Hitting Seasonal Market Highs by breeding Meat Goats during the Summer months

View the project final report

• 2011 annual report

Commodities

• Animals: goats

Practices

• Animal Production: livestock breeding
• Education and Training: demonstration, on-farm/ranch research
• Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns, agricultural finance

According to OSU fact sheet AGEC-622 the seasonal high market price for meat goats occurs in February and March for the 40 to 60 lbs and 60 to 80 lbs weight groups in both Perkins, Oklahoma (one of the USDA reported goat sales for Oklahoma) and San Angelo, Texas (considered to be the largest goat sale in the south and the U.S.). For goat producers to produce a 40 to 70 pound goat for that time period they must breed their does (female goats) during the months of June and July of the previous year. On our operation we have tried for several years to breed some of our does during these months with little success (13% pregnancy rate). The problem is that most goats are seasonal breeders. This means during certain times of the year the doe goat will not come into estrous (standing heat) and therefore not breed. By finding a way to get these does to come into standing and fertile estrous during these months, producers will be able to produce a kid crop and target the seasonal market high prices. For several years livestock operations have been using heat synchronization protocols to bring groups of females into estrous for timed breeding and artificial insemination. When the doe goats are out of season it does not mean they can not breed. It is just a matter of her system being ready to breed. Therefore, I propose the use of the heat synchronization protocols using CIDR's©, prostaglandin (Lutalyse), and gonadatropin (PG 600) to bring the does into a fertile estrous cycle and then use live cover to impregnate the does during the months of June and July. The resulting kid crop will then be able to be marketed during the seasonal high market price period. An added benefit to this solution is the ability to use this protocol on doelings (virgin female goats) from the previous year's kid crop. Typically doelings are not ready to breed until 12 to 14 months. For those does born in April and May this means that they are ready in June and July. By performing the process on these does, producers can get these doelings into the breeding herd earlier and thereby extending their production life.