ATTRA Question of the Week

D.G.
Maryland

Answer: I am pleased to provide you with information and ideas for pricing meat goats for on-farm selling.

Although online information is scarce on the going rate for on-farm direct-marketing of slaughter-ready goats, there are good strategies for setting your own price. As explained in a guidebook from the Kansas Rural Center (www.kansasruralcenter.org/publications/DMLamb.pdf (See "pricing" on p.5)), one pricing strategy is to do a market survey in your area; another is to calculate your cost of production. For a sample goat meat enterprise budget, go to www.agmrc.org/business_development/ (Scroll down to "Business Worksheets and Calculators," and on the next page click "Enterprise Budgeting Tools." On that page, scroll down to specialty livestock, where you'll find links to meat goat enterprise budgets.) Here in the Midwest, I have heard people charging 1.25 to 1.50 per pound live weight for goat. Since carcass weight is about half the weight of the live animal, the live weight price for the buyer doubles when converted to meat.

Should you consider expanding your production and tapping into retail markets, the following are some examples of how specialty cuts of goat meat are branded and priced:

http://www.gedaliascompany.com/
http://iowahealthyedgemeats.com/
http://www.elkusa.com/Goat_meat.htm

There is a wealth of general information online about meat goat production and marketing. Here are some additional resources you might find useful:

http://www.esmgpa.org/committees/on_farm_marketing.html
http://sheepgoatmarketing.info/
http://www.sheepandgoat.com/market.html
http://www.extension.org/pages/Goat_Marketing
http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/livestock/goatmarketing.shtml
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20070401/Meat_Goat_Marketplace