Hungry Goats Improve Habitat for Native Species

The following is from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University:

MAXWELL, Iowa — At the Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt in Polk County, researchers have developed a novel tool for restoring biodiversity to a landscape choked by invasive species: Set loose a herd of hungry goats.
The project began in 2008 when the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture awarded a competitive grant to Iowa Heartland Resource Conservation and Development to study the benefits of incorporating livestock onto conservation lands. By dining on unwanted buckthorn, goats helped restore a rare swamp white oak savannah and created habitat for a wide array of native species, including Blanding’s turtles, listed as threatened in Iowa.
Loren Lown, natural resource specialist for the Polk County Conservation Board, leads the project. Lown asked Deb and Eric Finch of State Center, Iowa, to let their herd of 30-plus goats browse at Chichaqua Bottoms, a 7,300-acre greenbelt along the Skunk River. The partnership allowed the Finches to raise healthy goats and rest their home pastures while Lown cleaned up the ecosystem.

The goats, rotated through a 10-acre area divided into three paddocks, munched on invasive buckthorn and other unwanted plants. Goats prefer to eat twigs, leaves and woody species first, leaving the herbaceous layer alone. Lown described them as “little buckthorn bombs.”

With the buckthorn gone, native plants begin to flourish again. Sedges and wildflowers appeared in formerly bare stretches of soil. The newly restored landscape supports a rare population of Blanding’s turtles, indicating the presence of diverse wetland habitat. Recently a healthy, six-year-old turtle was found near the area where the goats browsed. Lown also noted other uncommon species in the area, such as the Graham’s crayfish snake and Henslow’s sparrow.

“We’re getting a lot of use by animals that like the more open woodland,” Lown said. “The diversity of the vegetation at the ground level has definitely increased. Prior to having the goats in there, the mid-story invasive species had shaded out almost everything on the ground floor.”

“The bird life is phenomenal,” he added. “We have over 200 species of birds recorded at Chichaqua. We’re doing something right for these species.”

People have used Chichaqua Bottoms for a long time, not always for the best. Historic logging for railroad timber left only a few old oaks and agricultural fields replaced the prairies. But human land use can also provide disturbances that aid restoration efforts, as the project demonstrated. “Grazing and browsing were part of our natural ecosystem, so you would expect the ecosystem to respond in a positive way,” Lown explained.

While goat browsing has helped restore the oak savannah, it’s not a cure-all. Lown emphasized the need to manage the landscape with multiple kinds of disturbances—browsing, grazing, mowing and fire—to give the native species a fighting chance. For example, some areas where goats knocked back buckthorn are now dominated by another exotic species, reed canary grass. Carefully timed controlled burns can help keep reed canary grass at bay.

“We used to just talk about prescribed fire,” Lown said. “Now we speak about prescribed disturbance…. If you have a diverse disturbance regiment, then you get diverse plants and wildlife.”

This project also studied the effects of cattle grazing on reconstructed prairie. Two scientists from Drake University, Keith Summerville and Tom Rosberg, are currently collecting and analyzing data from the project. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa State University Extension, Iowa Audubon Society, Iowa Prairie Network, Southern Iowa Forage and Livestock Committee, and the Iowa Forage and Grassland Council.
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Iowa State University/209 Curtiss Hall
Ames, IA 50011-1050

http://www.leopold.iastate.edu

Get Your Goat On!

on Feb 05 in Industry News

By KATY MCLAUGHLIN

James Ransom for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Karen Evans, Prop Styling by DSMYEAR OF THE GOAT | Scott Conant’s Moist-Roasted Capretto with Spike Mendelsohn’s Date Sauce on the side.

After years of celebrating boutique meats such as Berkshire pork and heritage turkey, chefs have fallen hard for another protein. Goat has been embraced everywhere from sustainability-focused restaurants like Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and Blue Hill in New York to “Top Chef” winner Stephanie Izard’s Chicago spot Girl and the Goat. The meat has become so popular among chefs that many now complain about not being able to source enough of it.

