Bhopal Man Started A Two-storey Goat Farm After Covid-19; Now Clocks Lakhs In Revenue With 300+ Goats

The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot. It changed lives, lifestyles, and even ambitions.

For Sameer Ismail, the change came in the form of getting out of his comfort zone and venturing into a new area of entrepreneurship.

“I have always been a very entrepreneurial person. I’ve been working since I was 21, so when the pandemic and the lockdown forced everyone to sit at home, I had the inner realization that I wanted to do something more than my regular line of work. That’s how the idea of starting a goat farm came to me,” Sameer Ismail, founder of Bhopal Goat and Agro Farm, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Today, the Bhopal Goat and Agro Farm raises and breeds 300 to 350 goats. It is a double-storey farm tailored to meet the requirements of the animals and keep them healthy, hygienic, and smell-free.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Hailing from Bhopal, Sameer Ismail went to a boarding school called St. Peter's in Panchgani. Later, he graduated in BCS from the Fergusson College in Pune. 

His family has been in the education field for many years. They own multiple kindergarten schools located across the city. Right after college, Sameer entered the family business and started the second batch of schools.

For the past 23 years, he has been working as a businessman and entrepreneur who regularly introduces new curricular advancements to the family-owned group of schools. 

“The New Dimensions Foundation Group is the school group we operate from. Our schools are very popular in Bhopal and are known for quality education and environment,” Sameer shares. 

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, a lot changed. Schools were shut down. And everything moved online. But for kindergarten-level schools, there wasn't much that could be done virtually. As a result, revenues took a major hit.

On a personal level, Sameer realized that an additional stream of income is required for sustainability.

“Even though I knew things would be back to normal as soon as the lockdowns were eased, I wanted to start doing something other than operating the schools. Sitting at home idly just wasn't for me. I've forever been in the habit of waking up early. When COVID came, I wanted a purpose,” Sameer Ismail tells Startup Pedia.

THE PROBLEM STATEMENT 

Sameer began looking for existing problems in the market and discovered that one of the most unregulated and unorganized markets was that of goat rearing.

“I spent a lot of time researching how goats are reared around the world. I discovered that people in the USA and Europe are extremely invested in their livestock. They regularly get the animals vaccinated, carefully select the fodder that they will feed on, and establish stringent checks on their hygiene and living conditions. Their food supply chains are very sorted,” the entrepreneur explains. 

“However, we can't really say the same thing for India. When you buy meat from the local butchers or meat shops, you usually have no idea about the animal’s breed, what it fed on, and so on. The quality suffers,” he adds. 

Sameer Ismail decided to do his bit in organizing the goat market by structuring it and setting a precedent in Bhopal, India. 

In 2021, the entrepreneur set up the Bhopal Goat and Agro Farm on an ancestral piece of land.

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THE CHALLENGES AND JOURNEY 

When Sameer Ismail began working on the goat farm, he decided to make it a double-storey one. 

His reasoning? More space, more hygiene, and more divisions. 

“I didn't want to make the animals feel suffocated. I began with the vision of properly acclimatizing them,” the goat farm founder tells Startup Pedia. 

He pooled roughly Rs 10 to 15 lakhs from his savings to use as working capital.

Throughout the journey, Sameer Ismail navigated various challenges:

1. Initially, he travelled to Rajasthan to buy goats.

“I had to carefully check their breeds, their health, and their general living conditions. This was the first batch of goats that were brought to the Bhopal Goat and Agro Farm,” the entrepreneur shares. 

2. Goats are nomadic by nature. They love to move around, keep travelling, and feed on various types of grass. To accommodate them on a farm meant providing them with a higher standard of living, breeding, and eating conditions. 

“This process is called acclimatizing the animals. We have to help them adjust to a new environment without causing undue stress or anxiety to them,” Sameer Ismail explains. 

3. In the beginning, feed management was a challenge. Sameer and his farm workers had to ensure the goats were eating enough and check whether it was converting into an increase in their body weight.

In livestock farming, the Food Conversion Ratio (FCR) plays a major role in determining how well the business is running. This ratio measures how efficiently animals convert feed into growth in their body weight. 

“In my model, I have to regularly track the FCR,” the goat farm founder and entrepreneur adds.

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BHOPAL GOAT AND AGRO FARM

Today, Sameer Ismail’s Bhopal Goat and Agro Farm is thriving with numerous breeds of goats. 

With an optimum capacity of 300 to 350 goats, it is a double-storey farm tailored to meet the requirements of the animals and keep them healthy, hygienic, and smell-free.

While there are permanent workers hired to manage the day-to-day activities and livestock farming, Sameer makes it a point to visit the farm on a daily basis.

“Our priority here is that the goats should live in a hygienic way, there should be absolutely no odour or smell, and their fodder should be of the highest quality,” the goat farm founder tells Startup Pedia. 

The Bhopal Goat and Agro Farm is only involved in directly selling the whole goats to the traders. As of now, Sameer has not ventured into meat processing or milk production.

“The reason we sell whole goats to traders and do not sell to restaurants or hotels is that they look for competitive pricing. Owing to the kind of healthy goats we are offering, we cannot really compete with their prices. For us, it makes more business sense to sell whole goats to traders,” Sameer Ismail says. 

To date, the entrepreneur has not made any expenses towards marketing the farm and his livestock. 

“Everything is happening via word-of-mouth publicity. The thing is, the goat market is widely untapped despite the demand soaring. Once you enter it, you'll rarely encounter difficulties selling,” the goat farm founder explains.

GROWTH

Since its inception, the Bhopal Goat and Agro Farm has been witnessing an impressive year-on-year growth of 25%.

In FY21, the farm clocked a revenue of Rs 8 lakh. It must be noted that Sameer Ismail didn't have to spend any money on buying or purchasing land. 

In FY24, the revenue figure came at roughly Rs 30 lakh.

“Most of what I make from the farm is reinvested in buying more animals and improving the sustainability angle of the farm,” the entrepreneur tells Startup Pedia.

Even though the goats are sold year-round, the peak season comes during the festival of Eid.

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LOOKING AHEAD

As a goat farm founder and entrepreneur, Sameer Ismail wants to play a bigger role in positively impacting the country's goat market.

He has already become a consultant and has helped set up Yuvaan Agro, which is one of the biggest goat farms in Agra with a capacity of 5000 goats. 

“Many people aren't aware that the Government of India provides significant subsidies for livestock farming. People are untrained and do not know how to cater to the animals. I want to help them scale their small farms and build a community that is empowered with the right knowledge and technology,” he signs off.

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