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Somebody's Cookie, a boer kid, enjoys a
bottle of goat milk. The Franks bottle feed the
kids with goat milk when there are more than
two kids born to one momma goat so the kids
have an equal chance of growing into good
quality goats. Photo by Ali Spoon
"The United States is importing $147 million in goat
meat each year," she says. "There are more people
around the world that eat goat meat than beef."
Zweede-Tucker says in her experience, raising goats has
more income potential than raising cattle because goats
take less acreage to sustain them, they reproduce in a
faster time frame and at twice the rate as cattle, and they
have multiple under-served markets.
"In terms of 1,000 pounds, you can have one cow or 10
goats, and the goats would give you an equivalent of a
$3,600 slaughter calf," says Zweede-Tucker, "because 10
goats will have 20 kids and you can get $180 per kid at
slaughter at 6 to 7 months of age and 60 pounds."
At the May 7, 2018, Sheep and Goat Sale in Billings,
20 percent of the receipts were from slaughter goats,
according to the Ag Market Service report. Slaughter kids
sold between $165.49 to $213.52 per hundredweight for
31-pound kids to 53-pound kids. Nannies brought an
average of $130.31 per animal, while bucks, or billies,
brought an average of $134.25.
