"MEAT"ING THE DEMAND

Here at the AMGA one of the most often asked questions we receive is "where can I find goat meat (chevon)?" "I never see it in my grocers meat case", is a commonly made statement. In answer to the above question my standard reply is that you aren’t going to see it in the major chain stores anytime soon. It seems that unless you visit one of the "mom & pop" groceries in areas with a heavy ethnic population, goat meat will be absent from the grocer’s meat case.

Lots of times the next question is why don’t we get some goat into more of the major chain stores? In answer to this question the reply is that the major chains need a guarantee of a consistent product year round. The somewhat seasonality in breeding of goats negates the year round availability of our product, chevon.

In mid to late summer every year the market becomes somewhat glutted, lowering prices received by producers. Yet in traditional goat raising areas this is when the availability is greatest; hence the lower price paid per pound. Once this large slug of goats hits the market, supply dwindles through the remainder of the year and prices paid begin an upward trend, normally starting around October of every year.

The upward trend in prices historically continues until its annual peak which is normally in the months of February and March. This peak being tied not only to the low availability, but also to the varying ethnic holidays which fall within this particular time frame.

One wonders why more producers don’t take advantage of this yearly occurrence and breed their animals to birth accordingly; to have market weight animals for sale at that peak price time. The only answer I can offer to this question is that farmers/ranchers are severely traditional in their management practices. In other words we do things a certain way because that’s the way dad and granddad did it. Possibly we don’t know why they did it that way, but if it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for us.

Without a consistent, year round supply of product the mindset of corporate America precludes promotion and purchase of a product such as chevon with no guarantee of availability, price or product consistency. Perhaps the influx of new producers into the industry who aren’t bound by such traditional mindsets as are the older producers of our product with help alleviate this problem in two ways.

First they seem as a whole more willing to breed "out of season" in order to take advantage of market peaks. The second reason is that most of them have gotten into the goat business since the introduction of Boer goats in 1993.

While the Boers have helped spur an increased interest and superior muscling characteristics in our herds, at the same time they have also sparked an increase in goat related research projects. This has in turn led to an increase in quality of stock, both breeding and slaughter, in our domestic goat herds. And this is regardless of a person’s choice of breed raised, whether it be Spanish, Kiko, Tennessee Meat Goat, Boer, or any crosses of the above breeds. As such all of us, whether we raise Boers or not, have enjoyed lots of trickle down benefits since their initial importation. So whether you like them or not they have certainly served as an important catalyst for our industry’s development. Unfortunately the current trend in that industry seems to be towards producing "pretty" show animals and their true value as meat goats seems to be overlooked by many breeders.

The market demand for goat meat here in the U.S. is not however being overlooked by our competitors across the pond. Since 1998, when goat meat imports were approximately 6 million pounds, the amount of chevon imported into the United States has seen a steady year-by-year increase. In 2001 approximately 12.6 million pounds of goat meat hit our shores. The majority of this imported meat, around 98% of it, is currently coming from the countries of Australia and New Zealand. In 2001 here in the U.S. around 24 million pounds of goat meat was produced and consumed along with what we imported. Every single ounce of this for the main consumer base here in the U.S. which is namely your various ethnic groups. This is another reason mainstream Americans remain unable to find any goat (chevon) at their grocers. Were we meeting or exceeding this demand with current imports and domestic production there might possibly be enough over-flow to supply some to the chain stores.

This currently isn’t the case though the vacuum that exists sucks up all the goats we are able to supply it. These same ethnic consumers aren’t necessarily concerned with heavier carcasses or breed. They want around a 30-35 pound carcass maximum which has adequate meat on it. They don’t care what breed the goat was, or whether it was pretty, or if it was from "South African" stock or not. In sensory taste test in which the testers were, for lack of a better term, experienced goat eaters, differences were negligible. This is at least in regards to sex or breed from which the meat was collected for the survey. There were some noted differences in flavor and toughness in aged animals meat compared to the younger ones, but that was about all.

Another often asked question is why not form a marketing cooperative for our animals? The main downfall I have seen in cooperatives is lack of producer commitment. While it’s a noble idea to stick together and all sell in large enough lots to interest buyers, greed gets in the way. Old Johnny lets say has his 100 head committed to the Coop at 60 pounds and at a price of $1.05 per pound. I would bet should Fred offer him a $1.10 per pound Johnny would sell them to Fred instead of holding them. This would leave your new coop short around 100 head and probably upset the buyer you had lined up. This is another problem which will quite probably not be present with some of new goat producers. The greatest opportunity I see for marketing cooperative development lies in these new regions of goat production.

Without an already established marketing system the time is right for these producers to band together. It will be up to the individuals involved in raising the goats however to develop their own sales outlets. Whether it’s on farm sales or through a group marketing effort, these farmers who aren’t bound to a traditional market are going to be the trendsetters. This is because they will be price makers, not price takers as are most of the goat producers here in Texas.

The presence of established auctions and their attendant convenience has added to problems of cooperative marketing efforts here in Texas. As such most Texas area goat raisers just load them up, haul goats to an auction and let what will be.

In closing I’ll just say, keep your production cost down and research your marketing possibilities. We have more demand than production and $1.50 per pound live weight seems to be the upper threshold for buyers. There is still room for growth but we must remain aware of what our consumers want.