GOAT FARMING IN MALAYSIA

The house in the animal farm of TYC.

Adams (left) and wife Loh, each with a kid in their arms. Between them is their son Beldon, born in the Year of Goat in 2003 when the couple started their goat farm.

Adams Tang was born in the year of the Dragon and is supposed to have the characteristics of that celestial creature – lively, intellectual, energetic and excitable.

But over the years his character has morphed into that of a goat as he run his business with calmness, making decisions with delicate thoughts, strong creativity and perseverance, the way a goat person would do. There is no mystery behind this change – Adams is in the business of rearing goats and being so close to these animals it is little wonder that he is becoming a goat person.

However, he insisted that deep inside him he still had the character of a dragon – he is a hidden dragon among the goats.

Adams decided to go into goat farming big time in 2003 the year of the goat on an 80-acre piece of land at Mile 28 Oya Road in Sibu.

However, after one cycle of the Chinese zodiac, the 39-year-old, managed to develop only 40 acres of the land – still no mean feat as his farm TYC Goat &Livestock Sdn Bhd is possibly the biggest goat farm in the state.

Adams talked to The Borneo Post recently on how he would ride into the Goat Year and looked back at the challenges faced since he started. The burning question that just has to asked was why choose goat farming when there were so many other opportunities to choose from?

“It is the interest and passion that got me in and pushes me on,” he said.

He explained his family had been involved in livestock and poultry farming and believed his interest in goat farming stems from his childhood experience.

“There is sort of an ‘Animal Farm’ story in our family. My grandfather reared ducks and goats for a living. My uncles rear pigs and chickens. They sell eggs from the hens. My father once reared quails for eggs.”

Tang, who was only 27 when he started his farm initially reared 1000 goats for meat but soon ran into trouble.

He could not compete with the prices of imported mutton from Australia which was retailed at only over RM10 per kg while the cost of producing the meat at his farm was RM38 per kg.

Adams said geographical and weather factors were the cause especially the high humidity which caused the animals to fall sick often.

“But, for the Australians, they just need to put their animals on the green ranch; there is almost no cost involved. Maybe, their only cost is the slaughtering of the animals.”Going back to his drawing board, Adams decided to give up meat production and switched to dairy goat farming,

He said the transition took four years as he had to sell off the goats he reared for meat and replace them with the breed that produced more milk.

Now TYC Goat & Livestock Sdn Dhd is a full fledged dairy goat farm selling goat milk and its products, including goat milk soap, coconut pudding with goat milk, goat milk biscuit and goat milk ice cream.

While Adams takes care of the farm and milk production, his wife Loh Yu Yee manages the marketing of the milk and manufacturing of its products.

“We are doing well now. The locals have started accepting goat’s milk and milk products.” Adams admitted that it was a challenge selling goat milk locally as people in Sibu are not used to drinking the milk .

“They have a misconception that the taste is gamy – a flavour they imagine they cannot accept. But, that is totally wrong. Goat’s milk tastes like cow’s milk. Not only that, goat milk has more health benefits. That’s why most people in the world are drinking goat’s milk.” To overcame this challenge his company had to hold promotion campaigns to introduce goat milk and its products to locals.

“We needed to convince people. We deliver the milk to their doorsteps daily. Then, we make soap, pudding, biscuit and ice cream with the milk.”

Tang also invited groups to visit his farm and offered them goat milk. The young entrepreneur said his farm had always stuck to organic production and green management. For feeds to yield better quality milk, they mixed soya, corn, paddy wastes, sago and palm kernel cake.

“We ferment them before feeding them to goats.” Although TYC Goat & Livestock has turned to dairy farming it still sells mutton and live goats to locals.

“Our customers still come because our products are organic while Kampung folks bought our goats for slaughter during celebrations.”

After one cycle of the goat year Adams and his wife are eyeing wider markets for their products.

“We are set to expand our business to Kuching, Miri and Bintulu this year,” he said.

Will Adams expand his farm to the other 40 acres of his land?

Hopefully he would not need another cycle of the goat year to achieve that. In the meantime those who want to know more about goat milk and its products can contact Adams at 0168898264.