Western or Roman Easter
March 27, 2005
April 16, 2006
Type of goat wanted - Fleshy, milk fed kids with relatively
light colored meat, 3 months old or younger. Kids weighing less than 20 lbs are
generally disappointing to buyers due to low meat to bone ratios and high
carcass drying losses. Kids gaining less than 10 lbs per month or 1/3rd pound
per day after accounting for birth weight are generally not fleshy enough to be
considered prime. Prime Easter kids are generally gaining at least 1/2 lb
daily. There generally is a slight price (per lb of live weight) penalty for
kids weighing over 40 lbs. Acceptable weights generally range from 20 to 50 lbs
with 30 lbs considered optimum by most buyers.
Eastern or Greek Easter
May 1, 2005
April 23, 2006
Type of goat wanted - Similar to Western Easter kids. A
slightly larger milk fed kid (i.e. around 35 lbs) is considered optimum.
Navadurgara or Navratra Dashara or Dassai
October 22, 2004
October 12, 2005
This is a Hindu holiday honoring the goddess Durga. Goats
are generally slaughtered from the 7th to the 10th day of the holiday after
which families meet together and celebrate with curried goat while receiving
family blessings. Female goats are not
acceptable for this holiday. Relatively
tender male goats are generally used. Size of carcass depends on number of people expected to be fed.
Start of Ramadan - can vary by a day depending on the actual sighting of the moon over the United States that year
October 15, 2004
October 4, 2005
September 24, 2006
Type of goat wanted - male and female kids with all their
milk teeth (i.e. not older than @ 12 months). Males can be whole or castrated.
Overly fat kids are discriminated against. Optimum live weight is about 60 lbs
but weaned kids from 45 - 120 lbs. are accepted by different buyers.
Id al Fitr - The Festival of the Breaking of the Ramadan Fast
November 14, 2005
November 3, 2005
Oct 24, 2006
Type of goat wanted - same as for Ramadan.
Id al Adha - The Festival of Sacrifice
January 21-24, 2005
January 10-13, 2006
Type of goat wanted - Prefer yearlings (i.e. animals with
one set of adult teeth) that are blemish free. Large kids 60 - 100 lbs also in
demand. Animals with broken horns, open wounds, torn ears or physical
unsoundness generally do not meet the criteria. In some cases, castrated
animals with docked tails are frowned upon.
Other holidays when goat meat is commonly consumed include
Christmas, the July 4th weekend, and the numerous Caribbean holidays in August
- Carnival, Carifest, Jamaican Independence Day, etc.
The Christmas market is for milk fed kids and lambs. These
young animals are rare, because they must be produced by out-of-season breeding
in May for October births. Kids and lambs as light as 18 lbs may be readily
accepted.
Goats for July 4th weekend are animals suitable for
barbecue, generally cabrito kids or young bucks, does, and wethers with 1 or no
sets of adult teeth.
Optimal goats for the Caribbean holidays are young, smelly
60-80 lb bucks. However, older animals of all sexes are often in demand and
customers may prefer to buy them rather than pay the extra price for prime
young bucks.
The Chinese market for goat according to Frank Pinkerton,
PhD, is "limited to the six colder months. The preferred weight range is
60 to 80 pounds live, and goats in good health are required."
The Hispanic market for goat is for 20 to 35 lb live weight
milk-fed kids for cabrito, and larger animals for seco de chivo and can be
especially strong in some regions during Cinco de Mayo (May 5th).
More information on popular holidays is available on the web
at http://www.interfaithcalendar.org
Cull does and bucks are also in demand for the curried goat
market and for prison contracts.
Source: NE Sheep
& Goat Marketing Program web site-http://www.sheepgoatmarketing.org/sgm/education/ethnicholidays.htm
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