Humane slaughter technique http://www.sheepgoatmarketing.info/news/HumaneSlaughter.pdf  This site is very slow to load, because it is full of pictures, but it is an excellent resource for those who butcher their own stock..  You can purchase it in poster size in several languages.

 

Institutional meat purchase specifications for fresh goat  http://www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/imps/imps11.pdf  

 

Marketing Meat Goats

The terminal market price for slaughter goats has risen since the late nineties, reflecting the increasing ethnic demand for goat meat.  U.S. producers cannot currently meet this demand, and imports fill nearly half of the demand.  

Slaughter goat sales typically show a recurring seasonal pattern: lowest prices July/October, followed by sharp rises in late fall, and highest prices of all Thanksgiving/Easter, with prices typically decreasing during the spring months and back into the doldrums during the summer.

Premium prices are paid for goats 40-60 lbs.  Those 80-100 lbs. draw a lower fee, and those 80-100 lbs. draw the lowest price of all.  Where people cannot get the size they want, the price levels out, but as soon as they have a choice they always pay top dollar for the 40-60 pound goats.

Pinkerton says that there are two paramount considerations to weigh when making decisions about when to sell goats.    

 

The first is Marketing Margin.  This is the difference between the final selling price/lb. and the current selling price/lb.   (Example: a 45 lb. weanling might sell for $1.20/lb in July; and if he is fed to 80 lb. in November, he might sell for only $1.00/lb.  The marketing margin would be -$0.20 x 45 lbs. of gain or a loss of $9.00/head by waiting until November to sell. 

 

The second consideration is the Feeding Margin, which is calculated as the difference between the selling price/lb and the total cost/lb of the accrued gain.  (Example: If the 45 lb. kid we talked about above cost 80 cents per lb of accrued gain, (feed plus overhead), then his feed margin would be $1.00-$0.80, or a gain of 20 cents. Taking 20 cents x 35 lb of gain would be a profit of $7.00 per head.

 

To find out whether it makes sense to do this, take the Marketing Margin plus the Feeding Margin to find the amount of profit or loss./goat. (+$7.00) plus (-$9.00) = a loss of $2.00 per head.  

 

Pinkerton says "To make a profit in this game, you simply must manage in such a manner that you have a sufficiently positive feeding margin, so as to more than offset the near certain negative marketing margin you will encounter."  

(Material summarized from Pinkerton, Feeding, Management and Marketing of Slaughter Goats Post Weaning)

Marketing Links:

Ag Marketing Resource Center (meat goat link list) http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/livestock/goats/meat+goats.htm

 

Cornell University Sheep and Goat Marketing Website  http://sheepgoatmarketing.info/

Goats Slaughtered in the U.S. through 2005 http://www.luresext.edu/goats/library/databases/goat-usda.htm

 

Imports of frozen goat meat through 2005 http://www.luresext.edu/goats/library/databases/fas1.htm

 

Marketing Calendar http://sheepgoatmarketing.info/PageLoad.cfm?page=education/ethnicholidays.htm 

 

Marketing Slaughter Goats and Goat Meat http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/marketing.html

 

Pictures of live goats representing meat grade standards http://www.kyagr.com/mkt_promo/LPF/Livestock/sheep/PDFs/goat%20grades.PDF

 

Study: The Feasibility of Marketing Traditionally Slaughtered and Processed Meat to Economically and Culturally Diverse 

Families, Food markets and Restaurants  (Wisconsin Study, report May 2005) http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/mktg/business/marketing/val-add/add/pdf/2004/19046ethnicmeat.pdf

 

Starting a meat goat operation with extra dairy does

If you want to take your extra doelings and slowly create a meat goat herd as a value-added operation to complement your dairy, here is how you do it. 

G= Grade Dairy Goat  B= Boer (purebred)

Creating a meat goat herd from dairy does
Does	Bucks	Offspring
G	B	½ B  ½ G
½ B ½ G	B	¾ B  ¼ G
¾ B ¼ G	B	⅞ B  ⅛ G
⅞ B  ⅛ G	B	15/16 B 1/16 G
15/16 B 1/16 G	B	100% purebred

Save only good quality females, preferably from multiple births.