A mainstay in Jamaican, Mexican and Arab cuisine, goat can seem like the ultimate mystery meat for American home cooks. For all our love of goat cheese and our growing interest in goat yogurt and butter, we still think of goats as cute little horned creatures with stubborn personalities. It’s just not part of our food culture.

Katy McLaughlin on Lunch Break has a home cook’s guide to buying, prepping and cooking goat, the meat of the moment.

Anyone who loves red meat but has become bored with beef and lamb would be remiss not to give goat a try. It is healthy, hearty meat, with a third fewer calories than beef and half the saturated fat of chicken. It is also delicious, with a flavor often described as being close to veal and lamb. “It’s like a cross between dark-meat turkey and pork,” said Mark Scarbrough, co-author of the cookbook “Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese,” which came out last year. “It’s more savory and has a richness and deep complexity.”

Given its firm texture, goat is particularly wonderful when cooked in a moist-roasting style, where it softens and infuses the pan juices with its robust taste.

If the name of the meat is just too “Three Billy Goats Gruff” for you, call it “capretto” (Italian for “kid”), like chef Scott Conant does at his five Scarpetta restaurants, where he serves it whenever he can find a good supply of extra-tender, young goat.

Rancher Bill Niman, who started Niman Ranch, a boutique meat company with which he’s no longer involved, said that goat is not only fantastic tasting, but a great environmental choice because goats thrive on pasture that cows don’t like—”so it’s complementary to cattle ranching.”

Very young, very tender goat lends itself to pretty much any preparation that would suit beef or lamb. Steven Rojas at Chez Papa Resto in San Francisco makes a silken “pancetta” from goat meat. He serves it thinly sliced over arugula and hazelnuts. Girl and the Goat’s menu features an array of goat preparations, among them mousse, belly, carpaccio, smoked goat and roast leg.

“Very young, very tender goat lends itself to pretty much any preparation that would suit beef or lamb. ”

If you want to cook goat at home, the first challenge is sourcing the meat. Whole Foods carries young goat in the Atlanta, North Carolina, San Francisco Bay and Washington, D.C., areas and plans to expand to more regions by the end of the summer. If you’re lucky, you’ll find the meat at a local farm or farmers’ market, or you’ll locate a butcher who can special-order it for you. It can also be found online through some boutique meat sellers, though at a steep premium. Most big cities also stock goat meat in ethnic grocery stores, such as halal, Mexican, Indian and Greek markets.

Paul Canales began working with goat in 1999 while chef at Oakland’s Oliveto. In the early years, he sometimes landed older and tougher animals, he said, though later he began getting excellent meat from small-scale local farms. Now that he is “a civilian,” (Mr. Canales is currently setting up his own restaurant), he buys goat for his family from a halal market in Oakland. “They have amazing goat, and it’s like $5 a pound,” Mr. Canales said. He injects the leg with a red-wine-and-honey marinade and roasts it, makes medallions out of the leg and sautés them, and also moist-roasts goat shoulders.

Spike Mendelsohn, the chef behind Washington, D.C., restaurants Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza, said he used to buy goat from Greek butcher shops in Queens, when he lived in New York. His Greek family has a long tradition of spit-roasting marinated goat leg. He likes to make stock from the bones.

There is, however, a complication with buying goat in ethnic grocery stores: You need to ask the right questions. Just over 40% of U.S. goats are raised specifically for their meat, according to the Department of Agriculture. Another 10% percent are dairy goats. The best-tasting breeds that are typically bred for meat are Boer, Spanish and Kiko, said Mr. Niman, the rancher. The remaining half of the country’s goats, which are bred and raised for other purposes, including work as brush-clearers, can end up behind the butcher glass.

Goats bred for milk or their janitorial talents may be slaughtered when they’re older, which yields meat that can be tough and gamey.

If you can’t locate the platonic ideal of goat meat, you can “tame” stronger-flavored cuts with a long bath in wine, olive oil and aromatics, plus a little salt, Mr. Canales said. He’ll leave a gamey piece of goat in this brew for about five days, allowing natural enzymatic action to tenderize the meat, while the marinade keeps bad bacteria at bay. The next step is to subject the meat to a long, slow cooking process.

