Description and characteristics of goats of the Gulaby breed, the rules for their maintenance
Gulabi is a rare breed of goat with long ears that lives in countries with hot climates. In our latitudes, animals can also be bred. In summer, goats can graze in the pasture and eat fresh grass. They need to prepare hay for the winter. Milking gulabis begins from the second year of life, that is, after the first lambing. The milk of this breed is tasty and very fatty, suitable for making cheeses.
The origin of the breed
Goats of the Gulaby breed are rare animals with long ears hanging down to their knees. They are originally from Pakistan and India. We call gulabis oriental goats. These animals are considered an exotic breed and start at $ 500 apiece.
The very word "gulaby" in translation means "pink". This does not apply to the color of the coat, it is white in goats. Gulaby's skin color is pink. In their homeland, these animals are called basi. Camori goats and breeds with a white coat are considered their progenitors.
Breeding has been carried out by Pakistani and Indian goat breeders for centuries. Animals of exclusively white color with long ears were selected. Gulaby hybrids have red and brown spots on their heads or other parts of the body. Goats of this breed are bred in many hot Asian countries, because it is the white short hair and long thin ears that save the animals from overheating. True, gulabis adapt well to the climate of the middle zone. In winter, they need to be kept in a warm room, where the air temperature is not lower than 15 degrees Celsius.
Description and characteristics of gulaby
Goats of this breed have an unusual appearance. First of all, the ears are long, thin, wide, soft, hanging down in folds to the very knees. At home, in hot climates, they help regulate heat transfer. Long ears keep the goats from overheating. The head is small, but a little unusual. The nasal bone has a hump. There is a dermal dewlap under the lower jaw. The neck is long and muscular.
These animals have high and strong legs. The body is muscular, elongated, compact. The coat is white but short. The gulabis reach a height of one meter at the withers. Weight - 50-90 kilograms. The udder is medium in size, bowl-shaped, with long nipples, perfect for machine milking.
Milk has a pleasant creamy sweet taste. It doesn't smell like a goat. Milk contains almost 4 percent casein.It is non-allergenic, highly nutritious and suitable for making cheese. From 10 liters of milk, 1.3 kg of goat cheese is obtained.
Main pros and cons
Advantages of the gulaby breed:
- high rates of milk yield (1-4 liters per day);
- fat content of milk - 5%;
- casein protein content - 4%;
- the ability to get cheese from milk;
- udder convenient for machine milking;
- suitable for meat and dairy farming;
- calm character.
Disadvantages:
- high price;
- the need for quality feed;
- females bring one kid at a time;
- for fertilization and prolongation of lactation, a goat of the Gulaby breed is needed.
Rules for keeping and caring for animals
This thermophilic breed of goats can graze on pastures in summer. However, in rainy weather it is not recommended to bring gulaby out to the meadow. It is undesirable for goats to eat grass that is wet or with dew.
In winter, you need to keep this breed in a special non-residential premises. It can be a shed made of bricks, wood, or gas silicate, foam concrete blocks. The room where the goats are kept should be kept at a temperature of 15 to 20 degrees Celsius all year round. The barn is equipped with ventilation, infrared lamps are bought for heating in winter. A straw mat is laid on the floor, which is replaced with a clean one as it gets dirty. There should be a feeder and a drinking bowl in the room. You can water goats from a bucket. One animal must have at least 2-4 square meters of area.
Gulabis are fed three times a day. Goats are milked only after the first lambing, frequency - 2 times a day. You need to keep animals warm and clean, otherwise they will get sick. They do not need to comb their wool. This is a shorthaired breed. Gulaby's wool does not get tangled and does not form tangles. In addition, the coat is adapted to self-cleaning from straw and grass. It is only necessary to carry out treatment for fleas and worms once a quarter.
What the breed is fed with
There is a myth that goats can be fed with anything. This is not true. Not only the well-being of animals, their ability to reproduce healthy offspring, but also milk yield depends on nutrition. The better the animals are fed, the more nutritious their milk is.
Gulabis should eat meadow grass. In summer, they can be grazed in the pasture all day. In winter, the animals are given sun-dried meadow hay. In winter, the diet of goats can include spring straw, birch and oak branches, cake, silage, bran, cereals - oats, barley, corn. Animals are allowed to be fed with vegetables and root crops (carrots, cabbage, fodder beets, pumpkin). Salted porridge is cooked from grain. Vegetables are given finely chopped.
The main food for gulaby is fresh grass in summer and hay in winter. Goats should be given clean water twice a day. In winter, you can add pharmacy vitamin supplements to your drink, necessarily vitamin D. Goats are also recommended to give a little salt, mineral preparations, crushed chalk, bone meal.
Gulaby goat breeding rules
This breed is distinguished by its friendly and calm nature. Gulabis are like dogs. They quickly become attached to their master, follow him, sleep at the door of the house, waiting for a person. Goats respond to the nickname, they are unobtrusive, phlegmatic, rarely bleat.
This breed can be kept in any household, even in the country. Gulabis will definitely make friends with other animals, such as cats or dogs. Goats of this breed do not eat so much, about 4 kg of grass per day. For the winter, they need to prepare at least 500 kg of hay, which is 25 bales of 20 kg each.
Gulabis are milked only after the first birth. The first mating is carried out when the females are 12-18 months old, not earlier. Body weight must be at least 40 kg. Pregnancy in goats lasts 5 months. In the first lambing, the goat brings one cub. With the uterus, the kid is left up to 3-4 months.
Frequent diseases and methods of their treatment
If gulabis are kept clean and warm, fed with high-quality food, then they will not get sick. True, the condition of animals should always be closely monitored. Healthy goats eat well and give their milk supply.
Patients - refuse to feed, their body temperature rises, there is a cough, nasal discharge, constipation or diarrhea.
Animals suffer from infectious and non-infectious diseases arising from improper metabolism (obesity, osteodystrophy, ketosis). At the age of 3-4 months, goats are vaccinated against rabies, brucellosis, anthrax and foot and mouth disease. Often, goats are vaccinated against tetanus, tick-borne encephalitis.
In the cold season, animals with improper maintenance develop respiratory diseases. Various medications are used for treatment, including antibiotics. As a preventive measure, it is recommended to keep gulabis in favorable conditions, that is, warm, not in dampness and not in a draft, give them dried chamomile, coltsfoot, sage, St. John's wort for food.
With improper feeding, animals develop diseases of the digestive system (blockage of the esophagus, stomatitis, gastroenteritis, poisoning). Diseases can be prevented if the animals are fed high-quality, fresh, non-wet feed, without mold and pollution. Root crops are recommended to be finely chopped. It is necessary to ensure that animals do not swallow foreign objects (pieces of wire, whole vegetables).
Gulaby may have problems with the udder. Disease can be prevented if animals are not kept in a draft, wet and dirty bedding. When cracks appear on the nipples, the udder is washed with a solution of boric acid and lubricated with vaseline oil. In case of complications, it is imperative to show the gulabi to the veterinarian.
