Goat farming has been practiced all around the globe for ages, but currently, the world is seeing increased popularity in goat farming due to its several advantages. This increase in popularity is because goat farming requires minimum maintenance, and they can adapt to any climatic conditions. Also, the large variety of breeds available, multipurpose usages and an increased market for their products have raised goat farming to great popularity. But like every business enterprise, this field also requires the utmost attention to perform well. Yes, it is true that goats, unlike cattle, can adapt to any climatic conditions, but there are a lot of other factors in goat farming that could go wrong. Goats, like cattle, are true ruminants, and they have microorganisms in their system to break down and absorb the nutrients and complete the digestion process. The efficiency of digestion can affect the health and, consequently, the productivity of the animal. One major organ that helps goats in digestion and many other vital functions is the liver.
The function of the liver in goats
One of the liver’s main functions, as in humans, is the production of bile. Bile helps the animal in removing the waste products from the body. The liver also helps the animal produce many blood proteins like albumin and ferritin, which is essential for health and immunity. The goat liver also produces lipoproteins, the major carrier of fat in the body and regulate the amino acid level and hemoglobin levels. In addition, the liver plays an important role in the animal’s body as a gatekeeper. Even when the goat is provided with high-quality feed, the organs have to work at maximum capacity to obtain the optimum nutrients from it. During this process, there is a chance of toxins producing or accumulating in these organs, these include free radicals produced while breaking down the feed or any other toxins accumulated from the feed. The liver does the hard job of eliminating these from the system. And if this is not enough, the liver also functions as an energy controller by storing and releasing glucose as required.
Thus the importance of a healthy liver is apparent because if the liver is not functioning well, the storage and release of energy will be affected along with the immunity of the animal. This can adversely affect the health and even the life of the animal. This raises the question of how to keep the liver healthy. There are many ways to increase the liver function of the animal, one such effective way is by providing liver tonics to enhance liver function.
What is liver tonic?
Liver tonic is a supplement given to the liver to enhance its function. The main objective of a liver tonic is liver health protection, healing process and elimination of any potential threat to the liver.
Functions and uses
Liver tonics can perform or assist in performing some key functions in the liver, making it one of the best options to improve the health and efficiency of the liver in goats.
Rejuvenates and regenerates liver cells
The liver is one of the few parts in a goat’s body that can regenerate itself. Studies have shown that a liver can regenerate from as low as 51 per cent of its original mass. But this process is easier said than done. Liver tonics can help and support this regeneration by supplying the required nutrients and enzymes for the regeneration. Thus an animal with an unhealthy liver can be cured faster, and it can also help develop a healthy liver.
1. Helps detoxify liver
We know that liver is a vital organ that helps remove toxins from other organs of the body, ensuring smooth metabolism and other functions. But there is a great chance of toxins accumulating in the liver. These toxins can primarily reduce the efficiency of the liver and consequently cause fatal issues. One of the main problems is the ammonia effect on the liver. Liver tonics can help remove these toxins from the liver and enhance the animal’s immunity.
2. Helps prevent liver disease due to fat metabolism
The liver plays an important role in fat metabolism. Alterations in these metabolic processes can be fatal to the animal. If not given proper attention, abnormal fat metabolism can lead to some very serious chronic liver diseases. The use of proper liver tonics at the right time can help solve this problem and ensure normal fat metabolism in the animal.
3. Increases average daily feed intake and weight gain.
The liver plays a major role in digesting feed intake by the animal. The liver provides essential enzymes and secretions for the digestion of feed. Thus a healthy liver can directly affect digestion and consequently feed intake. An increased feed intake can help the goat gain weight faster. Studies have proven that liver tonics can help in increasing the average feed intake and help n weight gain by supplementing the liver.
4. Helps increase fertility
Fertility of the livestock is an important aspect of any livestock enterprise, there is no difference in the case of goat farming. Goats are prone to many metabolic diseases like pregnancy toxaemia (commonly known as pregnancy disease), which can affect the animal’s fertility. Increased mortality and decreased morbidity are characteristics of this disease. This disease is a combination of increased energy demand and decreased nutrient supply. Pregnancy toxaemia is associated with low total serum protein, resulting from impaired liver function. Liver tonics are proven to help improve liver function and reduce the chances of pregnancy toxaemia.
5. Helps attain better FCR ( Feed Conversion Ratio)
The feed conversion ratio is one of the key aspects in determining the efficiency of a farm. It is defined as the amount of feed required to produce one unit of meat. Even though goats are a great converter of feed into products, there is always a chance of the animal being inefficient. This inefficiency can be solved to a great extent by supplementing goats with liver tonic, thereby increasing the feed conversion ratio.
5. Protection against pathogens
Goats generally have a wide variety of appetites. This makes goat farming considerably less laborious than cattle farming, but this comes with a price. Since goat consumes a wide variety of feed, there is a larger risk of pathogens like bacteria, fungi and viruses accumulating in the liver. This can result in hypertrophy of the liver. Using liver tonic helps eliminate these pathogens from the liver and increase the efficiency of the liver and consequently, the animal.
