Raising Meat Goats - 3 Goat Characteristics Farmers Look For

Raising meat goats starts with choosing the right breed of animal for the job. Goat meat is usually highly valued for its leanness and distinctive flavor. These days, more and more people are looking into ways of incorporating such meat into their daily meals, which makes this particular market potentially profitable. Some people would argue that meat from all goat breeds taste basically the same. This may be true in one aspect. However, if you are setting up a farm and raising meat goats for a profit, it would serve you better to choose the breeds that will yield excellent and copious meat to sell - with as minimal fuss as possible.

When it comes to raising meat goats, some of the animal characteristics farmers look for are: the animals' adaptability to their environment, growth rate, litter size, reproductive rate and overall carcass value.

1) Adaptability to their environment.

The goats need to be low maintenance, and must be hardy enough to successfully thrive just about anywhere. Goats that are too fragile or those that would demand certain temperature levels (like the Angora goats and the Cashmere goats that favor colder climates) are not suitable for commercial meat production, specifically because these animals cost too much to keep.

2) Growth rate, litter size, and reproductive rate.

Monitoring the growth and reproductive rate of the animals are two of the most basic fundamental principles of raising meat goats. As a rule, commercial goat farming would need animals that could grow up very quickly, so that the reproduction rate is also on the up and up. Aside from having another generation of meat producers on your farm, you also have a higher yield in the fresh produce markets. As you might know, goat meat from younger animals is highly valued in the fresh produce markets because of their tenderness and somewhat sweet flavor. Therefore, goats that produce good litter sizes are more favorable when it comes to raising meat goats.

Meats from very young goats are usually called Cabrito and Chevron. Both of which are excellent for barbeques, broiling and stewing. Older animals' meat are usually grounded and turned into sausages, or salted and / or smoked like ham.

3) Overall carcass value.

The price of commercial goat meat is usually dependent on the value of the carcass in the market. The more common the meat source is, the more competitive the prices are. Although some meat sources are considered exotic (from goats that are not commercially produced, and therefore would demand a higher price tag,) the market for these is relative small. And having very few buyers means fewer profits too.

As such, the best goat breeds for meat production are: the South African Boer goats, West African Dwarf, Myotonic goats, Kiko, Spanish and the Brush goats.