspring from a single high-quality female by collecting embryos from a donor cow and transferring them to recipients.

Feed Technology Innovations

Forage choppers: Cut fresh grass, legumes, or crop residues into small pieces for better digestion and easier mixing with concentrates. Types include hand-crank, motorised, and PTO-driven choppers.

Hay balers: Compress dry forage into bales for efficient storage. Available as manual, round, or square balers.

Hydroponic fodder: Grown from soaked grains without soil using water and light. Produces fresh green feed within 7-8 days, valuable during dry seasons.

Feed formulation software: Mobile apps or computer programs that balance rations at the lowest cost using local feed ingredients.

Health Management Technologies

Automatic vaccination syringes: Deliver correct vaccine doses consistently

Thermostable vaccines: Remain effective without constant cooling

Wearable sensors: Monitor animal activity, temperature, and health indicators (more common in cattle but adaptable)

Digital diagnostics: Field tests for disease detection

Water and Environmental Management

• Automatic drinkers: Provide clean water continuously, reducing labor and contamination
• Rainwater harvesting: Collection systems for dry season water supply
• Proper drainage channels: Prevent muddy conditions that lead to foot rot

Problem Identification Process

1. Observe the flock daily for signs of illness, poor growth, or management gaps
2. Record findings in a simple notebook or mobile app
3. Analyze patterns (e.g., health problems after rains, poor growth in dry season)
4. Prioritize problems based on impact and feasibility of solution

Selecting Appropriate Technologies

Consider these factors when choosing technologies:

• Cost: Start with low-cost improvements (e.g., proper drainage, mineral blocks)
• Availability: Choose technologies with locally available spare parts
• Skills: Select technologies that can be managed with available labor
• Scale: Match technology to enterprise size

Example: Addressing Dry Season Feed Scarcity

Problem: Goats lose weight during dry season due to poor forage quality

Affordable solutions:

1. Establish fodder banks (plant drought-tolerant forages like Leucaena, Calliandra)
2. Make hay during rainy season
3. Store crop residues (maize stover, bean haulms) properly
4. Use urea-molasses blocks for additional energy and protein

Implementation:

• Plant fodder trees along farm boundaries
• Cut grass at early flowering, dry in shade, store on raised platforms
• Stack crop residues off ground, protect from rain
• Purchase or make urea-molasses blocks

Example: Improving Housing Conditions

Problem: Wet, muddy pens cause foot rot and pneumonia

Solutions:

1. Improve site drainage (grade soil away from pens)
2. Add gravel or wooden slats to wet areas
3. Install roof overhangs to reduce rainwater entry
4. Clean pens regularly, remove manure daily

A farmer in Dodoma wants to improve their goat production. They currently keep 20 goats extensively and want to increase productivity.

Step 1: Identify current problems

• Kids have high mortality in first month
• Growth rates are slow (12 months to market weight)
• Deworming is done randomly without planning
• No records kept

Step 2: Select appropriate technologies

Step 3: Implementation plan

1. Build clean, dry kidding pens
2. Train family to ensure kids receive colostrum within 6 hours
3. Establish simple health calendar with local vet
4. Start recording kid weights and treatments
5. Purchase mineral blocks for continuous supplementation

Expected outcomes: Reduced kid mortality from 30% to 10%, market weight achieved in 9-10 months instead of 12 months, better pricing through documented health records.

Essential records for goat and sheep production:

Breeding records

• Mating dates and buck/ram used
• Expected and actual kidding/lambing dates
• Birth weights and sex of offspring
• Weaning weights

Health records

• Vaccination dates and products used
• Deworming dates and products
• Illness cases and treatments
• Drug withdrawal periods

Production records

• Weights at different ages
• Milk production (for dairy goats)
• Feed consumed
• Sales and prices

Financial records

• Start-up costs
• Recurrent costs (feed, health, labor)
• Income from sales
• Profit calculation

In Tanzania, a Form 6 student from Singida whose family keeps goats can apply these technologies by establishing a simple health calendar using a phone notebook, recording kid births and weights to identify which does produce the fastest-growing kids, and using this information to decide which females to keep for breeding. For example, if a student's family sells a 25-kg goat for TZS 150,000 but buyers offer TZS 180,000 for properly finished goats with health records, the student can calculate that improving feeding in the final 6 weeks and keeping simple records could increase income by TZS 30,000 per goat—making the technology adoption directly profitable for the family.