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| Kentucky goat industry continues to get strong |
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| By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This year’s Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion goats chosen at the Kentucky State Fair proves what Ray Bowman has known all along; the goat industry in the state is getting stronger and stronger.
Bowman, recently named executive director of the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office (KSGDO) and a producer for the past eight years, has worked during those years as board member and past president of the Kentucky Goat Producers Assoc. in promoting the industry throughout the state.
Both champion goats came from the farms where they were born and raised. Alison Fister of Georgetown exhibited the Grand Champion goat, and Cody Jenkins of Muhlenberg County showed the Reserve Grand Champion. At the Sale of Champions on Aug. 23, Fister’s goat attracted a winning bid of $10,100, and Jenkins’ goat brought $7,500. Last year was the first time market goats had been included in the sale.
“This proves Kentucky has one of the very best goat industries in the nation, in quality as well as quantity,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said.
“I congratulate Alison and Cody for their hard work and dedication.”
“It’s exciting that we have such a quality genetic base in Kentucky,” said Bowman. “Someone looking for a market wether next year can find one close to home. We are producing champion and world-class animals right here in Kentucky.”
Bowman also said the state fair results show that Kentucky is developing a base of young breeders who are dedicated to the business and understand what it takes to produce quality goats.
“This goes hand-in-hand with what Commissioner Farmer said at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast: Kentucky’s No. 1 crop is its youth,” Bowman said.
Less than 10 years ago, Kentucky’s goat industry barely existed, but since then the number of producers has quickly multiplied along with the quality of the animals. “This is a really, really new enterprise. For Kentucky to take such a leadership role is really encou-raging. According to Marvin Shurley, president of the American Meat Goat Assoc., meat goats are still the fastest growing segment of animal agriculture in the United States, with the gain in numbers nationally being 5 percent in the first six months of 2007 compared to the first six months of 2006,” Bowman said.
“However, goat slaughter for that period was up 15 percent. Goat meat imports for the week ending July 14 totaled 58 metric tons, 44 from Australia and 14 from New Zealand.
“With stats like these, I think it’s safe to say that the demand for the product is there and that the goat industry is on pretty solid footing nationally. The future’s extremely bright for Kentucky producers as soon as the current drought is behind us.”
With the goat industry growing as it has in the past decade, the state has literally put its money where its mouth is by way of the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB), which disperses Master Settlement Agreement funds (Phase I) for agriculture diversification.
KADB presented a $184,000 grant last year to establish the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office with $318,918 going to the Goat and Sheep Diversification Program as well.
As a matter of fact, the program received more than $3.2 million between 2001-05.
But the dividends have paid off. As of last year, an estimated 5,000 Kentucky farms raise goats to the tune of 74,000 head with more than 46,000 marketed goats since 1997, a 661 percent increase, according to the 2002 Agriculture Census.
This farm news was published in the Sept. 5, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 9/5/2007 |
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