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Serurubele Boergoats, P. O. Box 46057 Gaborone, Gaborone (2026)

18/10/2026

As we approach the end of October, this is the perfect time for every farmer to pause, assess, and ensure that their herd management is on schedule. At Serurubele Boergoats, we follow a strict annual routine — and this edition is here to help you confirm that you’re on track too.

Good management is not complicated. It is consistent.

1️⃣ Annual Vaccinations Should Be Completed by Now
By this time of the year, your animals should already have received their Pulpy Kidney and Pasteurella vaccinations.

If you haven’t done this yet, please revisit our previous post on the vaccination protocol and vaccinate your animals immediately. These vaccines are non‑negotiable for herd health and mortality prevention.

2️⃣ Deworming: 14 Days After Vaccination
Our general rule remains:

Vaccinate first. Deworm 14 days later.
If your animals have been vaccinated, then now is the time to deworm the entire herd. Use a dewormer with Vitamin ADE to help manage the current vitamin gaps, this excessive heat, as well as breeding stress.

Special Attention: Kids
Kids must be dewormed with a product that specifically targets Milk Tapeworm. This single step prevents many sudden, unexplained kid deaths on farms.

3️⃣ Dip Animals While You’re Handling Them
To reduce stress, we always advise farmers to handle animals as few times as possible.

So while you’re deworming:

Dip all animals, except those younger than 4 weeks
Keep dip dosage below or up to 10 ml for adult goats and sheep
Follow dosing instructions carefully
Perform these tasks yourself — they are too important to delegate
Use the opportunity to use Tick Grease on the high tick areas of animals.

4️⃣ Handle Pregnant Does With Care
Pregnant animals must be handled gently:

Avoid unnecessary stress
Work in the early morning or late afternoon when temperatures are cooler
Move calmly and deliberately

A stressed doe is a vulnerable doe.

5️⃣ Quick Farmer’s Trick: Check the Lower Eyelid
A simple way to check for worms in kids:

White or pale eyelid → Worms present (anemia)
Red or healthy pink eyelid → Normal

Worms cause anemia, which is why infected kids lose the red color in the inner eyelid. Simple, fast, and incredibly effective.

6️⃣ Nutrition: The Foundation of Growth
Ensure kids have:

Creep feed available ad libitum
Milk replacement on hand for does with insufficient milk

Nutrition is the difference between thriving kids and struggling kids.

7️⃣ Provide a Good Summer Lick
Offer a quality summer lick, preferably one containing Sulphur. Sulphur helps prevent prussic acid poisoning — (check Sulphur additives that are water soluble at all Agric stores).

8️⃣ Buck Management

At Serurubele Boergoats, we:

Remove all bucks from females at month‑end. Their job is done by then. (Keeping strict breeding cycles allows for planned matings resulting in synchronized kidding of animals, which helps in managing kids and reducing random, all year long kidding by your animals.

Start conditioning them again after the bucks are done in November. Theu have lost conditioning now due to focusing on breeding only... as well as the excessive running and jostling.
Mating is now on full throttle, provided all management steps have been followed. Your bucks are busy, and it is advisable to pen them during the day and offer loads of cool water and fresh feed and let them work in the cool of night.

This ensures strong, well‑prepared bucks and healthier breeding outcomes.

9️⃣ Clean Water Troughs
Water troughs must be:

Cleaned thoroughly
Free of algae
Not rusted

Clean water is a basic requirement — but often overlooked. Water is the single biggest consideration at the farm. In this heat, clen cool water is the difference maker.

*After cleaning water troughs, add a vitamin pack into the water over a 3-day period. Use any vitamin pack, even the ones used for poultry chicks. They have a high Vitamin ADE composition that is perfect as both a stress reliever and a nutritional boost for your animals.

Final Word
Good farming is not complicated. It is consistent, intentional, and disciplined. If you follow these steps, your herd will reward you with health, growth, and performance.

Simple, right?

Happy Farming

Serurubele Boergoats

Terence Showa & Sipho Hector Showa

30/09/2026

END OF SEPTEMBER MANAGEMNT

As we prepare for the long weekend, September remains a critical month in small stock production. We are not only managing goats and sheep that are kidding and lambing from the March breeding cycle but also preparing breeding stock for the upcoming October mating season.

This is the ideal time to optimize farm management practices and ensure animals are in peak condition for productive breeding and growth.

