Ethnic Marketing Issues
Many potential consumers of goat meat are from different ethnic and religious groups that have specific requirements and rules for food. Many of these groups want to know the person who produces their food or to produce it themselves. Often they have specific requirements for processing meat so it qualifies under their religious rules. If you wish to market to them then you will need to better understand these differences. People practice Islam need animals to be processed according to Halal slaughter rules. Those of the Jewish faith need to have the animal processed according to Kosher rules. These rules differ some from the normal slaughter practices but are approved under specific regulations through USDA. You need to check with the person who does your processing to make sure that they can process under these rules. Also check your local laws and regulations before allowing anyone to process an animal on your farm. To help you understand the process and rules the following information is available:
The Cornell Sheep & Goat Marketing Program now has a poster available outlining the techniques for humane (Halal) on-farm slaughter. Un-laminated posters are available for $10. To order, contact tatiana Stanton at tls7@cornell.edu (Northern states) or Susan Schoenian at sschoen@umd.edu (MidAtlantic states). The poster is available in English, Arabic, Persian, Spanish and Urdu.