The last important factor to cooking goat is maintaining the right mindset. “Instead of trying to hide it, you really want to celebrate the flavor,” Ms. Izard said.

BUYING GOAT AT A GLANCE

To get the best meat, here are the questions to ask your butcher.

1. What breed of goat is this? You want to hear Boer, Spanish, Kiko, Savanna or a cross between them. Failing that, you want to hear that the animal was raised for meat.

2. How old was this animal? You want to buy goat that is no older than a year; some chefs use nine months as the cut-off. In Latin American markets, the term for young goat is “cabrito.”

3. How much did this animal weigh? Less than 60 pounds is ideal.

4. What kind of animal was this? A kid, wether or doeling is good. A nanny or billy goat—also called a buck—means it could be tough and gamey.

Scott Conant’s Moist-Roasted Capretto

Total Time: 2½ hours, plus one day marinating; Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 whole garlic cloves

5 sprigs fresh rosemary

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1 baby goat leg and shoulder, about 5 pounds

Kosher salt, to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

6-8 cups chicken broth

What To Do

1. Fill a large, sealable plastic bag with olive oil, 6 garlic cloves, 3 rosemary sprigs, red pepper flakes and goat. Press out all the air, seal, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

2. The next day, brush marinade off meat. Lightly season meat with salt and pepper.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a roasting pan to very hot, add vegetable oil and meat, browning well on each side. Toward the end of the browning process, add remaining rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves. Add stock and allow to warm for a few minutes over high heat.

4. Place pan in the oven and cook, uncovered, for about 2 hours, periodically turning meat and basting with the liquid. The liquid should reduce and caramelize on the skin of the goat.

5. Remove from oven. Cool slightly. Remove the bones and cartilage from the meat and discard. Cut the meat into bite-size pieces. Strain sauce over the meat and serve.

Variation for Young Goat

If you can’t find baby goat, use the 4-pound leg of a goat a year or younger and make these adjustments.

-Increase the liquid to 12 cups.

-Decrease cooking temperature to 325 degrees.

-Cook for 2-2½ hours, until internal temperature is 155 to 160 degrees.

-While the meat rests, reduce the sauce by half.

Variation for Older Goat

If you can’t find the tiniest baby goat, you can still make delicious dishes with the leg of a goat aged one year or younger. Start a few days in advance of making your recipe with this variation of a game marinade from Paul Canales, longtime chef at Oliveto in Oakland who is now working on opening his own restaurant. It allows enzymatic action to tenderize the meat.

Ingredients

1 onion, sliced

1 carrot, sliced

1 celery rib, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

2 bay leaves

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

¼ cup water

1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

¼ cup Champagne vinegar

1 cup white wine

1 leg of goat, 4 to 5 pounds

What To Do

1. Place all of the ingredients except the vinegar, wine and goat into a small sauce pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and add the vinegar and the wine. Allow marinade to cool completely.

2. When cool, pour marinade in a non-reactive dish and add the goat leg. Roll the leg in the marinade until well coated, cover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator. Marinade for at least 48 hours or up to five days.

3. Dry the leg well and proceed with your recipe.

Spike Mendelsohn’s Date Sauce

Mr. Mendelsohn spent his childhood vacations in Greece, where his family roasted whole goats. The slightly gamey flavor of goat is beautifully offset by this date sauce, which is sweet, spicy and “full palate” enough to stand up to the meat, Mr. Mendelsohn says.

Ingredients

2 cups dates

2 teaspoons olive oil

¼ cup chopped fresh thyme

1 tablespoon butter

½ shallot, roughly chopped

½ garlic clove, sliced

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, the older the better

1 cup red wine

½ cup goat or chicken stock

Salt and pepper, to taste

What To Do

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss 1 cup dates with oil and thyme and roast for 10 minutes.

2. Melt butter in a wide saucepan. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until soft. Add cinnamon and roasted dates and toss. Lower heat to medium and add balsamic vinegar, then add wine and stock and cook at medium heat for about 15 minutes, until liquid is reduced by half.

3. Remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature and then purée in a blender or food processor. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

4. Chop reserved dates and add to finished sauce.

Write to Katy McLaughlin at katy.mclaughlin@wsj.com

Link to USDA Market Reports

on Feb 05 in USDA Market Reports

This USDA website provides links to Goat Market reports and transportation data on a weekly or other frequency basis. There are also other market-related links that might be of interest.
Go Here for USDA Link

NSIIC Board Announces Public Forum

on Dec 15 in Industry News

The National Sheep Industry Improvement Center Board (NSIIC) is planning to meet at the American Sheep Industry/National Lamb Feeders Association Convention in Scottsdale. That convention is to be held from January 24-28, 2012 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, 7200 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, Arizona 85253. The NSIIC Meeting will be held on Wednesday the 25^th from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The Board would like to dedicate a portion of the meeting to a public forum in order to get input from attendees as to the priorities for funding grants in the future. During the last round of grants the major organizations provided the suggestions as to which areas of funding should be the highest priority.

These included:

1. Strengthen and improve long-term sustainability of the goat and/or lamb and wool industry’s infrastructure by increasing production numbers.

2. Provide integration of performance/production data from sources that can help enhance the National Sheep Improvement Program.

3. Provide leadership training and education to producers and packers within the sheep and goat industries.

4. Enhance sheep and/or goat production by improving the infrastructure of the U.S. sheep and goat industries through assistance to all segments of the industry to address sustainable production and marketing of sheep and goat milk, meat, fiber and related services such as grazing for fire management and pasture improvements.

5. Promote lamb and meat goat marketing through an organized method that can measure tangible results.

6. Enhance the sheep and goat industries by coordinating information exchange and seeking mutual understanding and marketing within the international industry community.

Individual suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Larger Organizations are requested to post this information on their web site.

The Open forum will be from 2:00 – 3:00 pm in the room La Valencia B. Please make an effort to provide feedback to the NSIIC so that they can provide grants in the most needed areas of the industry.

USDA Blog Features Grass-Fed Goats!

on Oct 26 in Industry News

USDA is prominently featuring goats on their website, in an article that discusses the diversity of farm markets!

http://blogs.usda.gov/2011/10/21/farmers-market-promotion-program-supports-diverse-needs-in-upper-midwest-states/

APHIS Small Scale U.S. Goat Operations Report Available

on Aug 14 in Industry News

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has published the third report from the Small-scale Operations Initiative: Small-scale U.S. Goat Operations. This initiative was implemented to investigate factors that set small-scale livestock operations apart from larger operations in the United States.

Here are a few highlights from the report:

· Goats are important producers of meat, milk, fiber, and other products. However, goats are also raised or kept for a wider range of uses, such as brush control, livestock shows, packing, and as lively companions. About 4 of 10 small-scale goat operations (42.4 percent) focused primarily on meat production.

· Many goat producers are relatively new to the business, particularly goat meat producers and producers with operations that have a production focus other than meat, fiber, or dairy.

The report is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/nahms/goats/index.shtml

The American Goat Federation welcomes your thoughts and comments on this report. Please visit our Facebook page to give feedback to the Board of Directors!

Documents on Animal Traceability Available

on Aug 10 in Legislative

AGF President Tom Boyer participated in a conference call today on the proposed rules on animal traceability. AGF welcomes comments from members and goat producers. Please give us your feedback on our Facebook page!

USDA Seeks Comments on Animal Disease Traceability Rule

http://usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2011/08/0343.xml&contentidonly=true

Proposed Rule on Traceability for Livestock Moving Interstate

http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-20281_PI.pdf

General Questions and Answers: Animal Disease Traceability Proposed Rule

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2011/08/pdf/QAtraceabil.VS.pdf

Questions and Answers for Producers of Different Species Groups

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/traceability/materials.shtml

Summary of Traceability Economic Analysis

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2011/08/pdf/Traceability%20Summary%20of%20Economic%20Analysis.pdf

AGF joins ASI for Lobbying Trip to Washington

on Jul 25 in Legislative

During the first week of May, President Tom Boyer of Utah and Katherine Harrison of Ohio joined representatives from the American Sheep Industry for an exciting lobbying trip to Washington DC! Along with representatives from numerous other states, Tom & Katherine worked to promote the interests of the small ruminant industry through educating governmental leaders. The trip officially kicked off on Monday with dinner at the New Zealand Embassy. The Embassy hosted a wonderful lamb dinner with delicious New Zealand wines. The Ambassador gave a very well-received after-dinner speech, focusing on the common ties between goatherds & shepherds on both continents. It was a convivial start to a successful week of promoting agriculture!