This week is the ideal time to ensure that you:

✅ Vaccinate livestock ✅ Flush feed breeding females ✅ Provide creep feed to young stock ✅ Ensure adequate mineral supplementation ✅ Improve farm hygiene and record keeping

Key Management Activities for the Last Week of September

1. Vaccination Programme

Vaccinate ALL animals against:

a. Pasteurellosis
b. Pulpy Kidney (Enterotoxaemia)

*Effective Vaccination Tip; Pregnant goats must be vaccinated as well. Handle them with minimal stress.

*****Always consult a veterinarian before administering any vaccines or animal health products.

*Remember… we deworm animals 14 days after vaccinations, so vaccinations are critical as the worm loads are peaking due to recent rains.

2. Kid and Lamb Health Management

Effective management begins at birth.

Recommended practices:

a. Disinfect navels and umbilical cords immediately after birth using an appropriate disinfectant spray.
Use most over the counter sprays for this.

b. Ear tag newborn animals for identification and record-keeping.

c. Prevent losses associated with coccidiosis by administering Sulphur 16 according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Keep Sulphur 16 readily available and use strictly as directed. This is the difference maker for reducing mortality.

3. Nutrition and Supplementation

Maintain adequate nutrition for all livestock by ensuring:

a. Continuous access to quality feed. Do not use 'drought feed'...survival feeding will greatly impact your breeding plans. Mix your own feed if you must ensure your animals get the right nutrition. A little quality feed is better than Quantity feeding.

b. Constant availability of salt licks and mineral supplements. Dicalcium Phosphate is a standard requirement for all farms in Botswana/ Southern Africa and must be available and fed at libitum

c. Clean drinking water must be available at all times. Water is the biggest contributor to your farming management. Clean water is the difference maker.. especially now that it is hot.

4. Support Lactating Mothers

Most breeding females currently have young ones at foot and therefore require additional nutrition to maintain:

Good body condition…allows them to be bred again sooner ensuring that each female can be bred three times in two years.

For us as small stock breeders, we are aiming for profitability: Target kidding rate: 3 kidding's in 2 years.

Aim for twins where possible through good genetics and flush feeding.

Maintain body condition scores of breeding does before mating.

Under proper nutrition, health management and controlled breeding, goats can produce three kidding's in two years, making reproductive efficiency one of the key drivers of profitability in small stock farming."

Remember that proper feeding also allows for adequate milk production resulting in healthy growth rates in their offspring.

5. Supplementary Feeding for Kids

To reduce nutritional stress on nursing mothers:

a. Provide milk replacer where necessary.
b. Supplement weak or multiple-born kids to improve survival and growth.

6. Creep Feeding

Provide creep feed to kids and lambs and ensure that:

a. Feeding areas remain clean.
b. Feed stays dry and uncontaminated throughout the day.
c. Animals have uninterrupted access to the feed.

creep feed is a 50/50 mix of crushed maize with lucerne or other quality hay. (Adding too much molasses causes runny stomach in kids, and this is less than ideal.)

7. General Farm Hygiene (Make sure that this is done over the long weekend.)

Maintain good farm sanitation practices by:

a. Cleaning kraals regularly.
b. Washing and disinfecting feed troughs.
c. Cleaning water troughs frequently.
d. Removing manure and waste materials. This must ideally be done weekly especially now that there are kids running around the kraals.

Good hygiene significantly reduces disease pressure and improves overall productivity.

8. Prepare for the October Breeding Season

Breeding season begins next month. Females that are not pregnant and are not nursing offspring should be prepared through flush feeding.

Recommended Flush Feeding Programme

a. Feed crushed maize at approximately 250g per doe per day.
b. Continue for 14 days prior to introducing breeding males.
c. Ensure animals remain in good body condition throughout the period.

Flush feeding can improve conception rates and increase the likelihood of multiple births.

Final Reminder

Consistent management during September lays the foundation for a successful breeding season and improved livestock productivity.

Happy 60th Independence Anniversary BW!

Happy Farming! Serurubele Boergoats

Sipho Showa & Terence Showa

11/07/2026

Winter Management …... a reminder to do the basics.. (MID JULY)

The winter period is possibly the most stressful time for your animals, and the recent cold front hasn’t helped. This is the season where your management matters most — small actions make a huge difference in survival, health, and productivity.

Let's quickly check if you are up to the task this winter….

