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Evaluating Goats for Market Readiness Workshop – NEW

NYS Fair Meat Goat Knowledge Exams – NEW

Meat goat breeding doe project – female goats (does) can be used for raising meat goat kids rather than (or as well as) for producing milk for humans. Just like a dairy goat they require suitable housing for over-wintering and kidding but they do not need milking. However, you must find a market for their slaughter kids every year. Meat goat does often graze on pastures from May through November but may need supplementary grain, especially when pregnant or nursing.

Meat goat market kid project – market kid projects are short term projects. Goat kids (usually castrated males) are purchased in the spring when they are old enough to be separated from their mothers (weaned). This occurs when they are about 10 to 12 weeks old. You can also raise a kid from birth from your own meat goat breeding doe. Either way, the goal is to do a good job of raising them through the summer until they are ready to slaughter somewhere between 50 and 100 pounds. Before you get a meat goat kid, you need to be sure you are willing to have it slaughtered despite how tame it gets. Check with your county about the age, weight, and vaccination rules they have for market kid projects and to find out if the kid must have had their horns removed and be a wether (castrated male).

Useful Resources for NY State 4-H meat goat projects:

• NY State 4-H Meat Goat Breeding Stock Doe Kid Record Book
• NY State 4-H Meat Goat Breeding Stock Dry Yearling Record Book - NEW!!
• NY State 4-H Meat Goat Doe Breeding Stock Adult Doe Record Book
• NY State 4-H Market Kid Record Book 
• NY State 4-H Cloverbud Meat Goat Record Book - designed for Cloverbuds with either a market kid or a breeding doe project
• NY State 4-H 1st Year Meat Goat Record Book - designed for 4-Hers in their first year of a goat project, covers both market kid and breeding doe projects
• 4-H Skills for Life Meat Goat Activity Guides and Helper's Guide 
• Estimating the Sustainability and Productivity of a Meat Goat Operation in NY Pastures

• Goat Slide Shows
• Castrating goat kids
• Disbudding goat kids
• Eartagging goats
• Tattooing goats
• NY State 4-H Meat Goat Fact Sheets
1. Why do I want to own a goat?
2. The meat goat breeds
3. Buying a meat goat
4. Parts of the meat goat
5. Facilities for your market wether
6. Routine health care for your wether
7. Goat Identification
8. Hoof trimming
9. Disbudding
10. All about castrating and urinary calculi
11. Teeth and age of the goat
12. Goat slaughter
13. Feeds for goats
14. The digestive system of the goat
15. Vitamins and minerals for goats
16. Using math to see how well your goat is growing
17. Using math to make a feed ration for your goat - still in the works!!!
18. Marketing meat kids - still in the works!!!
19. Behavior of goats: part I - herd behavior
20. Behavior of goats: part II - mating and maternal behavior
21. Behavior of goats: part III - feeding behavior - still in the works!!!
22. Getting your meat kid ready for a show