Tuesday morning started bright and early at the United States Department of Agriculture headquarters. Several USDA agencies – including FSA, APHIS, AMS, Foreign Ag Service, and the National Forest Service – sent representatives to brief the goat & sheep industry. Hearing the concerns of farmers & ranchers from other states, provided Tom & Katherine with more knowledge of the impact of federal policies on our industry. Legislative meetings with Members of Congress and their aides began on Tuesday afternoon and kept Tom & Katherine busy all through Wednesday.

Tom & Katherine worked to tailor their message to show each Member of Congress how the goat industry impacts their district – whether rural or urban! As Katherine said, “One of most positive meetings for the Ohio delegation was with Dedan Bruner of Congresswoman Marcia Fudge’s office. Congresswoman Fudge represents Ohio’s 11^th district in Cleveland, and she is a member of the House Ag Committee because so many of her constituents receive food stamps. Bruner was receptive to our message and was especially interested in learning that individuals receiving federal assistance for food are able to purchase fresh goat meat to provide their families with high quality protein.”

Tom & Katherine stressed during the legislative meetings that now is a great time to be in the goat industry thanks to the growing demand for goat meat from ethnic populations. There is an opportunity for job creation as many individuals want to become involved in goat or sheep production. In order to recruit more people into small ruminant production to meet the growing demand, several key items are needed. It is important to continue striving for the eradication of scrapie to promote the import market. Livestock producers must be allowed to utilize available – and approved – means for predator control so that kid crops are not decimated. Finally, it is vital to ensure that livestock production in the Western United States is allowed to continue on federal lands. The goat & sheep industry is such that if production diminishes there, the infrastructure for the entire industry will be affected.

On Wednesday night, the American Sheep Industry celebrated a successful lobbying trip with a barbeque overlooking the Potomac River. A brief rainstorm created the perfect scenario for the guests at the boat club to enjoy a brilliant rainbow shining over the river. It was an apt metaphor for the goat industry: there are definite storms to weather, but the industry has a bright future! Katherine stated that, “We are so fortunate in Ohio to have the potential to grow our industry. This lobbying trip truly opened our eyes to the variety of struggles that livestock producers face throughout our country. It is crucially important that we support one another, so that we can capitalize on the potential to grow goat and sheep numbers throughout America.”

Report from AGF President Tom Boyer on ARS/NIFA Conference

on Jul 25 in Industry News, Newsletter

Summary of ARS/NIFA Stakeholder Meeting

Baltimore, MD

March 28-30, 2011

The meeting included three stakeholder groups, Scientists, Universities and Producers. The producer group was the smallest of the three. The keynote speeches were based on the recent history and present situation of both ARS and NIFA. As you might guess, animal agriculture receives only a small portion of the total dollars [20%] versus the plant sector which receives 80%.

The introductory session included warnings of the dire economic situation and shrinking budgets for agricultural research and grants. Thus priorities will be required to allot the funds available. Priorities will include Biofuels, Climate Change, Childhood Obesity, Food Safety & Education for Frontline Production. Strategies will include New Products, Enhancement of Productivity and Health, Feed Efficiency, Greenhouse Emissions, Market Performance & Minority Producers including Women. Growing fields in agriculture include Veterinary Entomology [Insects and Ticks etc.], Vaccine Development, Foreign Animal Disease Control, Nutrient Utilization and Animal Informatics. There is a disconnect between seed stock and commercial sectors.

