Small-scale U.S. Goat Operations

Excerpts from the report: This is the third report in a series of reports resulting from the Small-scale Operations Initiative implemented by the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) at the request of the administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The primary objective of the Small-scale Operations Initiative is to investigate factors that set small-scale operations apart from larger operations. For this report, small-scale goat operations were defined as operations with fewer than 500 goats. Within U.S. livestock agriculture, farms with fewer than 500 goats are strong contributors to total goat production. 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. One of 10 operations (10.0 percent) focused primarily on dairy production. Only 1.5 percent of operations focused primarily on fiber production, and 46.1 percent indicated that their primary production focus was “other,” i.e. goats used for brush control, pets, livestock shows, pack animals, or other uses.