Thaba Goats Business Plan — Appendix F: Glossary

Glossary of goat production, reproduction, veterinary and financial terms used throughout the Thaba Goats business plan.

Appendix F: Glossary

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Term

Definition

Blended price

Cash revenue divided by goats sold, reflecting the weighted mix of direct community, trader, breeding stock, auction and abattoir channels. R3 292 at Year 5.

Break-even herd

The number of breeding does at which gross margin covers the fixed cost base, including owner remuneration. 129 does at the mature Year 5 cost base.

Cash EBITDA

Reported EBITDA less the non-cash increase in the value of the breeding herd. The number that pays wages, dosing, interest and the household, and the basis of every covenant in this plan.

Chevon

Goat meat. The gross value of chevon production has averaged around R646 million a year over the past decade.

Doeling

A young female goat retained for breeding rather than sold. 310 are retained across the five years, which is how the herd grows six-fold.

Followers

The non-breeding animals in a herd — kids and growing stock. Sold first in a forage shortage; breeding does are sold last.

Herd growth

The increase in the value of the breeding herd, included in reported EBITDA as real value but separately identified because it cannot be spent.

Kid survival to weaning

Kids weaned divided by kids born. Identified by the National Agricultural Marketing Council as a major constraint on South African goat production.

Kids weaned per doe

Kids surviving to weaning divided by does mated. Rises from 1.38 to 1.94 and carries roughly a third of the margin improvement.

Large stock unit

A standard grazing measure. A breeding doe with followers is conventionally about one fifth of a large stock unit.

Section 20 limitation

The South African rule capping the set-off of assessed losses at the higher of R1 million or 80 per cent of taxable income.

Speculator

A trader who buys live goats for resale. Pays less than direct community sales but takes volume reliably; the floor under the price.

Stage gate

A set of documented conditions that must all be satisfied before the next stage’s capital is drawn.

Wireworm

Haemonchus contortus, the principal internal parasite of goats in South African conditions and roughly a fifth of kid losses.

Thaba Goats · Business Plan and Staged Funding Roadmap · August 2026 · Strictly Confidential