The first breakout session resulted in both Sheep and Goats being in one group for initial discussions regarding industry assessment of needs and direction for the future. The sheep portion of the meeting was under the direction of Paul Rodgers and the goat section was under the direction of Sandra Solaiman. I started the discussion with my thoughts regarding the need for Genomic research, as I see that as being the major tool to advance the industry forward in a major way. Other topics included the need for research on the digestive processes and functions about which very little is currently known. The goat group was then split off from the sheep into another room where we continued our discussions. There were only 4 of us in the goat group, Gary Newton from Prairie View A&M in Texas, an ARS researcher from Washington DC, the group leader Dr Souilman and me. Again we started with the need for Genomic Research in Goats as very little has been done either nationally or internationally. Our next topic was the need to evaluate our industry including

Production Systems – Sustainable Production Systems including Targeted Grazing, Co-grazing, Natural and Organic Production and Natural Resource Utilization and Improvement, Genomics to Phenomics, Domestic versus International Production Systems
Marketing Channels and Processes – Direct Marketing, Food Safety,
Transportation
Animal Well Being
Housing and Handling Systems

These ideas were recorded and I made the presentation to the group. There was consensus that AGF should begin planning and sponsor a National Goat meeting in 2012.

The second breakout sessions then began and I chose to attend the Forage Session. Where the major points of future direction centered on:

Digestive Processes and Capabilities of Plant utilization – Microbial Host Interaction in Digestion
Increasing Plant utilization and palatability – Delayed Maturity of Plants is needed – Phenology of Plants to keep them in the vegetative state and improve plant persistence.
Grazing Strategies for maximum plant utilization – Rangeland Ecology
Research of animal genetics for complete finishing on forage

The third breakout session I attended was on Genomics. I was most anxious to attend this session as I desired to know of the current status of this research and potential future contributions to the animal industry. It was a rather discouraging session as I learned that while cattle and pigs are now genetically mapped and the sheep is in the process, There is not a viable way to utilize the genetic information as there is not a data base large enough to store and provide access to the tremendous amount of information needed to implement the genetic tools into management. Further, there is very little programming that has been done to solicit the genetic information from the data base. After lengthy discussions, I asked what I could tell US Goat Producers to expect in the near future regarding Genomic Research… the answer was probably not a great deal. The one piece of good news is the price of genetic mapping is coming down in a major way which will likely result in the goat getting mapped at some point in the near future. As the software and data bases are developed, it is likely the goat industry will benefit from the pioneering work the other species are now doing and the work that has been going on in the plant world for the past decade. Again the downside is that both Sheep and Goats will not benefit from genomic research as soon as desired.

I made the following contacts at this meeting:

Gary Newton – Gary is a researcher and instructor at Prairie View A&M in Texas who is very interested in AGF and being part of both our membership as well as the research team. His associate Lou Nutti is also very interested and would like to be put on the research team. Both of these individuals will be very valuable to us as we move forward. I do not have contact information on Lou yet but Gary’s contact information is Phone – 936-261-5036 and his email is grnewton@pvamu.edu.
Charlotte Kirk Bauer – Charlotte is a great contact for us at NIFA. She knew about us as Larry Hill has visited with her about our needs for grants to get us established as the industry organization. She is very helpful and offered numerous ideas for us to move forward. She will be a very valuable contact for the Grant Team as well as the Research Group. Contact information is office phone – 202-720-5280, Cell: 240-691-7320 and email is cbaeu@nifa.usda.gov.
John Weldon Finley – My first impression of this guy was that he was a scientist that kept taking us off course in our break out session. Finally, I came to understand that his vision was coming from his background as a scientist who knows what will have a chance of getting funded and that which has no chance. I came to appreciate his insight and wisdom and again he will make a valuable resource for us as we move forward. Contact Information – Phone – 301-504-5381, Email – john.finley@ars.usda.gov.
Kreg Leymaster – Kreg is a scientist at MARC center in Nebraska. I have known Kreg for several years and have found him to be a very capable and production oriented researcher. He could well be a front line person for research projects on production issues. Phone – 402-762-4172.
Michael Brown – Mike is a research scientist that does some work with sheep in Oklahoma and does work in China with sheep and goats. He will make a good resource for research projects both nationally and internationally. Phone – 405-262-5291, email mike.brown@ars.usda.gov

The American Goat Federation is gaining recognition and respect throughout the animal world as a result of you folks on the Board. You are well known and well respected and it is gratifying to both work with you and move the organization forward. There was continued talk at this meeting about the price of corn. We were continually reminded of the impact that is likely to impact animal production in the coming years from the food-fuel –animal production balancing act in grains. I reminded them, that setting aside the dairy goat milk production systems… goats do well on forage based production systems. Surely this is a theme we can use to our benefit. It is important that we utilize the resources identified in this meeting to assist us as we move forward. I am happy to make contacts and connect any of these folks to your committees. Just keep me informed as to how I can help you.

