Is the Meat Goat Enterprise Profitable & Sustainable?

Meat goats sell for more money per pound than any other typical Midwestern livestock enterprise. This income is not sufficient to cover the entire cost of production in most cases. Record-keeping is such that total cost of production is not known or calculated. Without records it is difficult to determine if the meat goat enterprise is profitable or sustainable. The three greatest concerns hindering the meat goat enterprise from being a more vibrant and sustainable option are: First, producers find that long-term profitability and sustainability are difficult to maintain; the first three years seem to be the life span of many meat goat operations. Second, reliable breeding, feeding and health information is scarce or very hard to find. Third, profitable marketing opportunities are limited. Also, the doubling in feed cost has put an additional burden on meat goat producers seeking to earn a profit.

Producers have found that there are many “budgets” available for producers to ‘budget’ expenses and incomes to determine profitability. These “budgets” are not very useful, because producers have not gathered accurate information to fill in the blanks. “Accurate” information is different for every producer, so a uniform enterprise analysis program to track all income and expenses is needed. The Meat Goat Enterprise Analysis Program has been developed and utilized by five meat goat producers for the past year. This pilot record-keeping system will determine meat goat enterprise profitability and identify the common profitable benchmarks. Typical problem areas identified include high feed cost and miscellaneous expenses, low kidding percentage and market price.

Contacts:
Dennis L. DeWitt, ISU Extension Livestock Field Specialist
1600 15th Street
Spirit Lake, IA 51360-2106
dewitt@iastate.edu
712-336-3488

Tom Olsen, ISU Extension Agricultural Business Field Specialist
824 Flindt Ste 101, Box 820
Storm Lake, IA 50588
tolsen@iastate.edu
712-732-5056

Daniel Morrical, ISU Extension State Livestock Specialist
337 Kildee Hall
Ames, IA 50010
morrical@iastate.edu
515-294-2904