Teacher Turns to Goat Farming as Covid Closes Schools
Khoeurm Chantra has gone from Royal University of Agriculture graduate to primary teacher and director of a charity English school to owning a goat farm.Photo provided
- By Phat Dane
- and Meng Seavmey
- February 18, 2022 3:17 PM
Business grows with online marketing
PHNOM PENH--Khoeurm Chantra has gone from Royal University of Agriculture graduate to a primary teacher and director of a charity English school to owning a goat farm.
He decided to open the farm when schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He had saved money for a future business from his teaching job.
Chantra learned about feeding goats from his brother and has owned the farm for three months. He can supply nearly 100 goats each month to the market from a herd of about 300.
“The schools are closed, so I wanted to try feeding goats too because I’ve seen that my brother is successfull. It is profitable,” he said.
“My farm supplies the goat market,and these goats are imported from Thailand to breed for sale.
“In three months, I can sell 100 goats. However, it depends. Sometimes I can sell only 20-30 goats, and some other times there are 50-60 goats sold,” he said.
Chantra uses digital marketing by putting the goats online and says this has been well supported by customers.
Chantra's farm breeds three types of goat: goats for butter, goats for meat, and mixed goats. Goats for butter are sold for $7 to $8 per kilo; goats for meat are $5 to $6; and mixed goats are $6 to $7. At these prices, Chantra earns $1,000 to $1,500 per month.
The difference between the types is that the goats for butter have a pure milk color, and the goats for meat are the older goats that have more meat after they are no longer fertile.
The mixed goats, on the other hand, have a white or milk color on their body with black or brown spots, especially on the head, tail and ears.
“I sell the baby goats and each customer usually buys around 10 to 20 of them to continue breeding. As for the goats for meat, I sell it to the goat meat sellers,” Chantra said.
He says goats are easy to breed as he needs to spend little on them.
“I either let them eat grass or allow them to roam around at the back of the farm, and it is not much to spend on medical requirements as they are being raised naturally,” he said.
Chantra expects to expand the farm in the future because he already has regular customers and a market.
