The Feasibility of Meat Goats in Minnesota
Summary Report

Product

Meat Breeds
Boer
Kiko
Nubian (Anglo-Nubian)
Myotonic
Spanish
Ethnic Consumer Goat Meat Survey

Understanding the flow of goat meat from producer to consumer requires an understanding of the live animals (breed and breed characteristics) as well as qualities and characteristics of the finished product - goat meat.

Meat Breeds.  With the possible exception of the South African Boer goat and the New Zealand Kiko goat, there are no well defined meat goat breeds in the United States.  Several breeds (although not purposefully bred for meat) have been used for meat production.  These breeds include the Spanish, Myotonic, and the Nubian (Luginbuhl 1998).  Selected characteristics for each of these breeds, as well as the characteristics for the Boer and Kiko goat, are presented below.

Boer.  The present day Boer breed was developed in the early 1900's when African ranchers began breeding goats for the specific purpose of meat production.  Today there are approximately 5 million Boer goats in Africa, of which only 1.6 million are of the improved type.  The Boer goat has a good conformation with high growth and fertility rates.  Since 1970, the Boer goat (other names include the Africander and South African Common Goat) has been incorporated into the National Mutton Sheep and Goat Performance Testing Scheme, which makes it the only known goat breed routinely involved in a performance test for meat production.  In the late 1980's, Boer goats were imported into Australia and New Zealand.  In 1993, the breed was imported into the United States from Australia and New Zealand.

The Boer goat doe is a low maintenance animal that has sufficient milk to raise a kid that is early maturing.  A mature buck weighs between 240 and 300 pounds and a mature doe weighs between 200 and 225 pounds.  Performance records indicate that some goats are capable of average daily gains of over 0.44 pounds per day in feedlot conditions, with average performance between 0.3 and 0.4 pounds per day.   The breed is prolific, with kidding rates of 200 percent common.  The Boer goat has an extended breeding season making three kiddings every two years possible (Oklahoma State University 1996, Gipson 1999, Luginbuhl 1998).

Kiko.   The Kiko breed was developed by crossing feral does (relatively small goats which developed from escaped domestic goats in New Zealand with does weighing between 25 and 55 pounds and bucks less than 88 pounds) with Nubian, Toggenberg, and Saanen bucks.  The Kiko herd was closed in 1986 (all breeding animals had to be selected from within the herd).  Kiko goats (weighing roughly twice the weight of feral goats) are capable of high levels of meat production and can produce well under a variety of conditions (Bratten 1999, Oklahoma State University 1996).



 

Nubian (Anglo-Nubian).  Originally imported from Nubia Africa, the Nubian breed was developed by crossing British goats with bucks of African and Indian origin.  The breed is considered an all-purpose breed.  The does are not heavy milk producers but have milk with higher than average butter fat content.  In addition, the Nubian breeding season is much longer than that of the Swiss breeds, making it possible to milk the doe year-round.

Any solid or part-colored goat is permitted in the breed, but the most common colors are black, red and tan.  Bucks should weigh at least 175 pounds and mature does should weigh at least 135 pounds (Oklahoma State University 1996).




 

Myotonic.   The Myotonic goats are often referred to as Wooden Leg, "stiff-leg," or Tennessee fainting goats.  The stiff-leg name is derived from the fact that the goats, when excited or frightened, "lock up" and often fall over and lie very stiff (faint) for a few seconds (normally only ten to twenty seconds).

The breed is one of the few indigenous breeds to the United States.  Two strains of the Myotonic breed exist (one in Tennessee and the Eastern United States and the other in Texas).  While the exact circumstances of the development of the breed are unknown, it is widely accepted that the breed originated in Tennessee.  It is believed that all fainting goats in the U.S. can trace their origin back to four goats imported to Tennessee from Nova Scotia by a man named John Tinsley.

The Myotonic goat is heavy rumped and deep chested.  While multi-color animals are not uncommon, the most common colors are black and white.  The goat is an aseasonal breeder.  Many breeders have noted that the breed has the capability to produce two kiddings a year.  They have been discovered as an excellent crossbreed stock for the Boer goat.  Because the fainting quality comes from a recessive gene, the fainting is not usually expressed in crossbred animals (Gipson 1999, Luginbuhl 1998, Oklahoma State University 1996).

Spanish.  The Spanish or brush goat breed has developed through natural section from goats first placed in Oklahoma and Texas in the early 1540s by Spanish explorers.  The size of the goat varies according to climate, terrain, and available breeding stock.  Mature Spanish or brush bucks in Georgia weigh between 80 and 120 pounds.  Mature Texas bucks can weigh up to 200 pounds and does up to 130 pounds.  Body shape, hair and color are not consistent among goats of the breed.  The term Spanish or brush goat has been used to denote goats that do not fit into any breed description.  Historically, the Spanish goat has been kept primarily to help clear brush and other undesirable plants from pasture and range land (Gipson 1999, Luginbuhl 1998, Oklahoma State University 1996).

Ethnic Consumer Goat Meat Survey.  Understanding consumer wants or desires is a key to insuring a profitable business.  Information concerning consumer desired goat meat traits has been obtained from published secondary sources.  Additional information has been obtained with surveys of ethnic consumers, interviews with brokers, retail store owners, and social service professionals.  Appendix 1 contains information from New Zealand describing the types of products that they attempt to deliver to international markets (M. Miller 1999, Pinkerton 1995).  Primary research has suggested specific consumer-desired qualities including:  price, freshness, leanness, and ritual conformance.  Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10 depict some of the primary information obtained detailing these desired qualities.  The figures depict results of a survey of 121 Somali consumers.

   Link to Figure 7 - Importance of Price
   Link to Figure 8 - Importance of Freshness
   Link to Figure 9 - Importance of Religious Ritual
   Link to Figure 10 - Importance of Lean Meat

©2001 Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.
Disclaimer
Created by AURI Web Team.  Comments to Webmaster.
For further information e-mail Dan Lemke, Communications Director or call (507) 835-8990.
Top of Page