By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky has certainly made a name for itself when it comes to the livestock business, but cattle and horses aren’t the only game anymore. October has become the annual celebration month here for those in and interested in the sheep and goat industry.

The business has become so prevalent that an Office of Sheep and Goat Development was created in 2007 to help producers get established and grow their business. Ray Bowman, executive director, said the industry has leveled off somewhat from a past spur in growth, but now is an opportune time to get into the business.

“We’re kind of at a little plateau. It’s not growing as much as it should,” he said. “But I think that after the summer we have had and the prices we have experienced, people will realize there is absolutely a strong market there. I think they will start looking again.”

While the prices are good, the demand has grown to the point that Kentucky producers can’t keep up with it, added Bowman.
Raising sheep and goats however, is like any other livestock endeavor, he explained, saying it takes work and commitment to get the most out of it.

“You should do your homework and know what you’re getting into and fully understand it before you get into it,” Bowman said. “Then make the commitment to stay in it, learn it and do as well as you possibly can.”

Bowman also said there are many success stories in the state’s industry and for those needing to continue that success or to help in situations that may not be working well, the office is there to help all producers. That help comes in the form of workshops, field days and the annual sheep and goat producers’ annual meeting, taking place this year on Oct. 30 at the Franklin County extension office.

“For someone interested in learning more about sheep and goats, this is a good place to come and get plugged in and network with other people,” said Bowman.  
  
While consumers recognize the animals, in particularly goats for milk and dairy products or for their meat, producers are beginning to find other uses for them.

The University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture and Kentucky State University (KSU) have been instrumental in getting these new projects recognized.

Terry Hutchens, UK extension associate for goat production, said there have been a few projects in the works to take goats into brushy areas and use them as natural weed eaters, of sorts.
The most current of those involved the use of goats at a Fayette County golf course to clear areas that weren’t assessable by conventional machinery. The Avon Golf Course is located at the Bluegrass Army Depot where the goats were first used on a landfill. That went so well, the animals were then moved to the golf course.
With the help of a few goats from two local producers, the animals were placed in fenced areas approximately three-tenths to four-tenths of an acre in size per grazing area.

“We put four goats in those areas and it would take about 10 to 12 days to clean up those areas,” said Hutchens. “I roughly measured the dry matter in those sites and there was approximately, on an acre basis, 6,000 pounds of dry matter to the acre. If you compare that to the average grass pasture, there would be 2,500 pounds of dry matter.”

The goats were moved four times in the course of a few weeks last August and September. Hutchens said the goats became part of the golf courses’ community and were received well by the customers.

“Goats are not like lawn mowers and they don’t necessarily eat everything that was there, leaving some stubble, but they certainly opened up the area and you could see where to mow and where not to, saving alot on equipment breakdowns. It would save fuel and labor and would eliminate a lot of the use of herbicides,” he said.
Factor in the fertilizer component goats would add and the green aspects of the project alone should make this use of the animals more popular. Hutchens said the animals feasted on vegetation that included woody brush, tall annual weeds like giant ragweed and some perennial weeds as well.

“I think this brings agriculture closer to our urban areas,” he said. “Particularly where these evasive species have inundated urban areas, it would work quite well.”

The practice is often used in the West, but Hutchens explained that it has been really unheard of east of the Mississippi.

“And I think in the future, it will be commonplace here,” he said. “There are alot of city ordinances and regulations that would have to be changed in order to bring them in to certain areas, but I think once the benefit is seen, that won’t be a big deal.”
Meeting demands

Hutchens also weighed in on the demand issue as far as the industry goes saying that if Kentucky producers don’t something about meeting that demand, someone else will.

Kevin Kidwell of Stamping Ground, in Scott County doesn’t want to see that happen. He has been in the goat business for more than 15 years and has seen its ups and downs, but contends that it has been a good addition to his traditional farm.

Kidwell, along with neighbor and fellow goat producer provided the goats for the golf course project. His operation ranges from meat goats to show stock to transferring embryos, touching all parts of the business as he puts it.

“When I started raising goats, everybody around me thought I had lost my mind,” he said with a laugh. “From that day to today it has evolved into an industry of its own.”

Having raised cattle, Kidwell is quite familiar with livestock and said goats are a great companion animal, not only for being good field buddies but from an economical standpoint.

“Typically when beef is down, price-wise, goat meat is high, and that is when you want to sell and vise-versa so they work well in combination,” he said. “That’s one reason we started looking at it. We knew tobacco was going away and if you were going to stay in farming, you were going to have something to take up the slack. And we went with the goats.”

Going with the goats has worked well for Kidwell, whose herd numbers are around 250 currently, not only for meeting the demand for products such as goat meat, but for the more diverse projects like clearing land. He explained that use of goats for browsing is ideal from a forage aspect.

“The goats will eat grass, but that is about the last thing they want. They would rather have the bushes and the weeds; the stuff that we are out there spending a lot of money on spraying or running a lot of diesel fuel through a tractor to try and keep it mowed down,” he said.

This end of the business may just be in its infancy, but it has a lot of potential to expand and projects such as the one at Avon Golf Course are gaining attention, noted Kidwell.

“It was somewhat of an attraction for the golfers and they got a little bit of an education out of it that they wouldn’t normally get,” he said. “It was a little bit of a draw for the golf course, as well. People would come to play and get to look at the goats. I think all in all this was a good thing. We’ve had them on a couple of projects like that and everybody wants them back.”