sharply from the same number of does. In the marketing sector, some producers are choosing to sell older, heavier slaughter goats to increase net income. Others are di- viding their herd into late-spring and early- fall kidding groups to target always higher Christmas and Easter prices. Still others are making more effort to sell young breeding quality females of various ages as replace- ment does at premium prices. We are also get- ting more frequent inquiries from producers and consumers who are considering home slaughtering/processing goat meat for their deep-freezers.
Goat industry opportunities Assuming a recovery from the virus in- vasion and a return to ‘new normal’ by, say, late fall of 2020, the industry will again be positioned to increase numbers of goat oper- ations, expand herd size of existing herds, and improve herd management efficiency with a view to increasing net income to producers. Since the early 1990s, there have been extensive improvements in the ‘technology’ of raising meat goats and this information is now widely available via University exten- sion activities, Goat Rancher, and other pub- lications, as well as social media. (Careful as you go, readers; not all goat information on the Internet is accurate, relevant or useful; some is erroneous, some is dangerous to man and beast).
The demand for goat meat is almost in- satiable and we only produce about half the amount needed by current consumers. We use the italicized fudge phrase to reflect an indus- try reality. We know only the federal and state slaughter numbers, but we do not know the numbers of kids and adults slaughtered by buyers who buy goats for ‘backyard slaugh- ter’. Experienced industry observers specu- late that this could be as high as 30-40% of kid output. Accordingly, we simply cannot get an accurate annual domestic slaughter total. In any case, domestic goat production could expand sharply for many years without depressing prices for slaughter and breeding goats.
Goat producers within 40 miles or so of population centers nationwide have the oppor- tunity to increase on-farm sales of slaughter goats to urban buyers. Such sales decrease hauling expenses, eliminate sales commis- sions, avoid body weight shrinkage, and such goats typically sell for appreciably more/head than local auctions pay — a win-win market- ing channel. We urge readers to pursue this ac- tivity vigorously through advertising and by interaction with ethnic groups. Note, too, that certain ethnic groups are now taking older,
August 2020 | Goat Rancher 17
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