Farming Meat Goats

Book excerpt: Goat meat is growing in popularity in Australia and is also an important export industry. It offers many opportunities for large- and small-scale farmers who need to diversify or seek alternative enterprises. Farming Meat Goats provides producers with comprehensive and practical information on all aspects of the goat meat industry. It covers selecting and preparing a property, choosing breeding stock, breeding, health care and nutrition, drought feeding, condition scoring and marketing. This second edition of Farming Meat Goats has been updated throughout and contains new information about the National Livestock Identification System, current regulations for ovine Johne's disease and animal welfare during transportation, and information about marketing. It will allow farmers to produce animals to specification for targeted markets in Australia and overseas including: butchers; supermarkets; restaurants; on-farm live sales; sales to abattoirs that specialise in Halal kills; and breeding stock either as replacements or for improved herd genetics.