AGF President Tom Boyer Attends NIAA Conference

on Jul 25 in Newsletter

NIAA Meeting – San Antonio

Consumers’ Stake in Today’s Food Production

AGF again received good reviews from involvement in this meeting. Several new contacts were made and our involvement in a council has been requested.

The meeting centered on feeding the world safely today as well as in 2050 when we will need to double food production from 2010. Dr. Robert Southgate from Ohio State University indicated world population growth has moved from 2.5 B in 1950 to 6 B in 2000 and is projected to be 9 B in 2050. Historically food and crop production has increased faster than the population growth so there has been no problem. Now the problem starts to become more dire as there is very little increase in crop land acreage available, leaving the increases to come through production per acre. Competing for acreage currently are biofuels and crops for livestock and human consumption. Water will become a major limiting factor in production increases.

The Sheep and Goat Session included presentations from Kirk Braedon, Angelo State University on the current lamb industry and lamb consumption. Lamb will need to be made available in table ready packaging to increase per capita consumption and utilization of lower quality cuts is imperative to provide maximum consumption in main stream America. The new consumer is not averse to Lamb as they have grown up in a home where lamb was not consumed and they are looking for a new red meat. Both Lamb and Goat provide good opportunity for this consumer. Currently 37% of lamb consumed is channeled through the Food Service Industry. Other presentations included Food Safety by Loree Branham of Angelo State University regarding the importance of keeping lamb and goat meat safe and free from food borne illness problems associated with some other food products. Dr. Joe Garrett talked about the Scrapie Program and the good progress that has been made in reducing the disease. The current plan is for complete eradication in 2017. The Small Ruminant Business meeting followed where we talked about the critical need to keep Scrapie Disease funding in place through 2017 in order to not lose the gains resulting from the millions of dollars of research and program administration expended to this point. A resolution was passed reflecting this serious need.

I received a call from Allan Huddleston with APHIS right after this meeting indicating the recent budget resolution will eliminate a portion of the Scrapie Budget resulting in the need to either eliminate the Complete Monitored Level of the Volunteer Program or the movement of the annual inspection from the Federal and State levels to the private level with the producer covering this annual expense. It may well be that both will result as the budget cuts continue to be made.

Other presentations included Animal Welfare and Carbon Footprint issues for the future. Presenters included Charlie Arnot with the Center for Food Integrity [Great Presenter], Rod Smith from Feedstuffs Magazine [Investigations of HSUS Investigations – another great presentation] and Carrie Lee [Anchor FiOS1 News, Long Island, New York] She gave a very interesting presentation including interviews with New York Consumers on the Street who have zero understanding as to where their food comes from. There were numerous other speakers and breakout sessions covering a variety of issues related to Food Safety, Animal Welfare, Emerging Diseases, Animal ID, Traceability, FMD Outbreak Potential, Elements of a Stable Food Supply.

Contacts made included Dr Lenard Bull – Len was instrumental in early efforts to start a national goat industry organization. We called an exploratory meeting a decade ago that Len hosted at the University of North Carolina. We called a second meeting in Dallas with such poor attendance that we abandoned the effort. We did not have the right folks on the team. Dr. Bull has strong interest in seeing that we are successful. Other contacts included Cindy Wolf DVM that many of you know. She is a leading sheep and goat vet in Minnesota. Travis Hoffman is a sheep producer who works at Colorado State University who has interest in assisting us where he can. Paul Rodgers is also a good advocate for both sheep and goats and related issues.

This venue is a great channel for interaction with other livestock groups and to get our message out to the animal production sector. This is a meeting we should continue to support and attend.