Small animals are a significant source of meat in rural areas during times of food shortage or when there are sudden unexpected food requirements for ceremonies. This paper assesses the potential, opportunities and constraints in rearing small animals for integrated rural development in East Nusa Tenggara based on experiences and a review of studies. It finds that small animals such as goats, sheep, chickens, pigs and ducks are potentially a major component of integrated rural development.

This report provides a useful overview of the cattle and goat sectors in Indonesia, as well as the key government policies affecting them. One interesting remark in the report is that local farmers have more readily adapted to goat farming compared to cattle farming, largely due to the relatively lower cost of entry and the simpler management of goat farms. This is a supporting factor for increased investment in the sector.

This report presents the findings of an ACIAR-funded project that aimed to develop understanding and insight of the goat supply chain in South Sulawesi and identify possible interventions that would improve smallholder and supply chain profitability. One of the main findings was that an iodine deficiency existed in the diet of goats, which was overcome by applying Providon solution to the skin of goats. The project also identified the need among goat producers to regularly weigh their animals for breeding, husbandry and marketing purposes.

This paper examines factors affecting the reproduction level of Kacang and Peranakan Etawah goats under the village production system. The study was conducted in two regencies in Central Java as part of a doe productivity evaluation program under the village production system. Reproduction data of 173 Peranakan Etawah and 189 Kacang does were collected through on-farm research over 20 months. The reproduction traits examined were parity, type of birth and litter weight at weaning.

Goats are the most important small ruminants produced and consumed in Indonesia, in particular in some parts of Eastern Indonesia. They play an important economic and socio-cultural role in the lives of many small holders. This article presents a broad picture of the goat sector in Indonesia.

This paper assesses the influence of environmental (non-genetic) factors of kid production traits of Kacang goats under smallholder production systems in Purwodadi regency in Central Java. The traits evaluated in this study were birth weight, weaning weight and pre-weaning growth weight. The environmental factors assessed were sex, type of birth, and dam's parity (1-7). Data was analysed statistically using the General Linear Model. The results showed that dam's parity, birth type and sex of the kid were significant sources of variation for Kacang kid production traits.

Etawah crossbred dairy goats are easy to maintain and are capable of utilising the leaves of various food crops, legumes and crop wastes as feed. This paper explores the application of an integrated business model of Etawah crossbred dairy goats with cocoa through utilization of estate cocoa waste as goat feed in East Java. Research was conducted with 25 farmers in two villages in the highlands of Ngawi district, over a one year period in 2009.

Goats are a popular choice for rearing by farmers in upland areas because they can be cared for by women and children can consume the milk. However, there are several constraints to goat milk production, among them the limited availability of local forages for goat feed. This paper examines how locally available forages are used as feed for dairy goats by rural farmers in East Java's Malang district in order to determine the potential of goat rearing in this area.

The population of goats in Indonesia has increased gradually at an average rate of 4.6 per cent in the last 10 years, from 12 million in 2000 to 16.8 million in 2010, involving 3.5 million households. The goats are spread throughout 33 provinces with the highest population of goats in Central Java, East Java and West Java. This paper briefly discusses the potential for development of goat and goat milk production in Indonesia. Production of goats offers good business opportunities in Indonesia because they are very well-adapted to the tropical environment and require low investments.

This paper explores whether proper management of feeding goats with forages could increase the production and reproduction of Kosta goats. Research was carried out in two phases. The first observed the growth of female Kosta goats after weaning at four months to puberty at seven months and mating at nine months. Variables assessed include ration consumption, daily weight gain and puberty age on the livestock.