1. Using Sulphur 16 for Newborn Kids
To reduce kid mortality, we give 1ml of Sulphur 16 orally per day
for the first 3 days after birth as a preventative measure.

For farmers following the bottle guidelines:
• 14ml per 10kg body weight as the initial dose
• 7ml per 10kg for the 2 day maintenance period

These same doses can be used for older kids when needed.

Immediately after birth, spray the navel with Orbedine or a suitable disinfectant to reduce infection risk.

2. Provide a Good Winter Lick
Ensure your animals have a quality winter lick available ad libitum. This supports body condition and reduces stress during cold spells. Winter licks not an option. This is the very essence of farming. We have previously shared lick mixes on this page. Please go through our previous posts.

3. Add Vitamin A to Drinking Water
Vitamin A deficiencies spike in winter and can cause pregnant animals to abort when stressed. Add Vitamin A sachets to drinking water for 3–5 days, and allow all animals — including chickens — to drink freely. Change the water daily to keep the vit/water fresh.

You can also dose for Vit ADE as well as for other essential minerals. This is a Non-Negotiable.

4. Boost Energy with Molasses
Add liquid molasses to drinking water for an energy boost or use a molasses block with added protein to support rumen function and overall condition.

5. Extra Feed for Pregnant & Lactating Animals
Pregnant and lactating animals need additional feed during winter. Provide creep feed for kids to supplement milk intake and reduce pressure on their mothers from excessive suckling.

6. Keep Water Warm
Place water troughs in sunny areas to prevent goats from drinking cold water, which reduces intake and increases stress. We also speak often about using water as a vessel to deliver:
• Energy
• Minerals
• Vitamins A, D & E
These are absolutely essential during winter.

7. Keep Newborn Kids Warm
Where possible, follow our earlier instructions on making a small fire to keep kids warm. This simple step dramatically reduces mortality during cold nights.

8. Pay Special Attention to Sick or Weak Animals
Antibiotics alone won’t save a stressed animal. Provide extra feed, shelter, warmth, and close care — this is what gets them through winter.

9. Nutrition Reminder AGAIN — Your Animals Need You Now More Than Ever

Final Note
Please read this again and again so you understand the full routine. We keep our mortality low by managing this ourselves — correct handling of vaccines and correct handling of animals is everything.

We write a lot about animal nutrition, and this is just a reminder that this time of the year requires your full attention. Managing your animals’ nutrition is critical.

Go through our previous posts for simple, affordable tips that make a huge impact. Leave a like and follow the page for more updates.

We hope you continue to farm true.

Happy Farming from Serurubele Boergoats.

11/07/2026

Using Sulphur 16 for kids
As a preventative measure, we use 1ml daily of sulphur 16 orally over the first 3 days after birth for all of our newly born kids.
The bottle prescribes 14ml/10ml body weight as an initial dose and then 7m/10ml for the maintenance period of 2 days. Also use the same doses above incase you want to give older kids.
The other simple solution in addition to using the sulphur 16 is to spray the navel of all kids with Orbedine spray.. or a disinfectant after they are born.
This is our attempt to reduce kid mortality.
As with all usage of antibiotics and vaccines Consult your local vet for further guidance.
Happy Farming

25/02/2026

Quick reminder to dip your animals this week if you haven’t already. Tick loads increase significantly after the onset of rains and can devastate your herd .

Gentle reminder… handle your animals in smaller groups to minimize stress especially those that are pregnant.

Use the recommended amount of dip and never “make it stronger because the ticks are too much”… NEVER use too much dip on animals.

For pour on dips, we limit it to 10ml per animal applied from between the horns downwards towards the tail along the spine, and for spray-on we use the 1 liter to 250 litres of clean water. To use in a knapsack sprayer, measure 100ml of dip to a 25 litre bucket of water, mix well and pour into the sprayer making sure to pour through the sieve provided in the knapsack sprayer.

Always Handle dip with gloves and wear protective clothing.

Spray dip away from the wind and avoid contact with the dip at all times. Wash the dip off immediately with soap should you have accidental contact.

Always leave some dip to spray the corners of your Kraals as well as the high traffic areas around the farm, including the chicken and dog houses if you have those.

Always choose a dip that is bee friendly and has no harmful effects on birds that survive off ticks. Check labels carefully.

Check expiration of your dip if you keep some at the farm over long periods. If expired, please avoid using it and dispose it.

Dispose of dip at designated sites and never near water areas or bury them underground… it will contaminate water sources .