Change bucks every generation.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/goats/presentation/selectingfoundationandreplacementgoats04.pd

Frank Pinkerton, retired goat expert, stated in an e-mail 8-21-06 that Boer cross Nubian and Boer cross Alpine combinations attract considerable buyer interest at markets.  He feels that the demand and price for goat meat are high enough that producers should consider raising kids for meat sales.  He states that it is important that you schedule birthing to coincide with peak meat marketing periods, such as Christmas and Easter, and that you keep feed costs down.  He also advises carefully considering the cost of your labor and other overhead when deciding whether to do this. (Pinkerton, Feeding, management and Marketing of Slaughter [Dairy] Goats Post-Weaning. E-mail 8-21-06).   

 

Nutritional Value of Goat Meat  

Pictures of goat meat cuts http://www.t4ranch.com/goat_meat_cuts.html

 

Figuring freezer space for goat meat: 1 cubic foot for every 15-20 lb. of meat.  The interior of a milk crate is about 1 cubic foot.

 

Sear the outside quickly to seal in juices, then cook slowly.  Do not overcook.  Goat meat is very lean and must be cooked with moisture.  Good for soups and stews.  

Meat Goat Nutrition   Minimum Nutrition requirement CP 14%, TDN 60%  (Langston, Training, p. 17 

of Nutrition section)  

 

Many goat milk producers sell their dairy bucklings as meat goats, or raise meat goat breeds to diversify their income.

 

The differences between feeding dairy and meat goats

“The nutritional requirements of goats managed primarily for milk production and those managed primarily for meat production are quite similar with perhaps two notable differences. First, dairy goats are expected to milk at relatively high and persistent levels throughout a 9-10 month lactation; meat goats need only achieve a 4-7 month lactation with high initial milk flow, persistency beyond 4 months being of lesser concern. Secondly, dairy goats are typically fed considerable concentrates (grain mixtures) to encourage maximum and persistent milk flow. In contrast, lactating meat goats are not usually fed concentrates in addition to their forage diet because the extra kid growth achieved from the extra milk may well not repay the added costs. As always, special circumstances may occasionally alter normal cost-benefit calculations.”

(Frank Pinkerton, Feeding Programs for Meat Goats)

 

Feeding Does (Material summarized from Langston, Meat goat training, p. 23-24 of Nutrition section)

4 production periods and corresponding feed requirements:

Production Period	Feed requirements
Non-pregnant	Medium quality pasture (like late summer) or a medium quality hay
Pregnant less than 95 days	Medium quality pasture (like late summer) or a medium quality hay
Late gestation	Energy requirements increase dramatically to feed fetuses as well as to maintain doe’s body weight. Doelings are still growing, so they need even more supplementation.
Lactating	Peak lactation at 3-8 wks of lactation.  Increase grain over 2-3 weeks.  Milk production begins to drop after 6 weeks and continues to drop until quite low by 12 weeks, co start gradually reducing grain at 6 weeks post birthing, until only receiving hay or pasture by 12 weeks.

                                   

Flushing before breeding: BCS should be 2.5-3.5 at breeding. Flushing with grain is not needed unless BCS is less than 2.5. (Haskell)

 

 Feeding young stock 

Keep with mother to nurse.  Offer creep feed through area with holes 5” wide by 1 ft. high for kids to enter. 

 

Give them 16% CP creep feed, medicated with a coccidostat.  It takes 6 lb. of feed to produce 1 lb. of weight gain.

 

Doelings usually do well on pasture or hay alone.  Watch BCS.  If not gaining as they should, add 0.05%-1% body weight/day of corn for each animal that is low in weight. For a 50 lb. animal, this is ¼ - ½  lb. corn per day per head. 

 

Do the same with the bucklings, but watch their body condition score even more closely, as they must gain a lot more than doelings to reach maturity by 7 months. (This section summarized from Langston, Training, Nutrition section  p. 21).

 

Expectations for breeding weight of meat goat breeds vary by breed:

Spanish Doelings:

Weaned at 3 months (40 lb).

Expect gain of 5 lb. per month, so they will weigh 60 lb. at 7 months of age for first breeding.

Boer Doelings:

Wean at 3 months (50 lb.)

Expect gain of 7.5 lb. per month, so they will weigh 80 lb. at 7 months of age for first breeding.

