Beef cattle and longhorns likely will not be shoved aside as bulwarks of Texas’ livestock enterprises, but goat farming is getting attention as a major growth industry in the state.

Large increases in demand are coming from growing ethnic communities for goat meat; groups such as 4-H and Future Farmers of America for show animals; and people wanting the animals for pets, or to help them manage a few acres, people in the industry said.

McLennan County has an active community of breeders serving largely the show and recreational markets. Some are sold for meat, too. San Angelo and surrounding West Texas have become major centers of herding for the meat market.

Joan Compton, who runs a small goat operation in Crawford, unlocks the gate to get to her herd of 44 goats.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Shane McLellan, county agent for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in McLennan County, said the trend is increasing for goat farming in the county.

McLellan said he also is involved in the goat business and sells to the show market. A good quality billy goat can bring $3,000 or more and a nanny can bring as much as $500, he said.

Breed vs. show

Breeding animals can command considerably more than the show animals, he said.

In the meat arena, billies can bring $100 and nannies $40-$60, he said.

Boer goats, good meat producers that originated in South Africa, are dominant in the goat industry, said Frank Craddock, extension sheep and goat specialist in San Angelo.

Angora goats, which produced hair for the textile industry, were dominant until the early 1990s. Spanish goats also were common.

The Angora industry was heavily subsidized, but in 1993 the subsidies were eliminated. Federal government reports indicate the goat subsidy for Mohair, which was part of a Word War II-era wool subsidy, was considered outdated and inefficient.

Joan Compton, who runs a small goat operation in Crawford, said that the ending of the subsidies and the scarcity of people who could shear the animals, goat farming for the textile industry was becoming less palatable.

U.S. goat concerns wanted to find new ways to do its farming and spotted the Boers in South Africa that could brought to the United States for the meat market, she said.

Boers began arriving in 1995. The Boer business has developed beyond the Angora business, Craddock said.

Many Boers are interbred to carry some traits of the Spanish goats for a variety that thrives better on Texas land, which has rougher land than South Africa, Craddock said.

When subsidies were eliminated, a total of 1.2 million Angoras and around 250,000 meat goats were in Texas. Now there are fewer than 100,000 Angoras and between 1.5 million- 2 million meat goats.

Craddock said Texas is not exceptional. Goat farming is increasing in many parts of the nation, he said.

Goat meat has played a minor role in the American diet, but its consumption is increasing with the growth of Muslim and Hispanic populations, Craddock said.

Randy Huse, owner of Huse Country Meats in Malone near Hillsboro, sells meats to the wholesale and retail markets. He’s been dealing in goat meat for about four years, much of it halal meat slaughtered under religious guidelines to suit the Muslim community.

Major markets

The Dallas-Fort Worth area and Houston have become major markets for his business, he said. At one time Huse Country Meats did little business in goat meat. It is now about a quarter of its business, he said.

Compton, who has 44 goats, said she has no doubt that goat farming is on the increase in McLennan County. “Every time I go down a road, I’m finding small goat herds that weren’t there before,” she said.

Pete Warlick farms goats in Robinson, maintaining about 300 head. When Warlick goes to sales to sell goats, there’s no problem finding buyers, he said.

“We sell out every year,” he said.

The potential for U.S. producers is huge, Warlick said. Despite increases in goat raising here, much of the meat is still imported, with New Zealand and Australia being major sources.

“If it weren’t for imports, there wouldn’t be a goat left alive in the U.S. in six months,” he said.

Warlick said besides feeding people goats are used to manage pastures. Goats eat weeds, not grass, while beef cattle eat grass, he said.

Goats help weed land, which helps the grasses that feed cattle, Warlick said.

Also, by putting some goats out, a landowner may qualify for tax exemptions for agricultural use of the land.

bteeter@wacotrib.com

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