Goats like to kid around!

The last couple of weeks have been quite active at Savera Farm's 'goat-osphere'! A few weeks ago, over a span of 2 days, we were glad to welcome 3 deliveries resulting in 4 kids. All the kids were around 3-4 kgs and the delivery process was fairly smooth. Fairly smooth, since we were largely uninvolved - which is not necessarily a good thing. Over time, we would like to better develop our processes to predict and better manage deliveries. With that said, Tellacherry kids unlike Kanni are lactating well which is a huge relief since we had to manually nurture and feed the earlier Kanni kids for several weeks.

A day after the birth, the kids were on their feet and a few days later, they were strong and confident enough to hop around the cell. For several weeks after birth the does and kids will remain separated from the main herd.

Some kids have to be guided initially before they identify with their mothers.

While other kids get to business right away. Feeding time!

Post delivery, kids need to be cleaned and inspected

Our first set of twins, hoping for several more!

In an hour or two, the newborns start to settle down and the does can become quite protective

Here are a couple of key metrics we found helpful :

Parameters	Range	Notes
Temperature	102.5 - 104	Depends on ambient temperature
Pulse rate	70 - 80	Beats per minute
Respiration	15 to 30	Per minute
Stomach movements	1 - 1.5	Per minute
Puberty	7 weeks - 8 months	Separate bucks from does at 2 month
Stomach movements	1 - 1.5	Per minute
Estrus/Heat Cycle	17 to 23	Days
Gestation	143 to 155	Days
Life span :
Does	11-12 years	Often death in does is kidding related
Bucks	8-10 years
Productive kidding	8-10 years	For Does
Full growth size	At 30-33 months	Most keep growing until year 3

With the kiddings steadily becoming the norm at Savera Farms, our foray into goat rearing is steadily moving to the next level. While we are encouraged the flock is increasing, it also comes with added awareness and responsibility. As we acquire experience and develop the needed skills, we constantly work with more experienced operations for advice and best practices. At the moment, we are trying to understand how larger herd operators manage simultaneous kidding of 200-250 does. Feel free to share your advice and readings.

Moringa - Out & About!

Moringa leaf cultivation is an important part of Savera Farm's short term crop portfolio. Over 10,000 saplings were initiated in polybags during last week of June. Typically, saplings are ready to be transplanted in about 45 days, but we decided to delay the task due to meager summer monsoons. In our nursery, the saplings had grown rigorously and were overdue their day in the sun!

During August, we saw the arrival of torrential rains to the tune of 15 mm in one day (yes, we have an udometer!). The temperatures were right, with plenty of humidity, and it was the right time to move the leafy herbs into the fields. Some of you may remember, we are planning on sprinkler irrigation for our Moringa acreages. We are following a grid of 2x2 ft. The depth of the plantation is a periodic 8 ft, followed by a pathway of 4 ft. In other words, the labor would not have to go more than 4 ft inside to harvest the leaves.

During a recent visit to the agir-fair, we discovered machines which can be used for leave pruning at tea farms, etc. There are several providers with varying specs, ranging from petrol driven to battery operated and we are excited to try out these pruners on our Moringa plants. We still have a couple of months before harvest, so stay tuned on our experiences.

After ploughing the field, pit creation and preparation was performed. It took approx 22 man-days to dig 10,000 pits and about 40 man days to plant them. Appropriate amounts of pressmud manure was applied before planting the saplings. We have utilized seeds from our in-house PAVM variety which is currently successfully producing drumsticks.

For those of you, who are interested in cultivating moringa for leaf or pod purpose, we can provide disease free and healthy sapling. We are always looking for producers interested in partnering around bulk production. Similarly, traders or processors may connect with us for their Moringa leaf requirements. Our acreages and cultivator network will continue to grow in the coming months.