FODDER FOR THOUGHT
Goat Rancher is last magazine you can still hold in your hand
I guess you could call Goat Rancher the last man standing. As
far as I know, we are the only goat publication that still mails out a print edition. The Goat Journal, formerly the Dairy Goat Journal, an- nounced in February that beginning in March, it would no longer have a print edition — it was going digital only. This step came after the magazine went from six issues a year to just four issues a year beginning in 2024.
I definitely know the challenges of putting out a print magazine. There are thousands of dollars in expenses each month to print and mail out the magazine. And these days, you just cross your fingers and hope the U.S. Postal Service delivers it on time and in one piece. But for now, it is worth the effort and expense to reach those loyal readers who do not have — or choose not to use — the Internet. Then there are others who tell me they just like to have a magazine to hold in their hands. There’s something almost intimate about that — like curling up on the couch with a good book. For the foreseeable future, Goat Rancher will continue to print a magazine on paper and send it via “snail mail” each month — just as we have done for the past 29 years.
BY TERRY HANKINS Goat Rancher editor
Of course, we also try to keep up with the times. We have a dig- ital edition too, but our subscribers prefer the print edition 4 to 1. It’s a lot easier to look in your magazine basket for the past few issues than to log in and find the issue you’re looking for. Goat Rancher also has a strong Facebook presence with 13,000
followers. We offer subscribers the opportunity to have their ads “boosted” through Facebook algorithms, which typically garners 30,000 or more views over a month’s time. So while you can access Goat Rancher through various media, there is no substitute for a print magazine. Those print magazines have a permanence that can’t be beat. You can pick them up years later, flip the pages and relive so many past events. When I am scrolling through Facebook — which I do way too much! — I may find an item of interest but minutes later it is gone. Old print magazines never disappear — they just gather dust on the book shelf or magazine rack. But they are always there. I hope readers will appreciate the legacy of print magazines — ours or anyone elses. I hope Goat Rancher never has to send out an e-mail that excitedly states “Now! Digital Only!” Our offline readers would never get that message. n
4 Goat Rancher |
April 2025
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