Mark and register the date you dipped your animals for proper records where your keep your records .

15/02/2026

February Management.. (it’s breeding time!!!! and time to deliver kids from does mated in October!!!)

1. We are now Selecting and preparing ewes/does for breeding. Your Bucks and Rams have been busy and your ewes/ does are now on full heat. Having previously conditioned your bucks and ensured that your does are fed and well conditioned… your management is about to pay off. Your bucks will lose weight during this period due to focusing on that one goal… to mate . *Make sure you give them good quality feed in the evenings or pen them and only introduce them to the flock when it gets cooler. Let them eat and drink well, then allow them to work after 3pm daily.

*Use crushed maize to flush your does or use a good production lick. You need a full 14 days of flush feeding to get the desired results. I have written a post of a good and effective production lick which you can use. Check the post on the same .

Some overall maintenance of your ewes might also be in order. Check their udders for mastis and give them a quick service with an antibiotic in their udders.

2. Kids starts dropping for goats mated in October last year . Goats are heavily pregnant with kids, and need additional feed to aid them though this period. Give them addition feed.

*Refer to my post on the use of sulphur 16 and prevention of occidiossis when the kids are born. I have also posted on the full plan for your kidding season. Go through the previous posts for this.

3. Dipping of all animals must be done to reduce tick loads on your animals. Try to not stress your animals too much when you handle them.. and ensure that this is not done during the high heat.

* alternate your dips… from a pour on to a spray on variety to ensure that your maximize efficiency. Spray the Kraals and the high goat traffic areas as well. Use leftover dip to spray the floor and corners of your chicken houses.

4. Deworming all animals that have been selected must be undertaken, especially those that are about to be mated or are currently being mated. Deworming pregnant animals also helps .

All kids must be given a dewormer that targets milk tapeworm.

*try dewormers that also target external parasites.

5. Foot rot treatment of all affected animals. Lameness limits an animals ability to walk around and browse. It’s important that they can walk around unhampered. *a simple bath of copper sulphate helps here.

6. Ensure your young kids are also adequately norished with a good creep feed. Your management pays off by how many of these new kids survive and become part of the flock. They must be ready to be mated at 8 months exactly… not longer.

*we wean our male kids at 3 months and 4 months for all does/ewes. The reason for keeping does up to 4 months with their mothers is to ensure they grow fast and can be mated 4 months later at 8 months old.

7. *Overall, monitor the quality of the grazing and browse. If your grazing has gotten significantly drier, consider adding a vitamin ADE pack to water for 3 days continuously. Vitamins A deficiency can wreck havoc on pregnant animals and cause mass abortions.

08/02/2026

FOOT AND MOUTH IN THE NORTH EAST OF BOTSWANA.

We have lived and experienced the heartbreak of an FMD outbreak, and suffered unimaginable losses and emotional trauma.

As the country grapples with the current outbreak, the last having been only less than 3 years ago… we all just have sooo many questions and little to no answers.

We lost over 160 productive Boergoats .. of that number..114 pregnant were considered for compensation and the over 65 kids under the age of 2 months were not even counted , all in a single weekend on that fateful day on the 15th of June 2013.

We were only compensated for females above 8 months old, at P800 per goat, including for our 6 bucks. Animals less than 8 months old were not included in the compensation, including castrates.

No animal was tested for FMD on the farm, or no symptoms were confirmed. The FMD animals tested and confirmed were found in a separate area… far from where our farm was…yet.. the option to cull was chosen over all else.

The P800 per animal did not increase in consideration of the pedigree of the animals… or the fact that they were heavily pregnant.

For us, this set us back to this day. We have real PTSD around this time… and understand the pain most of us farmers are experiencing at this point.

For me personally, this time in 2013 was a terrible blow… having just celebrated my birthday a few days before..

There is not a day I don’t wonder how many goats we would have in total today. We would have easily crossed the magical 1000 breeding threshold I dream about.

What is painful is that the P91,200 we were paid.. 8 months later could not even buy us 20 commercial ewes to start again. In that whole time, even without animals for over 2 years, we still paid workers and maintained the farm.

To start again from scratch took my Elder Brother instructing me to get over it … and Ooum Klaynans relighting the spark again… I had completely given up on farming .

