Goatery Scheme (Sheep and Goat Farm, Saitsama and Nongshillong), Meghalaya

What is the Goatery Scheme in Meghalaya?

The Goatery Scheme is the goat and sheep development activity of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, Government of Meghalaya, whose headquarters is at Lumdiengjri, Shillong. It has two connected parts: the government Sheep and Goat Farms that breed and supply improved stock, and the subsidy given to farmers who take up goatery.

The department states the object of the scheme plainly, to rear improved sheep and goat in order to increase breeding stock and meet the requirement of sheep and goat in the state for meat purposes. On the farmer side, the department records that subsidy is provided to farmers for the implementation of goatery schemes, with the aims of employment generation and increased meat production.

Meghalaya consumes far more meat than it produces and brings in a large share from outside the state. Goat is the most practical animal to close part of that gap in a hill economy: it needs little land, browses on slopes that will not support a crop, breeds quickly, and converts into cash at a size a household can manage. A goat unit is also one of the few livestock ventures a landless or near-landless family can run.

The two government farms

The department describes Saitsama as a demonstration farm set up to study the adaptability of different breeds, so that farmers can be shown which stock does well in local conditions before they invest. Nongshillong is described as demonstrating the scientific rearing of improved breeds of sheep and goat.

Both farms therefore do more than sell animals. A farmer who visits is looking at a working example of housing, feeding and breeding practice, which matters more to survival rates than the animal itself.

What does the department charge, and what does the subsidy cover?

The Nongshillong farm sells stock at age-graded rates: from about Rs 850 for an animal of 2 to 3 months rising to about Rs 2,100 for an animal of 11 to 12 months. The farm also sells milk at about Rs 45 per litre and wool at about Rs 50 per kilogram.

Those rates are the farm's own sale prices. Separately, the department provides subsidy to farmers implementing goatery schemes. The department has not published a fixed rupee subsidy figure or a unit-size table on its website, so the practical step is to ask the district veterinary officer two questions before you plan: what the current year's goatery unit is: how many does and bucks make a unit, and what percentage or amount of that unit cost the department is subsidising in the current year.

Take the farm rates and the two farm locations as established. Treat any subsidy percentage you hear informally as unconfirmed until the district office states it.

Who is eligible for the Goatery Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a farmer or rural household in Meghalaya wanting to take up goat or sheep rearing.
• You have shed space for the animals and an arrangement for grazing or fodder. This is the practical test the department applies, because stock placed without housing does not survive.
• You are willing to follow the rearing practice the demonstration farms teach, including vaccination and deworming through the departmental veterinary network.
• You are applying through your district Animal Husbandry and Veterinary office, or directly at the Saitsama or Nongshillong farm for stock purchase.

You cannot apply if:

• You have no shed and no grazing or fodder plan. Such applicants are not eligible for placement of breeding stock.
• You are a trader buying for immediate slaughter or resale. The scheme's purpose is to build breeding stock in the state, not to move animals through a market.
• You are outside Meghalaya.
• You want stock of a breed the farms do not hold. The farms supply Ramnimash Cross, Local x Corriedale and Local Cross animals, not exotic breeds bought in for the purpose.

How to apply for the Goatery Scheme

1. Visit your district Animal Husbandry and Veterinary office and ask whether goatery units are being sanctioned in the current year, what a unit consists of, and what subsidy applies.
2. Write an application to the district veterinary officer. State your name, village, C&RD Block and district, the number and type of animals you want, the shed you have or will build, and your grazing or fodder arrangement.
3. Attach your documents — identity proof, a land or homestead record or a headman's certificate confirming you have space for a shed, and a bank passbook copy.
4. Submit the application at the district office and note the date and the receiving official.
5. Allow the field visit. Departmental staff normally inspect the shed and the grazing arrangement before placing animals.
6. Book stock with the farm. For direct purchase, contact the Sheep and Goat Farm at Saitsama in the Jaintia Hills or at Nongshillong in West Khasi Hills, ask what age groups are currently available, and pay the notified rate for the age class you are buying.
7. Register with your local veterinary dispensary for vaccination and deworming once the animals arrive.

How to prepare before the animals arrive

The department's demonstration farms exist because most goat losses in the hills are avoidable and happen in the first weeks. Before you take delivery:

1. Build a raised, dry shed with a slatted floor so droppings fall through and the animals stay off wet ground.
2. Arrange fodder for the lean months, not just for the season you are buying in.
3. Fix your vaccination and deworming schedule with the nearest veterinary dispensary or aid centre before, not after, the animals reach you.
4. Visit Saitsama or Nongshillong and look at how the farm houses and feeds its stock. This is what the department means by a demonstration farm.

Why applications fail or animals do not survive

• No shed ready at the time of the field visit, the most common reason a placement is deferred.
• No fodder plan for the dry months, so animals arrive into a feed gap.
• Stock not available in the age class requested. The two farms are small, roughly 250 animals at Saitsama and a capacity of about 100 at Nongshillong, so supply is genuinely limited and waiting is normal.
• No vaccination follow-through, which is where most first-year mortality comes from.
• Applying as a trader rather than as a rearer.

Grievance and help

• District Animal Husbandry and Veterinary officer in your district. The first point of contact for subsidy and unit questions.
• Sheep and Goat Farm, Saitsama, Jaintia Hills district, and Sheep and Goat Farm, Nongshillong, West Khasi Hills district, for stock availability and rates.
• Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Government of Meghalaya, Lumdiengjri, Shillong - 793 002, East Khasi Hills district, for policy questions and unresolved complaints.
• stateportal-meg[at]gov[dot]in for queries about departmental scheme entries on meghalaya.gov.in.

There is no application fee. Animals are sold at the department's notified rates, and no intermediary is authorised to charge a margin over them.