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

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

27/12/2025

December Management

Closing off the year calls for the following;

1. Selecting and removal of all slaughter animals and all unproductive animals to sell. Farming calls for keeping productive animals only and understanding that there is a cost to every animal, therefore no passengers. This is the perfect time to remove unproductive animals as the holiday demand for meat is at its highest during this period. Remove all unproductive animals and put some cash back in your pocket.

2. Selecting and castigating of lambs and kids born in March/April.

3. Treat for foot rot on all animals showing signs of limping.

4. Dipping of all animals except those being slaughtered or sold for slaughter . (Remember when buying pour on dip, look for one written “rain fast” on it. It doesn’t easily wash off )

5. Maintainance of farm equipment like boreholes, kraals and fences . Maintain chicken coops as well. Clean everything out this time.

6. Make sure that your salt and calcium lick is available for your animals during this period. Ensure it is kept away from the rain. Remember… this is the period we lose animals to purissic acid poisoning so your licks need to have the sulphur needed to help with this. Check out our earlier posts on this .

7. We are all plowing and trying our best to catch these rains.. ensure that we plan our fodder understanding that the dry season is 9 months long. Breeding is all about nutrition farmers. This is the key contributor to successful farming.

8. Finally, let’s start proper record keeping farmers. This is the best time to correct years of poor management by ensuring we start to record everything related to our farming. All costs, movement of animals (births, deaths, sales)… everything.. Farming won’t make sense if you don’t track your costs.

SB

24/11/2025

Intellectual property violations are common on FB, but this is brazen and just disrespectful. Goats Sheep Cows & General Livestock Online Marketplace has decided to take my work and put it off as his, without even acknowledging me or asking me for it.

This is discouraging especially because I don’t do this for nothing but my passion and need to uplift others. The least you can do is acknowledge my work .

I have seen the same with these posts on kraal designs. Those are my pictures in farming pages and this is my work from as far back as 2009/2009. Guys are parading my work as if it is theirs. It’s shameful.

I ask nothing in return Farmers.. but maybe a little acknowledgment for my work. What is being done is disrespectful and discouraging.

Terence Showa.

23/11/2025

End of NOVEMBER MANAGEMENT;

As we look to close the month of November, here are a list of things that must be done at the farm;

1. Deworm all animals
A) kids must be dewormed with a dewormer with MILK TAPEWORM.

2. Dip all animals except animals less that 4 weeks old. Keep the dip on each animal less that or up to 10mil for adult animals.. (goats and sheep)

3. I am assuming you have already completed your annual vaccination regiment of Pulpy Kidney and Pasteurella… if not, please check our previous post on this and vaccinate your animals, and then deworm after 14 days.

4. In areas with heavy rainfall, check foot rot and treat it. I have a whole post on that. Refer to that post on the management and treatment of foot rot.

5. Make sure that kids have sufficient nutrition as well provide creep feed at libitum. Always ensure that there is enough milk replacement at the farm for those does with no milk.

6. Provide a good summer lick for your Animals.. particularly one with added sulphur that will help prevent purricic acid poisoning.. (please check my post on this.)

7. We remove all bucks from the females this month end and start conditioning them again. Mating is done now if all things went as they should have.

8. Clean all your water troughs and make
Sure that they are algae free and are not rusted.

9. December we must start preparing for next year.

Regards

Serurubele Boergoats

24/08/2025

We brought 5 castrates to showcase at the 2025 National Agricultural Show under category 8.. (slaughter class) and got a 3rd place 🥉 finish in our class overall.

This week was all about learning.. and listening. There was a need to reconnect with farmers after a decade not going to the National Agricultural Show.

Farming is in a great space in the BW. The show organization was top notch.. the community came out and brought some international standard animals with exceptional conditioning. The judging was great and the turnout of new and young farmers was fantastic.

Truly grateful for the experience… and we are looking forward to the Nationals next year. Congratulations to all those who participated and made the event a great success. Thank you for the opportunity to learn from all the great minds who were part of the event.

SB

08/06/2025

Teaching the boys how to disassemble, clean and reassemble the automatic syringe/ dosing machine.

Taking care of your syringe is important and a critical part of keeping your animals healthy. We disassemble and sterilize the machine after every operation making sure to oil and store it properly until the next use.

We boil the machine in clean water and then lubricate all moving parts, including adding a little oil or Vaseline on the rubber plunger to not only lubricant it but prevent it cracking as rubber does in liquids.

Andile and Chaba seem to have gotten the hang of this 🤞🏾😊

Happy farming Family…

SB

Serurubele Boergoats

25/02/2026

15/02/2026

08/02/2026

01/02/2026

01/02/2026

08/01/2026

27/12/2025

24/11/2025

23/11/2025

24/08/2025

08/06/2025

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