Dairy Goat Raising in Coconut Farm for Added Income

A fruit expert who also plants coconuts commercially recommends that coconut farmers should consider raising dairy goats for added income, especially at this time when copra prices are very low.  The fellow is Dr. Pablito P. Pamplona of Kabacan, North Cotabato who is doing his personal research on integrated dairy goat production in a coconut plantation.  He put up his own herd of dairy goats in 2017 with a population today of about a hundred head raised in two barns which can accommodate 250 head at full capacity.  

Dr. Pamplona, a retired research scientist from the University of Southern Mindanao, continues doing his personal research on subjects that can help the farmers. He wants to show that coconut farmers can derive more income from their farms if they integrate other income-producing projects like dairy goat raising. 

Under their current modeling, Dr. Pamplona reports, a coconut farmer raising 15 to 20 milking pure Anglo Nubian goats supported by forage plants grown on 1.5 to 2 hectares of coconut trees can easily produce an added farm income of more than P6,000 per month or P72,000 per year.  Income comes from the sale of milk, breeding stocks, culled animals for slaughter, and processed organic fertilizer from goat manure.