We are self funded… what we put to farming is what we could be using elsewhere. We graze in communial grazing areas and not in ranches.. it’s safe to say tha we are the sum total of the majority of livestock farmers in Botswana. 🇧🇼… but FMD hits us hardest as we have no insurance or a backup plan. I am not saying that other affected farmers have it easier… and my apologies if that is how I am sounding… but this thing…. devastates us as farmers beyond comprehension.

How do we help fulfill the promise to grow our national herd, when the collective responsible for doing just that, suffers these devastation actions every 2-3years in Botswana?

This is a difficult time…

01/02/2026

January management : part 2 -HELPFUL TIPS!!

1. Use a dewormer covering BOTH internal and external parasites

2. Wear gloves when handling dip, or tick grease. Dip is poisonous and must be handled with extra care .

3. If you have an animal on the ground at this time walking on air, before you say “hartwater “ check to see if it’s not purissic acid poisoning by checking to see if it’s gums and tongue are not bright red.. bright red gums and tongue are purissic acid poisoning and it’s treatment varies to other ailments and the correct treatment will save your animals .

4. Copper sulphate is perfect for foot baths if you need to eliminate foot rot in your animals.

5. Stop storing your farm meds in hot storage rooms .. find a cool well ventilated place without direct sunlight to store farm meds.

6. When you count your animals, or perform any operations at the farm, keep a marker in the car and write all of it on your water tanks or the common shade or space where your farm team can see it so that they keep track and are mindful to keep the numbers of animals true. If they don’t see a number.. they can manage mortality or lost animals.

7. Put the number of animals you want your herd to increase by on a place your team can see daily. That will help them focus and have a reminder daily.

I have said a mouthful..

Happy farming

SB

01/02/2026

January Management …

Lets check to see if you are on track …

1. We trust that you have been managing potential purrissic acid poisoning losses by (a) adding sulphur to water or feed, (2) avoiding to graze lush sun beaten grass and feed. Please refer to my post on purissic acid poisoning and you will be sorted.

2. Dip animals in areas with high tick loads and ensuring that you are managing foot rot issues in animals. Use a “rainfast” dip during the rainy season.

3. Giving animals a salt and di-culcium lick at libitum. This is a non negotiable. Checkout our previous post on different lick mixes.

4. Giving kids and pregnant animals a good quality feed as well a quality production lick to the other animals is very sound management..

5. Providing cool clean water for animals is a non negotiable. Water is the difference maker in farming. Remember…

6. Selling all excess and unproductive animals . This must be done . Do it. No passengers.

7. Continue Conditioning all your bucks to ensure that they are ready for the breeding season. Please don’t let them get fat. That will dull their ability to mate and cover their quota in the needed time.

8. Providing sufficient shade for animals at the farm especially now in this heat.

HELPFUL TIPS!!

1. Use a dewormer covering BOTH internal and external parasites . If you have kids use a dewormer specifically targeting milk tapeworms.

2. Wear gloves when handling dip, or tick grease. Dip is poisonous and must be handled with extra care .

3. If you have an animal on the ground at this time walking on air, before you say “hartwater “ check to see if it’s not purissic acid poisoning by checking to see if it’s gums and tongue are not bright red.. bright red gums and tongue are purissic acid poisoning and it’s treatment varies to other ailments and the correct treatment will save your animals .

4. Copper sulphate is perfect for foot baths if you need to eliminate foot rot in your animals.

5. Stop storing your farm meds in hot storage rooms .. find a cool well ventilated place without direct sunlight to store farm meds.
6. When you count your animals, or perform any operations at the farm, keep a marker in the car and write all of it on your water tanks or the common shade or space where your farm team can see it so that they keep track and are mindful to keep the numbers of animals true. If they don’t see a number.. they can manage mortality or lost animals.

7. Put the number of animals you want your herd to increase by on a place your team can see daily. That will help them focus and have a reminder daily.

Please like our page and follow and please share our posts as much as you can 🙏🏾🙌🏾

I have said a mouthful..

Happy farming

SB

08/01/2026

In preparation for our January Management post this coming weekend, we would like to know what else we should focus on to cater for the Women who make up 30% of our audience.

BoMme, what do you need us to also include in our posts going forward ? What can we add to the monthly updates to help with your farming, or to help enhance your love and support for your farm and animals?

Please drop a comment below and we will make sure we cover those going forward.

Thank you for your support.

SB

Serurubele Boergoats

18/10/2026

30/09/2026

11/07/2026

11/07/2026

25/02/2026

15/02/2026

08/02/2026

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08/01/2026

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