By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent

QUINCY, Ind. — The United States takes great pride in its role as the breadbasket for the world, and strides in agriculture research and technology enhance that role.

But surprisingly there is one area the United States is negligent in feeding its own citizens. Based on import data from 2005, the U.S. is more than 750,000 head deficient in meeting the demands for goat meat, supplying only 47 percent of the goat meat consumed domestically.

The information is based on a 2005 study of five sources: the 2000 population census, the USDA 2002 Census of Agriculture, the USDA National Agricultural Statistic Service, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization Statistics (FAOSTAT).

Ethnic populations and faith-based consumers in the United States have increased more than 100 percent during the last decade, offering a great opportunity for meat goat production.
Is it enough to make a die-hard cattleman take stock of his operation?

Mitch Pearce of Wonderhill Farms in Owen County took the plunge nine years ago, whittling down his cattle herd to 50 head and building his goat herd to 300.

“It took three or four years to persuade my father,” Pearce said. “If someone had told me 10 years ago that I was going into goats – cattle was what I had known all my life – I’d say you’re nuts, goats are for hobby farmers. If you told me I’d get down and work goats, I’d say you’re crazy, and now I’ll eat those words.”
Pearce said, in the 1990s, goat meat was considered a fad, like ostrich and emu.

Wonderhill Farm started with a half-dozen goats and catered to 4-H projects, but then the ethnic market catering to Hispanics, Jamaicans and Muslims emerged.

Ethnic holidays, including Easter, Christmas, Cinco de Mayo and Ramadan, cause the market to soar.

“Because of the ethnic population, the demand is unbelievable,” he said.

There is no true goat market in Indiana, and goats bought at local sale barns are sent to Louisville, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and other cities where the ethnic population is higher.
The newly created Indiana Goat Produc-ers Assoc. hopes to work with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to develop a marketing plan within the state.

Brewer Livestock Co. in North Vernon is one processing site. A processor in Hazelwood, near Fort Wayne, rents his equipment to ethnic groups to slaughter their own goats according to their beliefs.
Pearce said it wasn’t hard to adapt his operation to goats and that although it is labor intensive, he spent much more time in raising cattle. When the goats are in the chute for work including vaccinations, trimming, etc., three people can finish 100 goats in a half a day.

He uses rotational grazing with his cattle, and the goats are a perfect complement for the practice.

Cattle are grazed 30-60 days in each paddock, and the goats follow behind the cattle. “They are non-competing because goats are top browsers and eat what the cattle won’t touch,” Pearce said. “The multifloral rose and cedar tree – those are ice cream for goats.”
So how does the profit margin for goats stack up to cattle?
Pearce sharpened his pencil and came up with these estimates:
•Gestation
Cattle - 9 months, usually 1 calf per year
Goats - 5 months, usually producing twins, resulting in 4.23 kids per year
•Finish
Cattle – 5 to 6 months
Goats - 3 to 4 months
•Market
Feeder calves - .80 to .90
Goats - 1.20 in off months to 1.50 to 1.75.

A small herd of meat goats can be produced on 10-15 acres of pastureland, adding diversity and profitability to small farms. With proper grazing management, goats can eliminate noxious weeds and restore native grasses.

Nutritionally, goat meat is leaner and healthier than other meats and can play a major role in the diet of health-conscious people. It contains less saturated fat than beef, pork or chicken.
According to the FAOSTAT, 2005 world goat population was almost 800 million goats, up from 485 million in 1985. The population has been increasing about 8 to 10 percent per year in the past 20 years.

The top three producers of goats are China, India and Pakistan followed by African countries and Iran. Although Australia and New Zealand produce only a small percentage of the world goat population, they are two of the largest exporters of goats. In the world meat department, pork is the most-consumed meat followed by chicken, beef, lamb, turkey and goat. Chicken is the No. 1 meat in the U.S. (40 percent) followed by beef (29 percent) and pork (24 percent).

Goat meat represents only 2 percent of the global meat inventory; however, goat meat may not be traded as other major meats and it is mostly consumed locally.

Goat meat inventory for the United States did not exist in 2005, but that has changed. On Jan. 1, meat and all other goats totaled 2.55 million head.

Find additional information online at http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu