MAINE GOAT PRODUCER SURVEY RESULTS

AS OF 12/9/02

 

1. For what purpose(s) do you currently raise goats on your farm?

Milk

Meat (46)

Breeding stock (46)

Show (30)

Medical research (22)

Other reasons
  1. Would like to show meat goats at Maine Fairs
  2. Keep pasture from going back to forest
  3. Angora goats for fiber & future cross with Boer goats
  4. Pets/companions (4 answered this)
  5. Goats milk soap and fudge
  6. Educational use
  7. 1 - 3 year olds to Strategic Diagnostics as blood donors
  8. Fiber (5)
  9. 4-H project
  10. We raise to replenish ours

All our extra milk is used to feed beef calves & pigs. The whey from cheese is used for pigs & chickens or cooking. We also have a jersey milk cow. Goats are much cleaner and easy to care for. We have had goats for 30+ years.

2. When do your does kid?

3. Do you breed your does naturally or artificially?

4. At what age and weight do you typically sell your young stock (kids) for meat?

By the Age

1 week (2)

By the Pound

5. At what price per pound do you typically sell your market goats for meat?

 

6. How do you typically market your young stock?

7. How do you typically market your cull animals?

8. Have you ever sold livestock to specific ethnic groups?

9. If you answered yes to question 8, was it usually a positive experience?

10. Do you see a need for more outlets for your market goats?

11. Would you use regular special goat auctions to sell your goats

12. How far would you be willing to travel to sell through an auction?

13. If yes to 11, in what months would you have goats to sell?

14. What would you like to learn to improve your goat operation or enterprise?

  1. Marketing of dairy products (4)
  2. Meat (2)
  3. A.I. (9)
  4. Marketing (4)
  5. Info on meat breeds (1)
  6. More info on LaMancha goats (1)
  7. Nutrition (6)
  8. How best to keep does producing through the winter (1)
  9. DHI (2)
  10. soap making (2)
  11. Boer goat management (1)
  12. How to save money (1)
  13. How to build a cheese aging "cave" (1)
  14. Greenhouses as barns (1)
  15. What is needed to become a home-based cheese making facility - licenses inspections (1)
  16. Cheese making (5)
  17. Business tips for small companies (do's don'ts)
  18. Health (6)
  19. Husbandry (1)
  20. Judging for show (1)
  21. Veterinarian services (2)
  22. Where to go to sell my goats for meat (1)
  23. Quickest growth of animal - free range versus small enclosed area - muscle versus fat ratio
  24. Better understanding of feed/growth ratios and what feeds are available in bulk in Maine
  25. Federal & state grants
  26. Advertising
  27. Barns (1)
  28. Fencing (3)
  29. Pastures
  30. Parasite Control (2)
  31. Disease control (4)
  32. selling raw milk
  33. Sources of feed available
  34. Value of hay versus grain
  35. meat goat market
  36. check out other farms
  37. new ways to diversify (2)
  38. How to sell milk to coops & processors
  39. How to make more money (2)
  40. Wholesale & retail marketing
  41. Hoof trimming
  42.  Disbudding
  43. herd health management holistically
  44. Create a working group to represent the meat goat business
  45. Suppliers of 1 - 2 yr old open does or wethers for antibody production industry
  46. Methods of preparation for selling mean for religious group i.e. restrictions or methods of feeding and butchering to meet these - marketing strategies
  47. Laws about dairy operations
  48. Alternative marketing
  49.  

15. What methods of learning do you prefer?

16 Where would you like to tour and what would you like to see?

Meat goat raisers (5)

Survey by: Richard Brzozowski, Cumberland County Extension Educator