Maggie Sayer - Storeys Guide to Raising Meat Goats, 2nd Edition: Managing, Breeding, Marketing

SECOND EDITION

Managing Breeding Marketing

MAGGIE SAYER

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Edited by Lisa H. Hiley and Deborah Burns
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Cover photograph by Adam Mastoon

Interior photography by claudia Marcus-Gurn, page 29, Sue Ann Weaver, pages 6, 215, 272, 273, and 275

Illustrations by Elayne Sears

Indexed by Nancy D. Wood

2010, 2007 by Sue Ann Weaver

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sayer, Maggie.

Storeys guide to raising meat goats / by Maggie Sayer. 2nd ed.
p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-60342-582-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-60342-583-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. GoatsUnited States. 2. Goat meatUnited States.

I. Title. II. Title: Guide to raising meat goats. III. title: Raising meat goats.

SF383.4.S24 2010
636.3913dc22

2010029324

To
LORI OLSON
Thanks for helping me get started in Boer goats!

and

UP LUDO
(December 18, 2005February 20, 2006)
The sweetest little goat that ever was

GOAT PRODUCERS ALL ACROSS THE United States are scrambling to provide Americas rapidly expanding ethnic population with the goat meat they are culturally used to eating. Thousands of new producers are desperately needed to supply demand. Goat meat production is the fastest-growing segment in American agriculture. If youre seeking an easy-to-enter, small-farm agricultural enterprise with unlimited growth potential, raising meat goats is the answer to your prayers.

Consider this: Roughly 70 percent of the meat consumed globally is goat meat. Goat meat is a major staple in Hispanic, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, African, and southeast Asian cuisine. u.s. census figures indicate immigration to the United States increased by 20 percent between 1995 and 2000. The 2000 census tallied nearly 36 million His-panics, 10 million Asians, and 4 million Caribbean and African immigrants residing in the United States. Add to those figures an estimated 7 million illegal aliens, more than half of whom are of Latin American descent. By 2025, Hispanics will comprise 18 percent of Americas population; by 2050, one out of every four Americans will be Latino. Hispanic-Americans are major consumers of goat meat, particularly cabrito, the tender, pale flesh of milk-fed kids generally 4 to 10 weeks old and 20 to 25 pounds live weight.

Americas Muslim population also consumes a great deal of halal goat meat that is, goat meat that is slaughtered and processed according to specific guidelines. Goat is traditionally served at family celebrations such as weddings and birthdays and on religious holidays such as Eid al-Adha. When available, goat is a dietary staple for many Muslims. According to The American Religious Identity Survey conducted in 2001 by the city university of New York Graduate center, between 1991 and 2000, Americas Muslim population more than doubled; by 2010, Islam is expected to become the second largest organized religion in the United States. No wonder demand for goat meat is on the rise!

Finally, health-conscious Americans who dont observe the practices of any particular ethnic group are also turning to goat meat, which boasts one-Eighth the total fat found in pork and one-fifth the total fat found in beef and lamb. In fact, its even lower in fat than skinless chicken. At the same time, goat meat is higher in protein than pork, lamb, and chicken, and has the same amount of protein as beef.

WHERE DO GOATS COME FROM?

The first domestic meat goats belonged to inhabitants of Ganj Darah, a prehistoric settlement in the Zagros Mountains of southern Kurdistan. For at least 40,000 years, men of that region had hunted the wily, wild bezoar goat before bringing kids into the fold and domesticating them about 10,000 years ago, according to Melinda A. Zeder, curator of Old World archaeology and zooarchaeology at the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of Natural History, and Brian Hesse, a zooarchaeologist at the University of Alabama, who base their dating on goat toe bones uncovered at Ganj Darah.

In addition to hypotheses related to the Ganj Darah inhabitants, there are hundreds of references to goats in the Bible, including culinary instructions. The Hebrew Scriptures caution Hebrews, Do not cook a kid in its mothers milk.

Meat goats also accompanied Spanish settlers and conquistadors when they came to the New World. Some acted as a traveling food supply as they followed in the wake of their owners, but also the crews of Spanish galleons salted islands with meat goat stock, knowing the goats would multiply and serve as a ready source of fresh meat on the mens subsequent visits. All of these goats are distant ancestors of todays Spanish goat.

To supply present demand, America imports a tremendous and rapidly increasing amount of frozen goat meat from Australia and New Zealand. According to u.s. Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures, in 1970 we imported 1.29 metric tons of goat meat. In 1990 the figure jumped to 1,361 metric tons, and in 2006 it reached a whopping 11,000 metric tons, valued at $41.8 million!

American farmers are producing more goat meat too. Slaughter of goats at USDA federally inspected slaughterhouses increased 270 percent between 1994 and 2003, when about 634,500 animals (20 million pounds) were processed. And these figures dont include on-farm slaughter or goats slaughtered at state-inspected facilities, estimated at an additional million goats per year.

When the u.s. Department of Agricultures National Agricultural statistic service (NASS) conducted its first goat survey in 2004, the total number of goats in the United States was about 2.7 million, with meat goats numbering some 2.1 million. The numbers have risen steadily since then, with a slight decrease being seen from 2009 to 2010. As of January 1, 2010, there were just over 3 million goats in the United States. Of those, more than 2.5 million were meat goats.