(Pinkerton, Frank.  Feeding, Management and marketing of Slaughter Dairy Goats Post-Weaning.  E-mail from author, 8-21-2006.)  

Meat Goat Links

Basic Meat Goat Facts (North Carolina University) http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/animal/meatgoat/pdf_factsheets/ANS%2000%20606MG.pdf

 

Complete chart of meat goats listing numbers and types of meat goats in US. with breed information 

on kidding rates, pre-weaning growth rates, adaptability to production environment and internal 

parasites http://www.auri.org/research/goatmeat/content1.htm  p. 42 of PDF document

 

Complete listing of meat goats with pictures   http://www.auri.org/research/goatmeat/pdfs/phase1.pdf

 

Goat Droppings.  (Information on meat goat production.)  http://www.clemson.edu/agronomy/goats/

 

Goat Nutrition and Feeding (slide show) from Oklahoma Meat Goat Conference 2006.  

Excellent overview of feeding  (copy the following link and enter it into Google.) goats.file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/N4RWTLZV/

Goat%2520Nutrition%2520and%2520Feeding%2520-%2520JACK%2520WALLACE%5B1%5D.ppt#256,1,Oklahoma Meat Goat 

Conference 2006

 

Jack Mauldin Meat Goat Site  http://www.jackmauldin.com/health.htm  

Langston University E [Kika] de la Garza Web-based Training and Certification Program for Meat 

Goat Producers   http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/QAtoc.html   

Here is the table of contents with hyperlinks:

1. General Overview (Do you want to be a goat producer?)  

2. http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/general.html

3. Introduction to a Meat Goat Quality Assurance Program and HACCP  

4. http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/mgqa.html

5. Meat Goat Management http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/management.html

6. Goat Facilities http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/facilities.html

7. Internal & External Parasites of Goats http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/parasites.html

8. Biosecurity for Meat Goat Producers http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/biosecurity.html

9. Marketing Slaughter Goats and Goat Meat http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/marketing.html

10. Introduction To Goat Nutrition  http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/nutrition.html

11. Goat Farm Budgeting http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/budgets.html

12. Legal Issues http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/legal.html

13. Goat Reproduction http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/reproduction.html

14. Vegetation Management http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/vegetation.html

15. Farm Business Planning http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/farmmanagement.html

16. Livestock Guarding Dogs http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/lgd.html

17. Disaster Preparedness for Livestock  http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/disaster.html

18. Organic Meat Goat Production http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/organic.html

19. Reproductive Technologies http://www.luresext.edu/goats/training/advrepro.html

Matching Forages To The Nutrient Needs of Meat Goats  

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/animal/meatgoat/pdf_factsheets/matchingforagesmg.pdf

 

Meat Goats (complete set of materials on meat goats from North Carolina Extension)  

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/animal/meatgoat/ahgoats_index.html

 

Meat goat anatomy and correct body parts  http://www.boergoatshome.com/anatomy.php

 

Meat Goat 7-8 year old 4-H project    

guide http://www.nc4h.org/teachers/enrichment/goat/goat7-8.pdf

(Very large file.  Slow to load on dial-up service, but worth the wait.)

 

Meat Goat Vaccination Program  

www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/ extension/animal/meatgoat/MGBrdKidd.htm 

 

Monitoring the body condition of meat goats  

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/animal/meatgoat/pdf_factsheets/ANS%2000%20605MG.pdf

 

Preparing Meat Goats For The Breeding Season  

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/animal/meatgoat/pdf_factsheets/

ANS%2000%20602MG.pdf

 

Selecting Foundation and Replacement Goats

  http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/goats/presentations/selectingfoundationandreplacementgoats04.pdf  

 

Penn State Meat Goat Home Study Course 

http://bedford.extension.psu.edu/agriculture/goat/Goat%20Lessons.htm

 

Selecting Meat Goats  

http://bedford.extension.psu.edu/agriculture/goat/Meat%20Goat%20Selection.htm

 

Study: Disbudding Kid Goats-Is it commercially applicable?  

http://uvalde.tamu.edu/staff/Machen5.htm

 

2006 (Meat) Goat Management and Marketing Calendar   

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/AnimalSciences/goats/calendar.pdf

 

What to look for in a meat goat