Agricultural News
Goats Give Small Landowners Market Opportunities
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:09:22 CDT
Langston University presented its 30th annual Goat Field Day to a capacity audience of goat owners eager to learn from the staff and guest speakers at the E (Kika) de la Garza American Institute for Goat Research. Goats are great for meat, milk, cheese, brush control and show animals. But, how do you market your goats and their products?
Tess Caudill with the Kentucky Dept. of Agriculture explained how she created graded sales to pool goats of similar age, weight and quality into lots that appealed to buyers. That has resulted in successful sales at five Kentucky locations and benefits smaller producers that don't have enough animals to command a fair market price.
Marketing was addressed by Yvonne Zweede-Tucker who has created a steady demand for her meat goats raised in Montana by providing a Chicago processor with the right size goat at the right time. She stressed the importance of ongoing marketing and clearly communicating the value of the product to customers. Dr. Stephanie Clark of Iowa State University presented ways to produce high-quality value-added goat milk products while protecting consumer safety through safe handling and pasteurization.
A packed schedule of afternoon sessions featured researchers from Langston, Oklahoma State University, and several federal agencies. Oklahoma Department of Agriculture experts addressed the need for an accurate statewide inventory of goats being produced for the market and discussed ways to prevent or reduce predation in goat herds.
Langston University is a recognized leader in goat production technologies. In addition to its research program, it has a client-oriented extension approach. To learn about experiments, published articles and current research, click here. The site even includes an interactive quiz to test your goat knowledge.
Upcoming workshops planned for 2015 are: May 23 Parasite Workshop, Sept. 12 and Oct. 10 Artificial Insemination Demonstration Clinic.
There are 95,000 meat goats and 6,900 milk goats in Oklahoma as of January 2015. Oklahoma ranks third in the nation for the production of meat goats.
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