They're inefficient and slanted to the corporate farms. Hell till this year we were getting four thousand a year not to grow tobacco and never had any intention to do so. I don't see them as an absolute necessary to our food system either
Hmmm....wonder how I could work the system and get free $$$$$ for a farm 300 miles away that a buddy uses for hay.......
Sheep for meat was the thing going. The government was giving money away to get people to raise them.
People were just getting the minimum number and doing nothing with them. I don't believe they're very labor intensive.
I believe a special interest group pushed for it, so the government was pushing to create the market. I don't believe the program is still active.
There is a great market for meat goat in East Tennessee. It is more profitable than our beef. Two weeks ago we were getting 1,100 dollars for a feeder steer. It takes us 1.5 acres of land for a cow calf unit here.
Goat isn't that good imo either, but i prefer it to sheep. That and its not often you can tell someone you've got kid meat in the crock pot.
I've never had either, but I'd say most sell lambs and only mutton when a sheep is at the end of cycles. Growing ethnic populations is creating the market.
I've noticed that here, a lot more demand for goat as we've had a big influx of folks from the Balkans in the last 15 or so years.
you get over two dollars a pound at auction Plus a better hedge against your lost. If we lose that one calf, we're out 1,600 dollars. You'll have 15 kids to our one calf. You can lose a few and still be profitable. I don't know the expensive to house a goat year round, but a cow has a 500 a year expense.
