Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
12,000
11,070
10,166
9,653
9,551
10,000
8,463
8,000
6,982
Australia
New Zealand
Mexico
Total
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Years
Figure 1.3
Changes in the amount of goat meat imported to the U.S. Source: USDA-FAS (www.fas.
usda.gov/ustrade)
Table 1.10
The top three states for the numbers
of goats in the U.S. (2007
*
).
18 MT of goat meat was imported from Mexico in 2007
(Figure 1.3 ).
Category
Goat numbers
% of total
% of 2002
Goats Slaughtered
The number of goats slaughtered at the state and federally
inspected plants in 2007 was nearly 830,000, up 3.6-fold
from 1999. Meat goat slaughter numbers have increased
steadily since 1999 (Figure 1.4). The meat goat industry
in the U.S. is in its infancy; therefore, many on-farm
slaughters are probably not reported. One can conjecture
that for every goat reported, there are at least four
(Solaiman, 2007) that are not reported. Also 2006 was the
fi rst year that the number of goats slaughtered in state-
inspected plants was reported.
Meat goats
2,500,000
100
129
Texas
1,090,000
43.6
116
Tennessee
118,000
4.7
110
California
100,000
4.0
163
Georgia
100,000
4.0
152
Dairy goats
305,000
100
105
Wisconsin
33,000
10.8
127
California
30,000
9.8
80
Texas
25,000
8.2
111
Angora goats
210,000
100
70
Texas
150,000
71.4
65
Goat Meat Consumption
Goat meat consumption in the U.S. can be estimated based
on imported goat meat and slaughter data at nearly 1.5
million head of goats being consumed annually (2007).
This represents an increase of 150% from 2002 and a more
than 320% increase from 1999. Total goats imported were
estimated from the total weight of goat meat imported and
an average carcass weight of 14.7 kg (29.5 kg of live
weight is an average slaughter weight reported by the
USDA). Goat consumption in the U.S. has increased
steadily since 1999 and likely will continue to increase due
to current trends in population growth that promote meat
goat production (Figure 1.5). The sharp increase in the
number of slaughtered goats may refl ect the revision to
report data from the state-inspected plants that was initi-
ated in 2006.
Arizona
18,000
8.6
65
New Mexico
7,500
3.6
106
* Refl ects the 2007 USDA-NASS sample data.
$37 million, up 146% from 6,982 MT in 2002; and its price
per kilogram (kg) was up 173% from $2.11 in 2002. Based
on an average carcass weight of 14.7 kg, an estimated
718,000 goat carcasses were imported. This number of
goats imported is a potentially viable value-added enter-
prise opportunity for the goat industry and increased diver-
sifi cation of small farms in the U.S.
The main exporters of goat meat to the U.S. are
Australia and New Zealand with more than 90% of the
contribution coming from Australia. Slightly more than
