Admitting you are a goat farmer in this country is about as taboo as some big steer wrestler showing up at a rodeo on a moped. But as the saying goes, “Pride cometh before the fall.”

It may be the status quo for cowboys to raise cows, drive big trucks and scoff at the idea of herding a few goats around the pasture, but that image may soon change. While I don’t intend to give up my truck, there seems to be benefits to adding some goats to the mix. And as Trent pointed out, “We are already on our way to Old McDonald’s farm, so why not get some goats?”

The statistics on goat production and consumption in this country are a little sketchy and those that are available are not real easy to find. However, the demand for goat meat has jumped 200 percent in recent years and U.S. production is not even close to meeting these demands. In 2004, we imported just over 19 million pounds of goat meat from Australia alone. The United States is the No. 1 importer of goat meat in the world. Did you know that? There are quite a few interesting things I didn’t know about goats until I started doing a little homework.

First and foremost in the minds of most farmers that are savvy about their bottom line is the fact that goats are currently one of the most profitable entities in agriculture. And they are great “companion grazers” in that they work well in the same pasture with cows because goats prefer to eat the stuff those fussy old heifers won’t touch.

One of the most creative entrepreneurial ideas involving goats exists because these little ruminants like to eat nasty noxious weeds like leafy spurge and musk thistles. In our area, goat herders are leasing out their animals for $1 per day to clean up weeds in pastures that many sprays won’t kill. It just doesn’t seem quite “right” when somebody pays you to feed your animals. That’s a benefit most of us in the beef business don’t get too often.

The goat meat craze is basically triggered by the growing ethnic and religious cultures that have moved into the United States. The primary demand for goat meat is on the coasts and in several large Midwestern cities, particularly Detroit. In addition to Muslin consumers, goat meat is preferred by recent immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa plus some African Americans, Asians and Hispanics.

China has over 150 million goats and consumes the majority of what they produce. The U.S. has a measly 1.96 million meat goats and only 2.5 million total goats including meat, dairy and angora. Texas leads the goat producing states with nearly 1 million head followed by Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma and Kentucky. However, the majority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected goat processors are in Texas and New Jersey, close to their major markets.

The meat goat project in 4-H has taken a huge jump in enrollment with over 140,000 members in the project nationwide. There are goat clinics and workshops across the country and now market lamb judges are being asked to place classes of meat goats at county fairs. I dodged the bullet on that duty last year because the kid with the goats didn’t show up! I judged quite a variety of critters in my time on the judging team but I never had the chance to give a set of reasons on a class of bleating foragers.

Because of the sad but annoying fact that perception may be reality, we have to admit that being a goat farmer just isn’t all that sexy. My “vision” of a goat farmer is shaped largely by a very nice lady I got to know while working with the 4-H livestock program in Missouri. Everyone called her “the goat lady” and frankly, she liked it. She and her son Levi always brought a group of dairy goats to the fair and they were always willing to share their goat savvy with others. But I can’t see myself in a plaid skirt with my hair in a bun packing around a three-legged stool. While I’m sure every goat farmer doesn’t fall into this stereotype, that is what I think about when I dream of my life as a goat farmer.

Now let’s face it, this is an industry that could use an extreme makeover–image edition. If Paris Hilton can turn people on to a Hardee’s burger by sliding around on a fancy car without much more on than a few scraps of cloth and a soapy sponge, imagine what the right spokesperson and an image consultant could do for the likes of the average goat herder! I guess I better start brainstorming on that image issue because as this article goes to press, my truck and trailer are Northbound from Missouri with a load of goats and our girls couldn’t be more excited.

Editor’s note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.
Date: 6/30/05

Categories: Farm and Field, Livestock